Prahran’s Little Gem

This modest townhouse in Melbourne’s Prahran could easily have ‘hit the dust’ had it gone into someone else’s hands. But the owners, a design-savvy couple and their architect Thomas Winwood McKenzie of Thomas Winwood Architecture, could see the potential in this late 1970s gem. “It just take some imagination and the right clients to turn such places around,” says Winwood.

A relatively small plot of land (160 square metres), with the two-storey house occupying most of the site (130 square metres), the strength of the original townhouse could be attributed to its rear northern elevation and the building’s great ‘bones’. “My client has a background in retail design so he could envisage what could be achieved,” says Winwood, recalling the rough schematic handed to him at the start of the design process. “The upstairs bathroom had been designed as three pods (including a separate toilet) which made each one feel like a cupboard,” he adds.

Photo by Fraser Marsden

While Winwood understood the need to rework the kitchen and upstairs bathroom and create a laundry, guest powder room and garage at ground level, he could also see what could be achieved in strengthening the connection of the living area to the rear courtyard. “There was a solid brick wall with a gas heater restricting the northern light and only a single door leading to the terrace,” says Winwood, who removed the entire wall and replaced it with two large timber and glass sliding doors. The 3.5 metre-wide rear terrace, although modest in size, allows the dining and living area to feel more generous.

One of the other major structural changes made was the removal of the chunky white-painted timber staircase. “The staircase needed to be repaired but it was more efficient to design a new one, one that was light and more transparent in feel,” says Winwood. The staircase, featuring ‘floating’ blackbutt treads and fine elegant brass rods for the balustrade, increases western light entering the home as much as making the place feel more spacious. Extending a window on the western elevation, adjacent to the staircase to ground level, also made the spaces feel lighter and more generous.

Photo by Fraser Marsden

Winwood also used a limited palette of materials in reworking the Prahran house. The kitchen, for example, features new two-pack painted joinery and stone bench tops. And to add warmth, as well as forming an entry wall, the fridge and pantry are concealed in a unit made from American oak. Slate flooring was substituted for the floor tiles in the kitchen and the worn carpet in the living areas, evocative of the 1970s. Timber was also used on the ground floor ceiling, in both the kitchen and living areas, to add warmth and texture. This timber also assists in reducing noise between the ground and first floor. “The timber ceiling gives the house a more mid-century feel. But I’ve always been a huge fan of some of the architects working at this time, such as Robin Boyd and McGlashan & Everist,” says Winwood.

Photo by Fraser Marsden

The footprint of the Prahran house has only increased slightly, with the addition of a guest powder room downstairs, a separate laundry and a garage to accommodate one car. ‘The original carport was fairly unsightly and there was a need for a bathroom downstairs,” says Winwood, who endeavoured to touch the house as lightly as possible.

Photo by Fraser Marsden

One of the other small additions was a balcony above the garage to allow for city views. “There are now three outdoor areas (including the front garden with its high-fence), all private, and all suitably linked to the house,” says Winwood. Other modifications made to the house included timber slots/vents in both of the bedrooms (only 250 millimetres in width and floor-to-ceiling) to allow for cross-ventilation. Skylights and highlight windows in the upstairs bathroom (now one space) also allow for greater natural light.

Having a refined design aesthetic not only helped in the transformation of the structure, but also by choosing appropriate furniture by the owners have created a lighter and more contemporary ambience. “It was a fine house to start with. I’m delighted that my clients could also see the potential rather than wanting to start from scratch. Some of the most memorable projects are sometimes the smallest,” says Winwood.

Thomas Winwood Architecture can be contacted on 0413 173 031