The patinated brass rangehood, fireplace and bar, featuring Astor Metals Alhena metal finish, were selected for their likeness to the sandstone tones. The space also features Gaggenau appliances, Fredericia Pioneer stools by Maria Bruun and a L’Objet Timna pitcher from Becker Minty.
Miriam Fanning says she wanted to explore light’s relationship with material throughout the home, particularly through the polished plaster walls. “The Brescia Terrazzo flooring and Statuario Crystal island bench contribute to the luminous quality of the kitchen,” she adds.
High above Sydney’s Mosman, two architectural styles are brought together as one captivating tribute to traditional craft and a home’s glassmaking past.
Built in 1902, Leesthorpe Mosman is an original home belonging to an estate developed by a glass merchant, its sandstone foundations and tiered topography harking back to when the site was once a quarry for sandstone and glassmaking. Melbourne architecture and design studio Mim Design, collaborating with Sydney architecture practice Stafford, was approached by a family taken by the Queen Anne-style home’s history and its views of Sydney Harbour Bridge. Continuing the home’s legacy, Mim Design has preserved the intricacies of the existing architecture while writing new interpretations of its story into the contemporary rear addition.
The heritage report cited the home’s “pretty features”, which Mim Design has conserved in the façade’s timber fretwork and original windows, and the interior’s ornate ceilings, timber mouldings and fireplaces. Mim Design founder and principal Miriam Fanning says these grand spaces were transformed into moody retreats, with saturated tones, expressive stone and darker walls. “Verde Riviera in the cellar contributes to the vibrant tapestry of stone, opening onto a bespoke Patagonia Green dining table, flanked by an intricate, custom stone and teal lacquered console,” she says.
Mim Design conceived ways for these original features to be retold in the contemporary addition, where the linear grooves of the timber veranda are carved into stone, timber furniture and joinery. “Turned pillars were emulated through discreet detailing in fireplaces and doorways, adding depth and shadow,” Fanning explains. Traces of glassmaking can be seen in the reconstituted front door, with its blue, green and gold leadlight glass. In the powder room, shadows from the watery glass windows become a feature unto themselves on the Breccia Capraia floor and polished walls, while the windows sparked the idea for the ribbed glass in the updated addition.
Custom dining table by Stylewood, Gallotti&Radice 0414 dining chairs, a vase by Michael Verheyden, Turbine bowl by Scott Van Tuil and Tangerine chalice by Ebony Russell from Martin Browne Contemporary.
In the contemporary living spaces, lighter timbers and subdued neutral hues are interrupted by the dark slate blue Edra Standard sofa and Behruz Fading Rocks custom rug, speaking to the client’s Dale Frank artwork. The space also features the Flos Taccia table lamp by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Tacchini Joaquim side table by Giorgio Bonaguro, Blue Coral sculpture by Emma Davies, B&B Italia Tobi-Ishi Low Rectangular table by Barber Osgerby, Baxter Allure side table and Long Neck Bottle vase by Tetsuya Ozawa.
From the outside, the addition is like an adjoining rear sculpture, while inside, the staircase takes this role as a threshold of eras. Revising the previous pocketed and maze-like passage from the original entrance, the studio repositioned the staircase and reconfigured the structural plan, seizing the opportunity for a “direct, soaring sightline towards North Sydney”. “The ribbon-like path captures the energy of the overall design, connecting each floor and the original home with a sense of ease and fluidity,” Fanning says. “Winding three levels, the soft bends of the polished plaster illuminate the stairway, together with strategically placed light wells within the architecture.”
Polished plaster walls, chosen for their reflectivity, were instrumental in the passage into the new volume, directing the eye towards the expansive views. “The open expanse housing the casual living, dining and kitchen has a luminous and weightless feel,” Fanning says. The rear extension creates a counterpoint to the cocooning heritage spaces, with relaxed areas for the family to gather. “Vistas within the architecture capture pockets of the landscaping, ensuring each space had a connection to the quintessential Sydney garden and, at the right angle, a framed view of the Harbour Bridge,” Fanning says.
Leesthorpe Mosman finds a beautiful equilibrium between eras through Mim Design’s care for the period elements and the home’s relationship to light, landscape and its prized Sydney outlook.
The dining room features a custom Patagonia Green dining table by Stylewood, Baxter Clotilde chairs by Roberto Lazzeroni and Lantern 3 pendant by Apparatus. Artwork on display includes Eye Tree—Morning Bay by Joshua Yeldham from Arthouse Gallery, Abstraction, Small Weaving II by Yvette Coppersmith from Sullivan+Strumpf and a vessel by Virginia Leonard from Martin Browne Contemporary.
The staircase contributes to the visual hierarchy of the home, with its curved balustrade inviting you upstairs to explore further, while Woodcut French Oak floorboards continue throughout.
"Vistas within the architecture capture pockets of the landscaping, ensuring each space had a connection to the quintessential Sydney garden and, at the right angle, a framed view of the Harbour Bridge."
– Mim Design founder and principal Miriam Fanning
The home’s palette and selection of furniture and lighting reflect the flow from the richness of heritage to the lightness of contemporary. In the formal living, a French Bronze Art Deco and Stone floor lamp from Galerie Terminus, Giorgetti Hero armchair by Carlo Colombo, Baxter Pillow armchair by Hannes Peer, custom Behruz Walking on Clouds rug, Gallotti&Radice Clemo coffee table by Massimo Castagna, Malocchio sculpture by William Versace from Curatorial+Co, Glas Italia Babar side table by Patricia Urquiola and Cobra by Ildikó Kovács from Martin Browne Contemporary.
The blue lacquer desk is a custom piece designed in response to the Jonny Niescheartwork in the study. It features the Cross Stack chandelier by Volker Haug, the Gallery light by Tom Fereday, the Giorgetti Hero armchair by Carlo Colombo and a Behruz custom rug.
The confident use of marble throughout the kitchens, bathrooms and powder room is another wink to the 1900s. An asymmetrical powder room in Breccia Capraia green marble features Vola tapware, a Siculus stone table by Dimitri Vargas, Society Limonta Ninho hand towel, Giopato & Coombes Maehwa wall light, Canyon vase by Hein Studio.
Adjacent to the dining room, the wine cellar is finished in green quartzite and dark-stained timber, with a Cathode 1 ceiling rose by Davide Groppi, a Fredericia Pioneer stool by Maria Bruun and Ghosts of Stoneware by Emma Davies.
Upstairs, the primary bedroom opens onto an expansive terrace overlooking the property’s lush garden, with panoramic views across the skyline and Sydney Harbour. Inside, a Cierre1972 Jamiro armchair by Marco Fumagalli, a Rimmed Pedestal vase by Tetsuya Ozawa, custom bedside table by Stylewood and RC+D Graphite carpet.
Landscaped gardens by Dangar Barin Smith.
