Preserving Valued Heritage – Fitzroy House by Rob Kennon Architects

Set within Melbourne’s first suburb, Rob Kennon Architects’ Fitzroy House both expresses and preserves its valued heritage.

Through a considered and curated approach to heritage, Rob Kennon Architects brings a cohesive sensibility to Fitzroy House’s contemporary interventions. The design deliberately aims to celebrate and enhance the existing character of the house that was originally built in 1861. Small but impactful alterations either sleeve around or are inserted within the existing. The primary aim was to create a connection to history, and propose a contemporary background for future occupation, where the connection to the original dwelling is clear and the lines between old and new are subtle and blurred.

Tasked with a brief to create a home in which its growing family could comfortably live, despite the small footprint, as their needs change over the years, Rob Kennon Architects implemented a number of interventions. Allowing for physical separation and a sense of privacy was key, as was the ability for spaces to grow and retreat if needed over time. Through a cross-functionality of spaces and zones, and through the insertion of level changes, light shafts and full-height glazing, a series of visual and light-filled connections and non-linear movement zones through the home were created, which allow a discovery of the old and new along the way.

The living space sits wrapping the original bluestone external wall, expressing the history of the home deliberately. This space also serves as both the library and the dining space, allowing for multi-purpose use through a minor environmental change. A new opening in the bluestone also connects the kitchen to the living areas, and an existing Roman archway is re-appropriated to connect through to the now-open living area. Throughout, added purposed joinery elements act to mediate and link the old and the new, and provide concealed storage, while level changes see new spaces and rooms created, referencing principles honed by mid-century modernist design.

The new works are driven by a want to highlight the existing and express a new future-focused purpose. Through retention, preservation and re-use, efforts to improve thermal performance of the home were instigated, and with punctuations in the form, natural sunlight can now reach depths of the home never achieved. Efforts to reduce embodied energy were also integrated as priority, with particular attention to focusing on designing and constructing with locally sourced material and labour.

The engagement of an impassioned team of contributors ensured a successful reconnection to Fitzroy House’s history. Rob Kennon Architects has applied a cohesive approach, dedicated to preservation, that brings a new contemporary form of habitation to an important part of Melbourne’s history.