Kensington Cathedral
by Ha Architecture
Product &
Environment
- MELBOURNE, VIC •
A house with an unlikely history is
given an unashamedly contemporary
renovation that still references the
original Edwardian form.
Words by Brett Seakins
Photography by Dan Hocking
ALTERATION + ADDITIONA
ccordingtothe2016Australiancensustherearemore
than 1.7 million private dwellings in Melbourne. That’s a
staggering amount for the city’s population of 4.4 million
people, especially given that a sizeable chunk is too young to
ownahouse.Imagineifyouweretopurchaseoneofthesehomes
andfindoutthatsomeseventyyearsearlieryourgrandmotherhad
rentedit,priortothefamilyrelocatingtoAdelaide.Thiswasthe
delightful surprise the current owners made while researching the
historyoftheiracquisition,justwestofMelbourne’sCBD.The
suburbattractsquiteacontingentofex-patSouthAustralians;the
owners of Kensington Cathedral put it down to a sense of connection
withasuburbofthesamenameinAdelaide.
With this family connection discovered, the client’s already-keen
desire to retain the character of the house was made resolute. The brief
toNickHardingofHaArchitecture,ProductandEnvironmentwas
to keep as much of the character as possible while fashioning a third
bedroom, new bathroom and a generous entertaining/family zone.
Theoriginalhouseisoneinaprocessionofnarrow,orderly
EdwardiansalongwhatisknownasTheRidgeway,thestreet
terminatinginatallbluffoverlookingtheMelbourneports.Much
of the front of the house has been left as it was, other than a lick of
painthereandthere.Twosmallpop-outsontheeasternboundary
challenge the historic notion that a metre-wide access all around the
home be maintained. The first of these pop-outs accommodates an
efficientlyplannedensuitethatservicesthemainbedroom,while
thesecondgivesthefollowingbedroomanadditionalmetreof
space; more importantly, though, each admits generous swathes of
northern light, cross-ventilation and views to a compact but verdant
fern garden.
Aswiththepop-outs,anewvolumealsopushesouttothesite
boundary to funnel northern light into the living spaces, but in many
ways, the form of this extension is a fait accompli. The owners had
purchased the property with a planning permit already in place for
a generous two-storey mass that essentially cleared out the existing
lean-tosandextendedthegabledroofformsouthdowntheblock.
This basic envelope was all that was included in the planning permit,
meaningtherewerenoconstraintsonanyoftheinternalplanning,
so rather than tempt fate, the decision was made to explore the
opportunities the approved volume could proffer.
As we walk through the house, Nick offers that the cathedral
ceilingandgabledformareelementshe’susedbefore,though
they probably wouldn’t have evolved naturally for this project had