After spending some years cutting his teeth on high-profile projects at architecture practices in Sydney and London, Luke Moloney was presented with an opportunity that was too good to refuse. The project in question is The Estate, set in far-off rural New South Wales. Built in the 1880s for a prominent pastoral family, the house was once the centre of a vast working farm. 

There are attendant outbuildings, stables, kitchen gardens, and a general store that served the area during the early European settlement.The project was divided into five tranches of restoration — the main block of the homestead, the old service wing, the old general store, planting a new garden, and finally, the homestead’s bedroom wing.

“We put in a lot of effort choosing things that would harmonise with the grand old house, but speak to a contemporary aesthetic more reflective of the young family living there.” In the main homestead, the most important work was the most prosaic — a new roof, new insulation, thermally-rated glazing, and a mammoth upgrade to the building services. Rainwater recycling, geothermal heating, and photovoltaic systems were introduced to power the house and run it off-grid. 

Behind the main house, the old service wing was in a state of advanced dereliction, with the interiors far too gone to save. The rotting internal structures were removed, the external walls braced, and a new double-height library space was created. An arresting steel spiral staircase was craned through the roof to link the two levels and lend sculptural interest to the room.

Furnishing the library and the dining room was undertaken with the help of Arent&Pyke.With an effortless blend of history and modernity, the apparent lightness of touch disguises the substantial overhaul of The Estate. It’s a sign of architectural sensitivity and genuine mastery at play.