Birchgrove Residence — Heritage Terrace Extension, Inner West Sydney

Bedroom framed by sheer curtains opening to a curved white balustrade void, a leather sling chair and oak built-in drawers, palm fronds beyond the window.

01 — Residential

Birchgrove Residence

Birchgrove, NSW

2026

A heritage terrace in Birchgrove was extended at the rear to create a contemporary living pavilion that frames the harbour through a series of carefully proportioned apertures.

The extension is deliberately recessive, painted the same colour as the adjacent fence line to dissolve into the garden landscape. The interior reads as a single room that opens north and east through floor-to-ceiling glazing.

Inside, the palette is quiet: pale timber, honed stone, and walls washed in soft northern light. Joinery is held low so the eye travels through the room to the water, and every opening is proportioned to edit the view rather than simply admit it.

The project honours the terrace's Victorian street presence while giving the family a contemporary way of living behind it. It is an approach shaped by the studio's Japanese design philosophy: restraint, natural materials, and a belief that luxury lives in what is left out.

Type

Residential

Location

Birchgrove, NSW

Year

2026

Birchgrove heritage terrace facade with corrugated iron awning, an olive-green door and painted brick fence, a crepe myrtle shading the entry marked 13.

Rear pavilion kitchen with a marble island and double sink, open-tread oak stair, terracotta floor tiles and glass doors to a planted courtyard.

Compact oak kitchen alcove with marble benchtop, induction cooktop and a low horizontal window to the courtyard, a potted plant on terracotta tiles.

Looking down through the oval stair void to terracotta tiles, a round dining table with upholstered chairs and potted greenery in the pavilion below.

Sculptural timber staircase with slender white balusters rising from a terracotta-tiled plinth, a ceramic vase and framed artwork alongside.

Detail of the kitchen island: veined marble top with a rounded timber edge, an oak counter stool and a dish of figs above terracotta floor tiles.

Stairwell looking up open timber treads to a skylight framing a palm, a ribbed paper lantern glowing against warm plaster walls.

Built-in oak shelving styled with a rust-red vase, a domed plaster relief and a footed ceramic bowl, with drawers set into the joinery below.

Study nook with a dark scallop-edged desk, a leather sling chair and a sheer-curtained window revealing painted brick, on herringbone timber floor.

Hallway on terracotta tiles with an olive-green heritage door, a built-in oak niche and oval mirror, and 13 embossed on the rendered wall.

Oak cabinetry beside a slot of light well showing a painted-brick wall, a heritage sash window and a broad-leafed plant, marble benchtop in view.

Bedroom in warm light with an upholstered headboard, a pleated-shade lamp and teacup on the bedside table, and glowing sheer curtains under a cornice.

Upper living level of the Birchgrove home framed by curtains: a curved balustrade around the stair void and a window over rooftops and palms.

Bathroom with a terrazzo vanity, wall-mounted tap and oval mirror reflecting an arched mosaic shower, spherical wall lights on textured plaster.

Arched shower recess clad in dark mosaic tiles with a rain head, beside a terrazzo vanity, oval mirror and a fringed grey towel.

Rear pavilion dining under an oval skylight void: a floating timber stair, paper lantern, round table and French doors to a palm-filled garden.

Kitchen framed in oak joinery, a kettle on the cooktop, marble benchtop and splashback, and a tinted mirror reflecting a paper lantern overhead.

Powder room with sage stack-bonded tiles, an oak vanity and drop-in basin, a berried branch in a ceramic vase and a mirror reflecting the doorway.

Open rear pavilion of the Birchgrove terrace: an oval skylight, floating stair, terracotta floor and a marble island beside the compact kitchen.

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