Complete with stone fireplace and stained timber pitched roof, the house has elements similar to ’60s American architect John Lautner’s work, known for his Chemosphere house in the Hollywood Hills.
Large sandstone boulders anchor the house and also pierce some of the interior spaces.Credit: Zella Casey Brown
The kitchen, part of the original house, was completely reworked by Brown and his team. However, it still speaks a similar language with its stained timber ceiling and an irregular-shaped skylight. New timber joinery, along with stainless-steel benches, respond to the present, while a table-like island bench has a 1950s feel.
The floors in the old house are terrazzo. Its new floors are a combination of polished concrete embedded with large slabs of terrazzo, in varying hues.Credit: Zella Casey Brown
The renovation included transforming what was formerly the main bedroom into a guest wing. A new concrete glass and steel wing was added for the main bedroom suite and a study/library, creating a strong delineation between past and present.
The renovation included transforming what was formerly the main bedroom into a guest wing.Credit: Zella Casey Brown
Brown, who is a master when it comes to working with period buildings, drew inspiration from the original design.
The floors in the old house are terrazzo. Its new floors are a combination of polished concrete embedded with large slabs of terrazzo, in varying hues.
Large sandstone boulders that anchor the house, also pierce some of the interior spaces. The change in level between the study/library and the main bedroom, for example, has been beautifully chiselled into place as if they’ve always existed in synchronicity.
“I wanted to feel as though you were standing on a platform, whether you were on the terrace or in one of the other rooms,” says Brown, who was also mindful of working with some of the established trees on the property, such as an Angophora which frames the new wing.
The home’s original chunky sandstone walls were difficult to rework. Negotiating the many changes in levels was complex. But after arriving at the terrace, either by climbing 96 stairs or ascending in the cable car, the views and experience say it all, which is perhaps why Casey Brown Architecture won the John Verge Interior Architecture Award from the Australian Institute of architects (NSW Chapter) for their work.
Given the complexity of the site and Kingsbury’s original design, it’s not surprising that Babylon House took almost a decade to complete.
The Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day’s trading. Get it each weekday afternoon.
