Some of the best kept secrets live behind a curtain. In the instance of Fitzroy North House 02 by Rob Kennon Architects, the best kept secret of this quiet heritage street lies behind a workers-cottage facade.
Fitzroy North House 02 is the sum of two parts: The new cottage that greets onlookers with it’s restored facade, verandah and roof, and the main ‘hub’ of the house that is awash with natural light and at one with the garden, that is situated towards the back of the block.
The house is effectively an escape from the hustle and bustle of inner-city life. Moving through the front of the house, behind a slatted timber door and through a corridor, lies the primary living spaces of the house.
Providing a contemporary response to a heritage context, the workers' cottage disguise of the house is clad with thin timber pieces that channel the picket fence that surrounds the site. It consolidates the verandah and roof into a single hipped form to simplify the memory of the cottage, and to keep the house congruent with the look and feel of the surrounding street. Two double brick wing walls, referencing typical terrace party walls, contain the building and support the low-slung verandah which aligns to the gutter line datum running down the street. Timber battens mask the front façade, allowing the traditional proportions of the cottage to be articulated in a graphic manner.
The concept of the house is simply ‘a house within a garden’. Moving through the external corridor beyond the front of the house and past the guest bedroom and studio, the concept begins to take shape. The main part of the house is aligned to an existing two storey boundary wall and sits between two gardens that maximise the sunlight on offer, and do away with the idea of a back garden. Positioned in the garden is a hybrid kitchen-dining-living space that features glazed openings that run from boundary to boundary, allowing for cross ventilation on all sides.
An honest material palette comprising cement, brick, and steel flow are seen within the interior and exterior, obscuring the spatial boundaries of the living environments. This obscurity furthers the idea of living within a garden, with the doors, joinery, gutters and water storage all concealed in one way or another. A galvanised metal grid encases, shades, and limits overlooking from the upper floor private domain, comprising three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The zone hovers above the garden, providing it with areas of shade to ensure the house isn’t always smashed with natural light.
Devising a house with two key parts, Rob Kennon Architects have created a home that lives among the garden, not the other way round. With an abundance of natural light and cross-ventilation and a palette of earthy proportions, the house acknowledges its heritage and brings the history of the domicile into a contemporary context.
