In the kitchen, Tasmanian oak joinery and stainless-steel benchtops are by Evolve Interiors, alongside Black Fantasy stone and Antilia porcelain tiles from Artedomus, appliances from Miele, Fisher & Paykel and Qasair, and Sussex Voda tapware.
Tucked within the curve of a six-ways roundabout, opposite a cherished Melbourne pub, is a light-filled dwelling—equal parts house and garden. Replacing the original 1980s build with a sensitivity grounded in nostalgia and new beginnings, Six-Ways House by Kennedy Nolan is a home designed for real life.
Valued for its heritage fabric, leafy streets, and vibrant community, Fitzroy North is a nineteenth-century neighbourhood, brimming with lovable, idiosyncratic sites. Oriented east-west, with its principal orientation facing south, Six-Ways House is no exception. Carefully reinforcing the five-metre subdivision rhythm of the street, the design team was able to hold the southern edge on the roundabout while providing north orientation and a garden aspect to all principal rooms in the home. The result: a “reverse living” arrangement, with kitchen, living, and dining rooms all on the first floor, and bedrooms below.
“Our clients were an interesting couple, who travelled extensively for their jobs and were both great gardeners,” Kennedy Nolan founding partner Rachel Nolan says. “They selected us to be their architects because they enjoyed that we addressed the way a house should feel,” she adds.
Six-Ways House feels timeless but also made for right now. The front entry off the long edge provides an immediate glimpse into the luscious succulent garden. Moments of green throughout the interiors and landscaping mimic the soft yet self-assured palette of the spotted gums that sit proudly at the centre of the roundabout out on the street.
A Wästberg W151 Extra Large pendant hangs above the dining room table.
Silver Grey Flamed granite tiles, terrazzo tiles from Surface Gallery and Samurai carpet from Bremworth in ‘Midori’.
Circa and Sussex Voda tapware feature in the bathroom, as well as terrazzo tiles from Surface Gallery and Antilia porcelain tiles from Artedomus.
Kennedy Nolan have split the function of the Victorian first floor balcony with a theatrical dining room to take on the role of public space in the most prominent corner. The result is a “sense of being on public display ameliorated through the use of strategically placed mirrors to confuse sight lines,” Nolan continues. “Proportions are drawn from surrounding buildings, with an emphasis on first floor scale—a Piano nobile, tall and elegant,” she says.
Six-Ways is a heritage overlay project, so coming to an agreement with council who sought a more literal expression of Victorian architecture saw the design team implement window openings on ground and first floors. Situated on a corner with zero setbacks, the solution needed to consider how the urban realm and homeowner would feel comfortable in equal measure.
“Reaching an agreement that there would only be first-floor windows to the corner, our clients now enjoy front row seats overlooking Six Ways from their quite public dining room,” Nolan explains. “They have never put up blinds, which is testament to the comfort they feel in this space—there is a sense of gentle surveillance within this design.”
Speaking of her love and respect for the homeowner and her late husband, who tragically passed away while the project was still in the process of being delivered, Nolan reflects on the nuances of the design and the story that shaped it. “Our client loves this house,” she reflects. “It is the home she made with her partner, and it is the garden they started together.”
A treasured place and special addition to the story of its neighbourhood and its people, Six-Ways House presents layer upon layer of considered design for those who have and will experience it, inside and out.
Six-Ways feature steel windows by Tescher Forge in Dulux ‘Pale Eucalypt Satin’ and steel window shrouds by R. A. Steel in Dulux ‘Herbalist’. Timber windows and doors in Accoya timber are by Pickering Joinery in ‘Sioo:x’ for exterior coating and Dulux ‘Olive Paste’ inside. LowE Plus Clear glazing is from Insulglass.
Walls internally and externally are made with Indulgence bricks from Austral Bricks in ‘Praline’ and Vulcan Cladding from Abodo in ‘Sioo:x’, with Klip-Lok roofing from Lysaght in ‘Zincalume’
