Delicately Animated – Queen Street Residence by Phoebe Nicol Interior Architecture

Maintaining a sense of heritage integrity, Queen Street Residence opens up to the surrounds, infusing the personality of its owner with the existing ornate features. Phoebe Nicol Interior Architecture works a delicate balance to bring life and animation into the once dark home.

Neatly tucked into the tightly woven inner fabric of Woollahra in Sydney, Queen Street Residence reimagines an existing heritage Victorian-era terrace home into a light-filled custom series of spaces for its new owner. In an effort to avoid the traditional trapping of the terrace home, the client wanted to ensure natural light was brought deep into the inner spaces, and resultingly an enhanced connection between inside and out was created. The original home was a capture of its time, with overtly ornate detailing and a hand-crafted approach, and the new insertions and additions needed to feel like an appropriate evolution of the original design intent, while also adding a fresh and contemporary feel. Working within the existing generous scale and proportions, Phoebe Nicol Interior Architecture cleared the interior and recreated the resulting home with a focus on connection and lightness.

The combined contrast between lighter and darker elements is approached to create balance and an overarching sense of calm.

Built by Dunn and Pilcher, Queen Street Residence sees its clients downsizing from a much larger property in order to be in amongst increased amenity and the bustle of inner Sydney. Abating the clients’ concern about the home feeling dark, the team worked to include numerous skylights and increased openings to encourage additional light inward. The inclusion of a substation style opening in the ceiling above the living space acts as its own luminous box to draw light from above down into the communal space, while also acting as a framed aperture to the tree canopies above and nearby. Specialised polished plaster waxed walls further encourage light to bounce and reflect internally, increasing the lightening of the interior spaces.

Infusing a uniqueness to an existing home to capture an owner’s personality is no small feat, however, through a curated expression of colour, select furniture and artworks, Phoebe Nicol has done just that. Bold gestures create immersive experiences throughout, with the psychedelic blue marble wallpapered bathroom and pink bedroom as clearly defined spaces that engage the senses. A more classical approach adorns the convening spaces within the home, where warming timber is used to add texture and bring a sense of the natural inward. Refined steelwork then frames openings and is used to sculpt the minimal balustrade to the stair and as feature lighting. The combined contrast between lighter and darker elements is approached to create balance and an overarching sense of calm.

The combined contrast between lighter and darker elements is approached to create balance and an overarching sense of calm.

Phoebe Nicol Interior Architecture has proposed Queen Street Residence to combine both playful and classical elements together to create a series of spaces that imbue a sense of immersion and disconnect from the street.