Erskineville Cottage Renovation

A single-fronted cottage in Erskineville, with a timber-clad, two-storey addition at the back and a tall, light-filled living room that opens onto a deck and garden.

From the street this is a classic inner-city cottage: single-storey, behind an iron palisade fence, with a corrugated iron roof, a tessellated tiled path and an arched fanlight over the front door. A long hallway runs from the front door, through an archway, to the living spaces at the back. [Greg: what did the owners ask for, and what wasn’t working in the old house?] [Greg: was this a Development Application (DA) or a Complying Development Certificate (CDC), and is the street in a heritage conservation area?]

At the back, the two-storey addition is clad in dark timber with spaced vertical battens, and a grey box window projects from the upper floor. Below it, the living room rises to a high ceiling ringed with clerestory windows, and glass bifold doors open straight onto a hardwood deck screened by palms. The kitchen sits under a skylight beside a green boarded wall. [Greg: which parts did we design – the whole rear addition, or particular rooms?]

From the street the house still reads as a modest cottage, while the back half is full of daylight and opens to the garden. A bedroom tucked under the sloping roof has exposed ceiling beams, a window seat and built-in joinery. [Greg: is that room new space we created in the roof?] [Greg: how do the owners use the house now, and is there a line from them we could quote?]