J+B House is an architectural intervention that saw the external restoration of a Victorian terrace with all its filigree and formality coupled with the careful and sensitive insertion of an unapologetically modern form to accommodate a series of interconnected spaces to become a framework for family living.

The house was a free-standing 2-storey terrace form, that never received its equivalent terraced neighbours. A complete mismatch in a street of diverse free-standing cottages that stuck out like a sore thumb. It sat forward and was twice the size of its immediate neighbours. It had been stripped of its original detail and charm through a previous conversion into apartments and the only thing identifying it as a Victorian terrace was the ubiquitous and unmistaken terrace profile that is celebrated in Sydney’s inner suburbs.

The intervention revolved around the restoration of the Victorian terrace and all its former glory. The terrace part of the house was fitted out for the creation of “grown-up” spaces within the home. Putting the old people in the old house as the children described it with a guest room positioned on the ground floor and the parents retreat above and a further retreat within the attic.

The next step was the insertion of an in part 3 storey mass that was sliced up to create a series of intertwined living rooms and courtyards at all levels with their discreet uses distributed and connected strategically.

The public and family rooms become a series of ground-floor pavilions connected to the garden via ethereal glass panels with the first floor accommodating a jewellery workshop and separate children’s retreat.

All the rooms of the house are serviced by an external outdoor terrace/ balcony, allowing the family to control their connection to nature, the outside world and indeed to each other.