cremorne point house

This beautiful old dame was built in 1910, but after the second world war, she suffered the indignity of an internal separation. Due to the housing shortage at that time in Sydney, large homes were frequently divided into flats, and to that end, Merrilla's staircase was gutted to provide an upper and a lower apartment, with separate street entrances.

The federation era was a particularly lovely one. It was defined by quite distinctive lines that were at once modern in the context, but deferential to the grace of the Victorian era that preceded it. Same high ceilings and graceful lines, but updated deep balconies more fitting for our climate arrived.

The detail was simplified on the Victorian: wider, less ornate architraving,  wood panelling featured more inside and cleaner, less fussy ceiling treatments replaced the overly decorative earlier model.

The emergence of this style of architecture coincided with the federation of Australia at the turn of the 20th century and so somehow for me, it feels linked to our national identity. The aspirations for future were embodied in the bold changes of the era and remain a legacy of those exciting times.

But there isn't anything too exciting about dated kitchens, no matter how modern they might have been in their day! And we live differently now; increasingly, people are dispensing with separate dining rooms in favour of a more relaxed style of cooking/dining/living spaces.

To that end, Merrilla was updated with a new pavilion for exactly that purpose. Connecting to the original house by a glass link, the addition was able to respectfully find it's own space on the site where it could be enjoyed and admired for all its modernity, while old Merrilla could sit back and maintain her integrity.

The shingles that clad the new building refer politely to the shingling prevalent in the federation era, yet are cleverly reinterpreted for a more modern aesthetic. The low profile steel doors are designed to blend seamlessly with the room, to deliberately not be a statement in and of themselves, but again, rather as a non compete with the woodwork history of the house.

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