This magnificent 1860’s Victorian residence in the Hawthorn Grace Park estate was originally an award
winner as a new home design planned for the estate in 1860. 154 years later, the renovated and extended
home by McSteen Tan was again an award winner, this time as a Boroondara Urban Design Award winner.

We were approach by a family looking to reinstate and improve their wonderful, but tired home. The house
had had a 1970’s ‘ranch style’ extension to the rear of the home, which was looking not only very run down,
but also totally out of character for the home.

The clients required complete re-planning of the existing home with new bedrooms and bathrooms, plus additions to cater for a new, larger laundry, new kitchen/pantry, meals and family room, external storage and
a larger garage that could play a dual-roll as an outdoor cabana space when required.

Most importantly, the clients wanted a modern design approach that sat comfortably with the existing home.

Working within the mix of Heritage Overlay Controls, Site Covenant Controls from the original 1860’s sub-division, neigbourhood concerns re anything ‘modern’, we developed a design proposal that took period elements and re-established them in a modern context. The original ‘lean-too’ outbuilding form, long since
lost, was re-created as a link between old and new to house the new kitchen and an outdoor entertainment area. A new meals area and family room were created with period elements of a slated gable roof, red brickwork and formal heavy framed timber windows.

Environmental concerns were met with north facing glazing, flow through ventilation, solar hot water and
an oversized water storage system.

Overall the house has been reinvigorated with new fabric that sits comfortably alongside the original elements of the 1860’s home.