Michael and Angela Kelly, along with their son Liam, have a passion for cooking that few families do. Their interest is so great that they frequently try to decipher the ingredients of dishes in their favorite restaurants and later reinvent them at home. Angela learned to perfectly fillet a whole cow, with the sole purpose of enhancing her own cooking. This culinary passion was one of the main elements we considered when designing their new home.

Carlton is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Melbourne. It was established in 1851 to the North-East of the city when the Gold Rush began in Australia. The housing typology is primarily brick Victorian-style townhouses, with the vast majority of the plots being narrow and elongated

(4-6 meters in width and 25-35 meters deep). The plots are accessed from both the front and the rear by narrow laneways 3-4 meters wide.

During World War II, Carlton supported a large community of Italian migrants, becoming the commercial and cultural center for new immigrants and establishing itself as the ‘Little Italy’ neighborhood of the city. To this day, Carlton, is the epicenter of high end and authentic Italian restaurants and cafes.

Michael and Angela bought two of these Victorian townhouses in Carlton, one next to the other, each with 5 meters frontage and 35 meters deep. Their plan was to combine the two lots, demolish the additions built in the 1950's and 1970's, restore the original heritage streetfront, and add a new addition to the rear. An important aspect of the architectural project was to maintain the 'layers' of history that had made their mark over the decades on the property whilst also moulding the house around Michael and Angela's culinary passion.

The house runs from West to East but in order to maximise the play of light within the space the design was divided into Northern and Southern zones. The new volume of the extension is located in the southern zone, overlooking a garden in the northern zone. This ensures that the low winter sun has access to the interior of the house whilst an overhang above the window blocks the harsher sun during summer. 

Since Michael and Angela spend so much of their time cooking for friends and family, the centrepoint of the house had to be the kitchen. With this in mind, we designed a house whose kitchen receives guests and connects the interior of the house with the terrace as well as with the living and dining. The house was divided into old and new with the rooms located in the old part of the house restored to their original heritage style. The master bedroom and ensuite is on the upper floor and overhangs the ground floor volume to form a shaded courtyard in the garden. The 90 degree twist of this upper floor volume allows morning sunlight into the room with its Eastern facing windows. To maintain the conceptual foundation of the design this twist has its central axis in the kitchen space.

With a dedication to the philosophy of sustainable development, all the bricks from the buildings that were demolished were recovered, cleaned and organized by hand by Michael and Angela (with the help of several friends), to be recycled and reused in the new construction. Despite having to demolish part of the Northern house to make room for a garden, we deliberately kept the perimeter walls at the edge of the site free from any major modifications. Those walls defined the history of the house, different renovations over time represented in the layers of bricks in a wall. The original brickwork from more than 100 years ago is at the base and is more reddish and less perfect than the others, the ones from the 1950's are browner and more rectangular, and the one from the 1970's are yellower and a little larger. You can also see the side brick of the neighboring building that is darker and smoky. Along with this layering, the new construction highlights the recycled bricks as a show of respect to the house's historical value.

The Kellys maintain a very active social life, inviting friends and family to their home several times a week, to cook for them and host events. This social life extends to their neighbours, creating a sense of community along the street. It is for this reason that it became very important that the garden open directly onto the laneway behind the house. The space was designed so that doors could be opened completely onto the back street allowing the garden to become an extension of the laneway. The outdoor space integrates seamlessly with the rest of the neighborhood, with its Italian influenced community focus, providing a rich space for the life of its residents.