Fusing the Collected and Contemporary
By carefully threading the old with the new, Williams Burton Leopardi has given this heritage home in Adelaide an updated character and purpose
In Adelaide’s inner south, Unley Park Residence sits surrounded by similar residences all owned by the homeowners’ family members, bringing a new meaning to the word ‘home’. Williams Burton Leopardi elevated the original house’s heritage features and grand proportions through a reworking of the interiors, expanding on the idea of togetherness. The result ensures the overall form of the home feels untouched upon approach, but inside a transformation has taken place.
One of the most important elements for the clients was the establishment of connection. Like most traditional plans, formality and separation create symmetry and clear division, and finding the right balance that retained the essence of the original home while fusing it with the new was imperative. Williams Burton Leopardi, having worked on an extension to the home many years ago, was familiar with the property, its site and its owners. With time — and more children — the clients’ need for other areas to be brought together under the same sensibility drove the new work as an extension of the previously established principles.
Taking inspiration from the original home’s Art Deco and Art Nouveau stylings, a new kitchen was crafted with a similar approach to geometry, adding an inherent playfulness in the process. A heightened focus on materiality sees stone used liberally with aged brass accents. The monolithic kitchen island sits on finely milled brass balls, elevating it up off the floor plane, while its heft anchors it in place. Opening up to the shared living, dining and garden areas, the space feels both recalibrated and appropriate.
Other spaces include dedicated amenities for the growing children, such as additional bedrooms and play and study areas that are integrated into other more formal zones. A palette of warm, complimentary tones connects to the existing stone throughout while refreshing the spaces in the process. The reworking of the unused roof cavity extends the overall floor area while still retaining the overall volume. A quaint dormer window peeks out over the tennis court, becoming a reminder of the gesture.
But it’s the collection of antiques that marks the point of difference for this unique home. The inherited and collected items, artworks and lighting become sculptural additions among the more contemporary insertions in Unley Park Residence. By carefully threading the old with the new, Williams Burton Leopardi has artfully continued the home’s lineage.
Text / Bronwyn Marshall
Images / Caroline Cameron
