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There’s a perfect harmony to Bryant Street by Freadman White.
The architects were engaged by a couple with three teenage children to reimagine their long-held family property, ensuring it would suit the rituals of their busy family life. It also had to be a retreat where they could age in place.
‘The clients sought a home that felt calm, grounded and enduring — one that balanced privacy with openness, and simplicity with subtle richness,’ Freadman White director Ilana Freadman says.
‘They were particularly drawn to the idea of “quiet architecture”: spaces that support their everyday life without demanding attention.’
With this in mind, the existing 1990s rear extension was removed in order to make way for a new, more sympathetic addition that enhanced the original Victorian’s original elegance and heritage context.
Behind the traditional facade, the former sitting room on the ground-floor was reconfigured to contain the main bedroom (ensuring accessibility in future), while the upper level serves as a teenage retreat.
Walking through the house, the rear now opens to a striking living pavilion that’s cleverly hidden from the street by the sloping site.
A glazed stairwell leads down to into the addition, highlighting the building’s bluestone base and red brick walls as a nod to its history.
The new structure reveals a similarly robust palette with a contemporary edge. Curved walls are paired with floor-to-ceiling windows and pivot glass doors, opening directly to a row of concrete columns that frame garden views.
Blackbutt-lined ceilings also bring warmth to the pavilion. Sculptural elements like a quartzite island bench delineates the kitchen from the open-plan space, beside a timber-lined ‘utility’ cube — hiding joinery and a bathroom inside.
‘Key to the vision was the idea of contrast and complement: robust materials paired with light-filled volumes; a restrained palette countered by textural richness; and the clear legibility of old and new,’ Ilana adds.
‘We’re particularly proud of the way the new addition integrates seamlessly with the heritage fabric— there’s a quiet confidence in how old and new sit alongside one another without mimicry or tension.’
