The kitchen features Grazia & Co Dita stools, limestone floors, Miele appliances, and a CDK Stone Lorde White honed marble island, paired with American oak timber veneer cabinetry. An &Tradition Lato LN9 side table completes the space.
Located in South Australia’s Adelaide Hills, Boxwell is a Victorian homestead redesigned by Williams Burton Leopardi, which holds time in memory and place.
Set deep in the Adelaide Hills, Boxwell is inspired equally by its natural surroundings and its history. The Victorian homestead is surrounded by a garden that has been nurtured with the same care as the home, and remains true to foundation. It was important to the designers and homeowners that the approach was “sympathetic and intentional to the past and would continue an important legacy,” director Sophia Leopardi says. With this in mind, they paid homage to the past of the home by not renovating in a conventional sense, but rather reviving the home’s true character.
With each season and each generation, the home shifted in form and feeling, gathering layers of story along the way. The most significant transformation came after a storm brought down a tree, damaging a 1960s pavilion at the rear. With this, the architects saw a chance to rethink the home’s essence, replacing the wing with a composition of three interlocking elements: the original sandstone house, the remnants of outbuildings reimagined through utilitarian honesty, and a new bridging insertion that ties them together. Referred to as the ‘Triptych’ by the designers, it reframes the back of the home into a northern-facing sanctuary, opening to the garden and pool beyond, blurring edges between enclosure and openness. Together, the main residences and smaller pavilions establish a natural hierarchy of spaces—some for gathering, others for retreating—that reflect the owners’ desire to both host and reset.
Additions such as the bagged brickwork, ribbed glass, steel-framed glazing, were chosen for their tactile qualities and their ability to age with the home, continuing continuity between past and present.
Filled with history, Boxwell’s materiality is the pillar of the home. The original sandstone walls remain as its backbone, with additions such as the bagged brickwork, ribbed glass and steel-framed glazing chosen for their tactile qualities and their ability to age with the home. Inside, warmth is cultivated through timber panelling and the arrangement of natural light. Morning sun filters from the east, while shifting light and shadow move through the day.
The landscape, designed in collaboration with Lee Gray, was considered as more than just a garden; it has its own architecture and purpose. Plantings wrap themselves around stone and timber, blurring the harsh edges of sandstone with soft hints of green. As the seasons shift, so does the garden’s relationship with the interiors. Winter light falls low across ribbed glass, while the outside greenery scatters shadows across the sandstone in summer. Large sliding doors invite light and texture into daily life, encouraging the occupants to treat the garden and outdoor areas as an extension of the home.
From here, the journey continues inside, beginning at the front door where stained-glass accents nod to the home’s Victorian origins before sweeping windows show off the surrounding greenery, allowing light to pour through. At the centre lies the kitchen; a place of function and socialising. Here, stone benches and timber cabinetry have a sense of weight and permanence, while its openness to the dining and garden reinforces its role in everyday ritual. From this central area the home extends outward, into living spaces that are welcoming yet intimate.
Boxwell is ultimately a home full of gentle contrasts: light and shadow, openness and refuge, permanence and renewal. Williams Burton Leopardi has woven together fragments of memory, heritage and nature into a home that feels contemporary while also adaptable.
In the living room, the Grazia & Co Ivy coffee table rests on an Armadillo Ravine rug, illuminated by the Valerie Objects Hanging Lamp N2.
The stained-glass nods to the home’s Victorian heritage before sweeping windows show off the surrounding greenery, allowing light to pour through.
The en suite features CDK Stone Lorde White honed marble, Pittella door handles, Brodware tapware, and the Articolo Domi wall sconce.
The terrace, shaded dining table, and wood-fired pizza oven offer opportunities for family gatherings.
The landscape designed in collaboration with Lee Gray has its own architecture and purpose.
