| Location: | Darling Point, Woollahra, Sydney NSW |
|---|---|
| Project Type: | Heritage Restoration and Contemporary Extension |
| Site Area: | 939m2 |
| Site Context: | Sloping Site, NSW Heritage Listed Arts and Crafts Home |
| Scope: | Remediation, Restoration, Internal Renovation, Extension |
| Engagement: | Architecture, Interiors, Project Management |
| Configuration: | Single Dwelling, 3 Levels, 6 Bedroom, 4.5 Bathroom, Pool |
| Approval: | DA, Woollahra Municipal Council |
| Classification: | Class 1 |
| Status: | Complete |
Contemporary Heritage Restoration
A home that had waited long enough. For 120 years, ‘Thanet’ had stood quietly in Darling Point – a rare Arts and Crafts timber cottage, originally built in the United States, shipped to Sydney, and constructed on this sloping harbourside site in 1903. One of the last of her kind in Woollahra, she needed the right hands to carry her forward into her next century.
MILEHAM designed and delivered a steel-and-glass extension to bridge the original heritage home with an existing contemporary pavilion, connecting old and new in a single, confident move that gives the home the living and dining space it had always lacked. The extension opens to the garden and pool terrace, while the deeper work of heritage restoration, dampness remediation and structural conservation brought the original house back to life.
A bespoke Boffi kitchen in Quartzite Calacatta and London Grey Lasermat, engineered oak flooring throughout, Carrara marble in the powder room and mother of pearl mosaic in the ensuite complete the interior – materials chosen to feel at home in a house with this much history.
Built to Belong, Not to Impose
Where the extension meets the hillside, MILEHAM let the site speak for itself. Full-height glazing and a dark metal roof frame the lush terraces and established planting, drawing the landscape into the room rather than holding it at a distance. At its edge, the glass meets an original convict-hewn sandstone retaining wall — stone that has held this hillside for well over a century. Rather than conceal it, the design celebrates it as a living surface, raw and unpolished against the precision of the black steel framing. The effect is a room grounded by materials that were here long before the house was.
A Palette that Listens
A Palette that Listens
A Palette that Listens
A Palette that Listens
The Spaces Between the Spaces
Not every moment in a home needs a view or a grand gesture. Some of the most considered spaces are the quieter ones. Corners designed to slow things down and take things in. This custom banquette wraps a sculpted oval table in dark leather and warm timber, tucked into the corner where kitchen meets living room. It’s where weekend breakfasts run long, where homework unfolds while dinner is being prepared. A space shaped not for show, but for staying.
Three Parts. One Home.
‘Thanet’ is a home of three distinct parts. The original Arts and Crafts cottage, now restored. Its heritage fabric is conserved. Its character has been brought back to life. The existing contemporary pavilion to the north-east, housing the private master retreat. And between them, MILEHAM’s extension – the new living, dining and entertaining heart of the home that finally brings the two together into harmony. Each part has its own materials, its own purpose, its own mood. But the palette and the proportions hold them as one, so the transition from heritage timber to black steel to louvered pavilion feels less like moving between buildings, and more like moving through a single home that simply grew up amongst its garden.
The Move that Made the Home
The heritage house and the existing pavilion had always existed as two separate, disconnected buildings. MILEHAM’s steel-and-glass extension bridges this gap, creating a generous living and dining space under a low-pitched metal roof, with full-height glazing on three sides opening to the garden and pool terrace. A new opening through the original dining room wall connects back into the heritage home, spandrel retained overhead, so the join between old and new is honest and legible. It’s the room the home never had.
James has the unique ability to combine his experience as an Architect with his knowledge as a builder, to develop and deliver transformative ideas. We would never start a project without MILEHAM.”
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