Property of the week - Wheatland

Archived article. People, relative dates, sale status and availability below belong to the original story; this is not a current property listing or offer.

Renovating a heritage home is not for the faint hearted. We speak to homeowners Nick Condon and Kate Beadle, who have brought their experience and solid credentials to 27 Wheatland Road and have created a sanctuary within its new and existing walls.

With a dozen renovations and two new builds over the last 20 years, they’ve helped preserve the built landscape of Melbourne and its rich history of significant residential architecture.

There’s a clear passion for preservation in each of the homes they’ve renovated whilst a respect for natural surfaces and a textural patina underpinning Kate’s design ethos effortlessly blends the old and the new.

Surfaces are clean and fresh with decorative elements pared back to reveal the artistry in the design.

“The street scape has to remain intact when you’re working on a home like this, but in this case, we had to do some work on the façade,” explains Nick. “We enter into these projects with a love of the architecture and wanting to preserve them.”

Purchased in 2017, the home immediately stood out for its prized location: a tree-lined street and a park over the back fence with mature trees thankfully intact after the recent storm. “We’ve love being here, with the street being so quiet and backing onto a park.”

The orientation meant adding a second storey wouldn’t require a compromise to outlooks. Each room has a picture-perfect view of mature trees rather than impinging on the privacy of neighbouring properties.

“Even though there’s quite a dramatic difference between the old and new, we’ve been true to the original part of the house and being sympathetic to the rear addition with paint colours and the like.”

Extra wide floorboards, tundra limestone in the kitchen and ten skylights throughout are blended to create harmonious spaces that speak to timeless living in a city where sunshine bleeds through year-round cloud. “It’s the sort of house where you don’t need to have lights on during the day.”

The urban garden is an enclosed sanctuary where the scale of the new addition is framed by landscaping and an infinity-edge pool. Nick explains the design as a series of considered elements. “The swimming pool doubles as a water feature and adds an acoustic element to the back yard.” An outdoor fireplace and dining are overseen by the reserve for a money-can’t-buy feature of borrowed shade from mature trees.

After two years in planning and design, a process Nick explains requires patience and experience, completion was delayed with the first lockdown in Melbourne last year. After 18 months, Nick and Kate moved back in with their three children, only to be locked down again.

“My wife and I each have our own home office and the kids have their own desk in their rooms. It’s been a really functional house during the last year. It’s just been fantastic.”

The article named the selling agents as Andrew Hayne and Fiona Ansell-Jones at Marshall White. For more details, go to www.marshallwhite.com.au

The photography category a project like this sits in

A heritage renovation of this kind falls under our builder and architectural photography, which we describe as photographing display homes and architectural projects to show design choices, craftsmanship and the experience of a space. Our other published categories are residential and real estate; commercial, addressing the scale, details and function of a space or project; aerial and drone, showing a property's scale, setting and design; lifestyle, covering a home, its use and its surrounding location; and portraits.

These are service categories, not a published set of fixed-price packages, and our material does not set a number of images, a shoot duration or a revision allowance for any of them. Ask us for a current quote with the scope confirmed. See photography.

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