As the name suggests, Maryville Heirloom House from Anthrosite has a heart -warming background story.
“Our customer Mel is the granddaughter of the original owner Marjorie and Peter,” says Mark Spence Mark Spence, the director of anthrosite design.
Her son John lived there all his life, and when he died in 2022, Mel and another brother decided that it was time to sell the house. That was until Mel secretly decided to buy the property for auction to keep it in the family.
Originally built in the early 1900s, the structure of the cottage of the double fire Miner was relatively well beaten to pass on three generations.
But with a patterned wallpaper, dated floral carpet inside and a dark addition to the 1980s behind, a sensitive update was well overdue.
“The character of the existing cottage of the existing brick mining worker was of the greatest importance,” says Mark. “Existing materials have been completely restored and only replaced as the last resort to ensure their durability.”
Their approach focused on holding back the not original layers, starting with sandblasting the thick layer of lime-green cement trenders from outside.
“We knew that the walls were all bricks but were fascinated by their quality. The bricks discovered were historically significant, which were made by the local brickmaker Joseph Bowtell in nearby Merewether,” added about four kilometers from the location.
This flawless craftsmanship from a past era, together with Maryville's historical context, also inspired the design of the resulting expansion.
Removing the dated man-to and part of an outer wall made space for a new bathroom and a connecting hallway, which now leads to the kitchen on a divided level and the living pavilion, which centered around a terrace garden.
In contrast to the pyramidal roof of the original cottage, the gable roof of the new structure was generated, so that it feels visually “untouched”, since the abolition of the floor reduced the flood risks 1.4 meters above the ground.
“The existing material range – brick, wood and metal sheet – is held in the new works, expressed and manufactured to supplement and expand the overall design,” says Mark.
Slimline wood slats enable that the light into the structural interiors are increased by sliding doors by lending the view of the garden and bricking into nature twice into the double integrated planters.
It is a perfect marriage between old and new; rustic and clever; After keeping the centuries-old house and his memories for future generations.