generation game

The architect behind the renovation of this Victorian worker's cottage looked to the past and the future to give it a magnificent and multifaceted new identity say

- Juliet Benning

LIVING AREA

Encased in glass, the staircase appears to float upwards and allows light to circulate.

Betsy armchair in Caramel velvet; Retro dhurrie in Rose & Mustard; Woodrow oval coffee table, all Fenton & Fenton. Light by Mark Douglass Design, assembled by BelArte

home profile

THE OWNERS

Chris De Stratis, director of BelArte Building Group, his wife and business partner, Tina, and their children, Eloise, six, Giovanni, four, Massimo, three, and Sonny, one.

THE ARCHITECT

Enza Angelucci, director of Angelucci Architects.

THE PROPERTY

A cottage built in 1885 in Carlton, Melbourne. On the ground floor is the main bedroom with en suite and dressing room and a family bathroom. A central living space opens onto an internal courtyard and kitchen. The playroom and utility room are in the basement. On the first floor are two children's bedrooms and a bathroom. There is also a roof terrace.

It rom its façade, there is little to indicate that the house known as Il Nido - the nest or nursery in Italian-conceals within itself a mass of contradictions. On a footprint of only 108 square metres, the house has an unexpected vertical axis with a basement dug out of the ancient blue stone of Melbourne and a first floor with city views. Originally a worker's cottage built in 1885, its character is both humble and yet tells a story of a boomtown founded during a gold rush.