Holden Street

Holden Street is a full-service residential renovation project on a ground floor apartment in Fitzroy, Victoria. Built in 1889 as the Old Aberdeen Hotel, the property has since been subdivided into a series of handsome and spacious residential apartments.

The key to this renovation was the reconfiguration of the kitchen and dining areas, essentially switching their locations in order to create a generous open plan living and kitchen area, with a custom banquette dining annex enjoying new access to natural light from the adjacent courtyard.

With respect to the traditional heritage features such as the continuous dado timber wall panelling and Victorian mouldings, we created a scheme that would sit comfortably within its historical context. A warm colour palette of earthy tones was used throughout the project to compliment the red jarrah timber. This included Travertine stone, brown Emperador floor tiles and a timber veneer with red and brown veining to complement the vertical lining of the wall panelling. 

The statement feature of the design is a large, irregular shaped travertine kitchen island, designed as both the focal and communal hub of the home. One angled side of the island bench runs parallel to the existing diagonal fireplace, creating a unique and sculptural design that anchors the fireplace and creates a natural thoroughfare to the new dining room. Decisions like this reflect our studio’s design ethos in general, to produce work that is driven by the situational context of a site, rather than purely aesthetic value.

Although this project was never completed, it holds a significant place in my heart as my first solo commission by a client who saw something in me and trusted me with the comfort and safety of his home. The design is dedicated to Jason and his family.