How best can you extend onto an existing, heritage home? It’s a challenge faced by designers around the globe, seeking to update the original without forfeiting its architectural integrity. The Chloe House by Templeton Architecture was born out of this endeavour, gently extending onto a Federation-style home and offering a new direction for its family to live. 

Templeton Architecture are highly accomplished at the art of gracefully working within the requirements of historic Melbourne homes. Their Chloe project brief called for a heightened liveability for the family and respect for both the Federation features and mature garden setting.

With a name that means ‘young green growth’, Templeton Architecture’s new pavilion and renovation generates strength in spatial connection and its relationship with the garden while welcoming natural light that unfolds into the depths of the original home.

Behind the charming original facade, Templeton Architecture were first introduced to a cluster of dark and disconnected spaces with poor circulation and ventilation. Templeton Architecture addressed the dormant, under-used spaces’ desperate need for natural light while creating generous connecting spaces to activate the original rooms. They also ensured a seamless flow into and within the new spaces added at the rear.

Structurally, the rear pavilion of the Chloe House doesn’t hide from the street, floating above natural ground level on a stone deck around the old Jacaranda tree. Templeton Architecture made a special effort to sensitively surround, protect and celebrate the tree – the project’s main constraint.

The exterior palette combines the robust materials of timber, stone and concrete to sit comfortably with the masonry of the heritage abode. This is punctuated by black steel openings that embrace the opportunity for greenery inside. The playfully modern, circular window was positioned carefully to frame the mature Jacaranda tree and dining room referred to by the home’s teenagers as the ‘Instagram window’. 

Inside, the exterior palette is reintroduced through the classic timber flooring and joinery, and grey stone bench top and splashback in the kitchen. Contrary to the movement toward open plan living, Templeton Architecture acknowledged a change in family behaviours with a designated dining space to gather. Repositioning the room as the centre for family activity, Templeton Architecture selected Gubi Beetle Chairs and an Apparatus pendant to anchor the special space. 

The Chloe House by Templeton Architecture reveals its success in harmony, from the warm and minimalist atmosphere that pervades all spaces within, to the considered connection to the home’s past and accompanying Jacaranda tree. Ready to start a new chapter, the Chloe House promotes fresh growth for all.