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The inspiration for this art deco home began in its wonderfully leafy rear garden.
Specifically, with three mature trees nestled in the backyard, including a Cook pine, cabbage tree palm, and a golden robinia playfully named Mr Robin — a detail which became the driving force behind the renovation.
‘When the owners purchased the property, they were immediately drawn to the golden robinia and the rare expanse of rear garden for an inner-city suburban block,’ says Brcar Morony Architecture director Natalie Brcar.
While there was also an ‘inherent charm’ to the modest brick residence, the compartmentalised rooms required some reconfiguring, both to accommodate the family’s modern lifestyle, and to embrace the outdoor area they fell in love with.
‘The vision was to create a calm and connected home that engages with its garden at every turn — a place where the landscape is not a backdrop but a living presence,’ Natalie adds.
At the front of the residence, the bedrooms were retained, while the original dining room and side entry were converted into a new en suite and walk-in robe for the private parents’ retreat. This adaptive reuse approach also allowed most of the existing structure to be preserved.
The former living room is now a secondary living and study space, and the old kitchen became the entry, leading to a central hallway connecting both the original structure with a new open-plan addition.
Recognising Mr Robin as the main character of the garden, Brcar Morony Architecture were inspired to design a playful counterpart in the sculptural rear facade, nicknamed Mrs Rose.
Curved walls made from white bricks, steel forms, and blackbutt-framed windows allow the living and dining space to embrace the leafy tree, establishing a quiet dialogue between architecture and nature.
‘As a deciduous tree, the robinia’s seasonal transformations bring a sense of rhythm and time to the home. Its shifting canopy of light, shade, and texture became a central influence on the spatial planning and material expression,’ Natalie says.
Even the interior palette is defined as a neutral backdrop, combining concrete floors with spotted gum joinery, so the client’s art, mid-century furnishings, and the verdant garden — designed by The Garden Social — can take centre stage.
Natalie describes the light-filled home as deliberately unassuming and quietly enduring, cementing the idea that the landscape was never an accessory, but the true hero of the site.
