Hillcrest Avenue Gladesville additions and new dual occupancy

The original house in Hillcrest Avenue dates from the inter-war period and is owned by husband and wife film-makers.  The photo above shows a deck and pergola, which opens off the dining room at the rear of the house.  At the end of the deck is a studio, which with the deck were part of the original alterations and additions to the house in the 1980s.   Beyond the studio on the left of the photo is the strata titled dual occupancy that was built for the husband’s mother in 1992.

The dual occupancy was only possible through the purchase of driveway access from the property at the top of the plan. The potential for dual occupancy, now known as “integrated housing”, is now fairly limited by planning controls, particularly in Hunters Hill.  However, depending on circumstances, it can sometimes be achieved and should not be discounted as a potential for development.

The new house is deliberately low key in its choice of materials, its hipped roofs designed to fit in with the surrounding housing.   The pitched roof also allows for a purpose-built attic space, which is accessed from a drop-down attic ladder in Bed 3.  The attic space is naturally ventilated via a ridge vent and is naturally lit by a glass panel inserted in the skylight boxing.

The front porch of the new house, with the studio on the right.  The right hand photo is of the new dining area with the kitchen, which is lit by a skylight.

The studio and deck were built by Peak Constructions and the new dual occupancy was built by me with Wal Johnston.

Woolwich Road house

The first floor addition and the view of the river from it.

Kaukomaa and Berg built the first floor addition to this house in Woolwich Road back in 1975, just after I left the Sydney firm of Fisher Jackson and Hudson to go out on my own as a sole practitioner.  The idea was to create a music room and library and to take advantage of the views over the Lane Cove River, in a way that was sympathetic to the existing house.  The access to the room is via a spiral staircase located in the revised kitchen.  Such first floor additions in Hunters Hill are nowadays discouraged because so many of them have been badly done. 

Glenview Crescent House

Alterations and additions to an existing house, built by Skinner and Johnston in 1981.  The work involved fairly extensive work to the existing ground and the provision of a four bedroom first floor addition.  Six years later the new front fence and gateway were built.

Ferdinand Street House

The existing house here was a much older house that had a fairly crude first floor addition.  The owners wanted to give the place a complete makeover to include their collection of antique Australian cedar skirting boards, antique doors and architraves.  The house is something of pastiche of 19th century design and most people think it’s been there for decades yet the work was completed in 1989.  The project did not end well for the owners who had over extended themselves with their antique purchases.