The 10 Most Memorable Apartments We Visited In 2023

Photographer Tom Ross’ Peachy Melbourne Family Apartment

Tom Ross previously lived in a Cairo apartment (one of Melbourne’s outstanding examples of medium-density small housing, designed in the 1930s) so he knows how good design can optimise a compact space.

The photographer and his wife Emily Shields purchased this 1960s apartment in Kew as their future young family home.

Subsequent renovations designed by Architecture Architecture value the same ‘quality over quantity’ approach as Cairo. Two load bearing walls were removed, in favour of an open (peach-coloured) steel frame, allowing light to stream into the living space and kitchen via eight-metres of north-facing glass.

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An Early 2000s Melbourne Apartment Turned ‘Piccolo Palazzo’

Eryca Green says buying her Carlton apartment was ‘never a case of love at first sight.’ With its all-white walls and grey carpet, the circa 2001 apartment was a far cry from the established and eclectic homes she’d previously lived in, but the price was right, and Eryca had a vision.

Almost two years later, the apartment is unrecognisable. Working with Julia Cox of jcHQ, Eryca has designed a home that feels rich in history featuring vintage furniture, coloured walls, and beloved art.

Eryca has created ‘a room of one’s own’ — an always warm, light-filled, and decorative sanctuary away from the busy world outside.

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Inside A 100-Year-Old Apartment Building, In The Heart Of Melbourne’s CBD

If you look around the streets of Paris, New York, Barcelona, or Rome, you’ll find apartment buildings rich with history on every second corner. It’s more of a rarity in Australia, but residents of the heritage Temple Court apartments think they’ve found something just as special right here in Melbourne.

The elegant 1920s building is located on the iconic Collins Street strip, amongst some of the city’s best restaurants, shops and oldest buildings. It’s lived many lives across its 100-year-old history, serving as one of the earliest office complexes, before being converted into apartments in 2001.

We visited two of the building’s recently renovated apartments to hear what it’s like living in the heart of the city!

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Inside Drag Queen Courtney Act’s ‘Periwinkle Palace’ In Sydney!

Courtney Act’s Sydney apartment is eclectic, colourful, and larger than life — much like Courtney herself!

Last year, the iconic drag queen and performer moved back to Australia and into her first home. At that time, the apartment was a simple series of empty white spaces, like ‘a mother of pearl box’, with a beautiful view of nearby Bondi Beach and headlands.

Now, after a fabulous revamp in collaboration with Sarah Ellison, Courtney describes the completed apartment as her own tongue-in-cheek take on the traditional ‘bachelor pad’. We can’t get enough of it!

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Inside Melbourne’s Unconventional ‘Evergreen’ Apartment Building

In a time where some new apartment builds are prioritising density over design, Nightingale Evergreen is challenging the status quo, with just 27 homes inside the sustainable and leafy complex.

The building was designed and developed by Clare Cousins Architects under the Nightingale Housing model, building socially, financially, and environmentally sustainable homes ‘for people, not for profit’.

True to that statement, Evergreen proves how sometimes less is more, with a minimalistic concrete structure and green accents, leafy balconies, rooftop gardens and shared spaces that have helped create a tight-knit community of residents embracing the best of apartment living, right in the heart of Melbourne’s inner north.

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A Look Inside The Fitzroy Chocolate Factory Turned ‘Old-School’ Apartments!

The former MacRobertson confectionery factory in Fitzroy is one of Melbourne’s most famous — and coveted — historical apartment buildings.

The complex stems back to the 1880s, when the city’s own Willy Wonky-type entrepreneur, Sir Macpherson Robertson, created a village of warehouse buildings, once used to manufacture the first Cherry Ripes and Freddo Frogs, before his business was sold to Cadbury in 1967.

Most of the buildings are still standing today, having been converted into apartments in the late ’90s. Thankfully, the buildings have retained all their original industrial charm, with exposed bricks, timber beams and dreamy inner-city views.

We recently visited three of the very different homes inside this uniquely Melbourne apartment complex!

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A First Home Buyer’s Refined Brunswick ‘Terrace House’

When looking to buy her first property, art director Izzi McGrath was seeking her ‘forever home.’ To Izzi, this meant a well-designed and centrally-located property requiring minimal maintenance.

‘Terrace House’—a multi-residential building developed and designed by Austin Maynard Architects—ticked all these boxes and more. Izzi joined the waiting list for the development, becoming one of 20 purchasers to live in the innovative Brunswick apartment building.

Izzi’s personal styling builds on the enduring architecture of her apartment, with a considered, playful, and ever evolving collection of furniture and collectables showcasing both Japanese and Scandi influences.

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A Creative Family Home In A 1960s Northcote Apartment Building

The family home of lighting designer Dimitrios Tsiokaras, his partner Gemma, and their daughter Iris is a light-filled, well-built 1960s apartment in Melbourne’s inner north.

Dimitrios and Gemma purchased the apartment in 2017, and have since built on its solid bones with an owner-designed renovation introducing colour, light and nature.

The compact home provides everything the family requires and more, among a close knit inner-city community!

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An Artists’ DIY-Renovated, Scandi-Inspired Sydney Apartment

On the day they moved into their Surry Hills apartment, artists Micke Lindebergh and Kris Andrew Small painted the kitchen cabinets a creamy shade of vibrant blue, setting the tone for the renovations to come.

They’ve been updating the Sydney apartment ever since, inviting more colour into the home through their artwork, furniture, and sneaker collection.

The home combines elements of the couple’s previous homes across Europe, and holidays to Byron Bay!

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Life In Leftfield: The New Melbourne Building Raising The Bar Of Apartment Living

Since 2016, Nightingale Housing has been changing the way Australians live and think about property, with a focus on creating well designed, sustainable and community-centred apartment buildings, for those historically locked out of home ownership.

15 buildings across the country have now been completed under the Nightingale model, including Leftfield, designed by acclaimed architects Kennedy Nolan. Leftfield is one of six individually-designed neighbouring buildings located in The Village in Brunswick, Melbourne.

True to Kennedy Nolan’s reputation, Leftfield is a gorgeously-appointed terracotta and red brick building with warmly-detailed interiors.

We joined two young families for a virtual tour of their new Leftfield homes and community.

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