Balmoral Storeys

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday May 28, 2005

Jenna Reed Burns

When this single-fronted bungalow was built in the early 1900s, its occupants would have enjoyed views from every room over nearby Balmoral Beach. Sadly, the views were hidden not long after by the first of several blocks of flats to be built along The Esplanade. Now, the house is surrounded by two- and three-storey apartment buildings.

"I reckon I must have 100 neighbours," says the owner, Cathy Blake Thomas.

Thomas and her partner, Howard Boretsky, didn't think there was any chance of recapturing the view - they simply wanted a larger main bedroom on a new second storey and called in architect Gary Hennessy, who worked on their last house, to design the renovations.

"Cathy said, 'We can't have upstairs looking like a palace and downstairs looking ordinary', so we decided to do the lot," Hennessy recalls.

Now that the renovations are complete the house's floor area has been expanded from 197sqm to 241sqm, with an additional 32sqm of outdoor decks.

Changes to the main level involved making the kitchen more accessible by removing a bench, and then opening up access to what was the rear veranda, which now acts as a passageway.

The third of three bedrooms leading off this passageway is now a study or sitting room that leads onto one of the timber decks, the first of three that cascade down the slope to link the house with its long garden.

Upstairs, the stairwell divides the floor into two areas. A television room and a huge north-facing deck are on one side; on the other is a walk-through dressing area, an ensuite and a main bedroom, with another, smaller deck behind.

"When the joists were in place we climbed up here to look out the window and that's when we saw we had a water view," says Hennessy. "It was a lovely surprise."

SENSITIVITY TO LOCATION

Despite being by the beach, Balmoral architecture isn't generally known for its beachside qualities.

"The aesthetic of any house in an area should respond to the environment rather than being more of the creeping brick-and-tile syndrome, which is what Mosman generally is," says Hennessy. "The thing I like about this house is that the owners work in the city and have typical business lives during the day, yet they come home to a house that feels like a beach house. What that does for their lifestyle is fantastic."

Perhaps, because of its difference, the locals seem to love it, too. "If we've had one person through this house, we've had 100," says Blake Thomas. "They come and knock on the door, leave notes, or tackle us in the local coffee shop."

NEW SECOND FLOOR

The new second storey has a wonderfully light quality to it, courtesy of raked timber-lined ceilings and exposed trusses picked out in a warm, smoky grey. "It looks like an upturned rowing scull which gives you that feeling of a beach house," Hennessy says.

The timber walls support that quality, something that pleased Blake Thomas. "I said to Gary that the house had to be reminiscent of childhood holidays by the sea," she says. "And that was all the brief really was."

The seaside theme is continued on the outside, with the second storey clad in a variety of materials, from painted cement board to timber weatherboards and corrugated metal sheeting, all in varying shades of grey. "If you look at a piece of driftwood it has all of these colours in it," Hennessy says. "We wanted to make the house look like something that was part of the beach."

TEXTURED PALETTE

The house is very rich in terms of textured surfaces. The original roughcast render that featured on the walls of both verandas has been retained, as well as a pressed tin ceiling in the dining room (sadly, the rest had rusted through).

New textures were added in the form of raked, timber-panelled ceilings in the passageways, and tongue-and-groove lining boards upstairs. Cladding the front deck are ebony-stained weatherboards with a rustic profile, while the privacy screens above the balustrade are in acid-etched glass.

On the rear deck, the main privacy screen is constructed in timber battens, with some set on edge to increase the surface texture.

A redesign takes this bungalow to another level - and a surprise.

The house Balmoral

Completed November 2004

Cost $520,000

Architect Gary Hennessy, 9818 7662

Builder Mario Grzic, Pro Design Builders, 0418 633 687

Structural engineer Partridge Partners, 9460 9000

Lighting Pulvin Composite, 9879 3699

The aim To rejuvenate an older house and keep it true to its location.

© 2005 Sydney Morning Herald

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