In Safe Hands
Photography by Tony Potter
Styling by Kirstin Randl-Katalinic
Renovating a heritage-listed home is not for the faint-hearted, as Brian and Irina discovered.
One of the largest Californian bungalows in Sydney, it was designed in 1918 for Sir Alan Taylor, then Lord Mayor of Sydney, by Donald Esplin, the architect who also designed the famous Astor Apartments in Macquarie Street. The original home contained four bedrooms and a wing with three maids' bedrooms and a separate building at the back comprising stables and servants' quarters. "It's a big, solid, chunky house," Brian remarks.
Today, it has seven bedrooms, one a study, and five bathrooms. Unusually, however, it is constructed entirely of faced bricks, not - as was the custom - just putting them on the frontage and using 'commons' for the sides and rear. The timber incorporated in it is another notable feature as Sir Alan was a wealthy timber merchant and the floors, doors and interior trims are all beautiful kauri from New Zealand.
When Brian and Irina bought the house in 2001, it was painted white throughout, had no curtains or light fittings and carpet covered the stunning floorboards. Although restricted by the heritage listing, they completed some exterior additions, including taking 200 tons of soil and rock out of the garden to build a new garage facility, a large room for entertaining and an in-ground pool. "We also did a lot of work in the gardens, putting in lawns, plants and hedges at the front and it went on and on," Brian exclaims, who commissioned Outer Space Landscapes to design it all.
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