Eades House adopts a modest but carefully considered design approach. This is small footprint living, all-electric, and reaches a 7.9 star rating right on the edge of Melbourne’s CBD. The project is unpretentious avoiding excess or waste, but meaningful design ideas were pivotal in reworking this special heritage home.

The compact Victorian terrace has a chequered past. One of a set of early Victorian terraces built in the 1870’s it was originally a four-room house with an outhouse to the rear laneway. The new work takes inspiration from the original features including a new passage balustrade that mimics that of the concrete balcony. Similarly, the rear addition resembles a contemporary doll’s house version of the main house. A courtyard separates and connects old and new, celebrated with generous openings. The courtyard is now filled with beautiful plants and garden bringing light and greenery into the house and studio alike.

The body of the old original house is rendered double brick and upgraded with extra insulation. The alterations and additions are constructed with ground floor concrete slabs, light-weight floors, and walls with rendered cement sheet cladding and steel sheet roofing, all highly insulated. The home features double glazing, heat pump hot water, a rain garden, and a north-facing solar PV system.

The project demonstrates how a tight and challenging site can be turned around to bring ease of movement, light, space, and joy while being super energy efficient on just 120sqm.

Photography by Tess Kelly

Dissections
Lighting: Mondoluce. Finishes: Hardies Boundary Wall System, Surface Squared, Laminex, Royal Oak Floors, Perini Tiles. Fittings & Fixtures: Bosch, Arcisan Tapware.