Fitzroy Bridge House involves the conversion of a terrace house graded individually significant in the South Fitzroy Heritage Precinct. Designed for a young family whose vision for the house was strongly tied to the history of the original building, the resulting conversion celebrates the legacy of the site & surrounds, preserving authenticity with creative adaptations that enable responsive family living on a challenging site.

The objectives being to: Bring light & air into the center of the long thin site. Connect the buildings such that it doesn’t compromise movement and light in these spaces. Maximize the upper-level footprint through the reduction of stairs. Provide privacy from the overviewing flats & neighbours. Provide a self-contained rear bedroom/study above a garage/studio space with separate rear access to the main house. 

Openness and light to the main courtyard are acquired through the intervention of an elevated glass-floored bridge (shifted to the south for solar access) & a glass-roofed covered way to the north. Somewhat unconventional, this move unlocks the courtyard providing equal ability to aid privacy as it does aid solar access & a borrowed amenity between levels as one looks down over a manicured garden below inspired by the heritage of its owner.

Externally, the original masonry facade to the street face is preserved and restored. All removed bricks from the demolished rear wing were salvaged and reused on the rear ’pavilions’ ensuring any new work came intrinsically out of the old. When seen from the public realm of Little Napier Street the 3 buildings are viewed in combination, unified by a ground-level wall but also by their material texture, color & solidity. The gesture of repeating a set of arched windows at the ends of each building (with expressed blinker hoods) is suggestive of traditional & local architecture, aiding in consistency & connection between the buildings that is in keeping with the character of the neighborhood.