Cammeray house

This is a 1930's P&O house, a Deco era building style that refers to the great modern ocean liners of those times that were revolutionising and glamourising sea travel. The signature curved walls, round porthole windows, glass bricks, flat and railed roof areas, and streamlined detail of these buildings emulated the nautical elegance of the Pacific and Orient Line ships and became symbols of all that was modern and desirable in architecture prior to the Second World War.

If you stand on the roof deck of a building like this one, and take in the 180 degrees views of Sydney Harbour sparkling through the trees all around you, you can quickly feel like the master and commander of the ship!

For this project, we sourced a mix of original 1930's furniture to honour the era, and blended it with the comfort and design of more modern times. The Deco era was famous for its brave and varied use of colour, and so in a nod to that extravagance, we chose a deep red for the downstairs study, but kept to lighter more neutral tones for the rest of the house.

By the client's own admission, gardening had not been a feature of their previous enjoyment of the property, and an abandoned plan to build a back deck during earlier kitchen works had left a perilous drop from the back doors to the concrete paving 1.5 meters below. By constructing a stepped deck, we were able to maximise the outdoor space and create lush garden around it to give it beauty and privacy, ensuring the family's enjoyment of it year round.