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A Verdant Sanctuary – Courland House by Secret Gardens
Shaded by a majestic eucalypt and sheltered by walls of bamboo, with the sculptural forms of neighbouring palms peeking over the top, Courland House is a family abode that is at once private and welcoming. Though the site is surrounded by nine other houses, Secret Gardens has created a sense of sanctuary through landscaping that carefully conceals neighbouring buildings whilst offering verdant outlooks at every turn.
The unusual L-shaped block became the ideal canvas for Secret Gardens owners Matt Cantwell and Rochelle Abood to create a new home for their family. Ideally located in Randwick, south of Bondi, and only five blocks from Coogee Beach, the site was full of possibility, with dual entrances and the long side facing north. It was also not without its challenges. The original structure left much to be desired, whilst the main entrance lacked easy access and the private spaces were very exposed. Undaunted, over 12 years, Matt and Rochelle embarked on a renovation in two stages – the final phase only recently completed – to bring the site to its fullest potential. “It’s an unusual site, and this typically leads to a unique outcome,” Matt explains. “It just grabbed our imagination.”
Today, the property is unrecognisable from its former self, with 95 per cent of the original house replaced and a comprehensive new landscape design established. The entrance has been flipped, with the new entry – a refined monolith that gives little away – set at the end of a cul-de-sac. Thaumatophyllums stand guard in a row, fringing the newly constructed studio, which is set atop the garage. Guests are led up a set of stairs that then opens spectacularly to the generous entertaining space, towering bamboo creating the feeling that one has left the city. Following a winding path along stepping stones, one is taken on a journey past small verdant scenes of cacti and succulents, the green offering a rich backdrop for the vibrant blue of the waterfall swimming pool that traverses the incline of the property.
The slope of the block is harnessed to create a series of terraces leading up to the house, each new level providing a unique setting and a potential area for recreation. The bottom-most area houses a striking stone firepit, seated at the lowest point of the backyard. Flanked by a towering wall of bamboo and framed by palms and agavoides, it remains cool and shaded, making it a favoured setting on hot summer days. Moving up, a retaining wall and a small set of paved steps mark the next level, the transition tracing the margin of the swimming pool to create an entrancing waterfall edge. The pool and associated spa create a series of rectangular forms that are echoed in miniature by a black geometric sculpture set contrasting against the white wall. The use of the high white wall here is a clever deception – it cultivates the feeling of privacy and seclusion when it is, in fact, concealing the boundary of the narrow block.
Designed by Jonathan Spicer from Spicer Architecture, the new home is sleek and refined, long angular lines in black and white making flashes of green from the garden particularly vibrant.
The rectangular motif ripples out along softly toned grey paving before unfolding into the angular modernist forms of the architecture. Designed by Jonathan Spicer from Spicer Architecture, the new home is sleek and refined, long angular lines in black and white making flashes of green from the garden particularly vibrant. The generous glass that frames the downstairs living and dining rooms retreats neatly away, allowing the whole area to open up to the outdoors and harness the cooling coastal breeze. A charming dining setting sits on the west-facing patio, under a broad eve – a favoured spot for having dinners on balmy evenings. “We use this area a tremendous amount, probably more than we use our indoor dining,” Matt shares. A west-facing outdoor area may seem unconventional in the harsh Australian environment, but he explains that the garden is designed around the majestic eucalypt that stands further down the backyard, which provides dappling shade throughout the longest part of the day. The other quality of this tree he adores is that it provides food and habitat for a bounty of birds. “The bird activity around here is just deafening!” he says proudly.
Internally, the home is light and open. Matt describes how each room has plenty of natural light, and apertures are tactfully placed to take advantage of greenery and gaps through the surrounding houses. “Everywhere [that] there was an opening there had to be something interesting and green to look at,” he says. The narrow proportions of the site meant that not every room was able to have a window. In these cases, skylights were installed to capture neighbouring tree canopies. Floor-to-ceiling windows abound, and sliding doors retract at key openings to dissolve the boundary between inside and outside, whilst still providing protection from the elements when closed.
A particularly striking effect is the central hallway, which opens on both sides to separate gardens, revealing captivating scenes of cacti and succulents. The majestic candelabra tree, Euphorbia ingens, dominates its space with its extending sculptural form, silver torch cacti protrude upwards and provide an impactful contrast of colour, and the famously enormous elephant cactus, Pachycereus pringlei, bides its time below. The consideration and attention to detail in each of these scenes, no matter how fleeting, demonstrates the expertise Secret Gardens has brought to the project, showing that gardens do not need to be large to be impactful.
The house ascends over two levels, joined by open rise timber stairs. The experience travelling up the stairs is of moving up a tall tower, the high ceilings and white brick walls projecting upward like a modernist lighthouse.
A cosy lounging space greets one upstairs, overlooking a rooftop garden housing the solar array. A river pebble base creates pleasant tone and texture, whilst permitting drainage, and six large cylinder planters screen the solar array from view. Matt experimented with several endemic species in these cylinders, but little thrived in the harsh conditions and thin soil. He found success with silvergrass, Miscanthus gracillimus, which had the added appeal of introducing seasonality to the otherwise mostly perennial garden. Growing up to two metres with flower heads, their soft texture and gentle movement are a pleasant counterpoint to the rigid sculptural forms elsewhere in the garden.
The most versatile space in the backyard is the studio. Situated back in the garden, adjacent to the pool, with a dining setting and kitchenette, its uses are limitless, becoming a working from home office, teenagers’ escape, art studio or pool kabana to serve the occasional cocktail on a warm Sydney evening. It is an excellent example of the versatility of the Secret Gardens approach, the detached structure receding quietly into the greenery of the garden, its design complementing that of the house itself. Sliding doors open up the space entirely, with a small deck facing the tucked lower corner of the backyard. The deck is only a few steps up, yet the bamboo that screens the whole gardens now comes up to meet you, giving a sense of separation and transition.
Courland House represents a dramatic transformation, the renovated home now abundant with natural light and openings, blurring the boundaries between inside and out. Through its apertures, the house integrates itself into the garden, with greenery peeking in at every opportunity, whilst outdoors, entertaining spaces abound. Making the most of the challenging site and maximising its opportunities, Secret Gardens has shown how the external environment can become an integral part of the internal experience – landscape and architecture working in harmony to create the ideal home for a social young family.
