Hop onboard onto this exciting vessel, everyone! Tribe Studio Architects’ Dulwich Hill House is a cosy Californian Bungalow with an extension that appears to be a contemporary mirror reflection and interpretation of the beloved architectural structure and style. Located in Sydney, Australia, this home came to life from imaginations and experimentations by a proprietor of a local lumber yard.

Beginning its life as a two-storey house, it underwent many transformations in the 1950s and 1980s – dressing the house with trinkets of different styles that inspired the eventual extension. Now lifted with modern tweaks, albeit still carrying strings of its existing elements, you can say Tribe Studio has successfully and playfully flipped the house inside out.

On the façade, Dulwich Hill House is very quaint, posing similar features to its neighbours. Although, passing the picturesque red-bricked entrance unravels a corridor wedged between two living areas to the left, and a bedroom, bathroom, and study to the right. Following the classical footprint eventuates to a modernised kitchen (with a laundry neatly tucked behind) and living space readily openable to become an alfresco area. Via the staircase tucked opposite the dining room unfurls a new first level that replaces the former attached first floor with a lighter and subtle presence. Inside the new light-filled first floor is a corridor with sleeping spaces at the right, orientated to capture in the welcoming natural light and views of the overgrowing landscape by Fieldwork Associates.

Existing knick-knacks of the house, which include a pirate ship-like frosted glass door, protruding pebbled fireplace, mock-Victorian ornamental ceilings were too charming to be removed from the existing house. Instead, walls are repainted with white to allow the rich deep timber frame poignant views within the living and dining spaces. Fanciful sculpted deep cherry architraves remain, uniform in the language of the existing bay windows that does feel like a historical voyager.

If the colours on the existing were red brick with white accents – Tribe’s modern interpretation with the extension is the complete opposite. White walls everywhere with red roof capping as an energetic accent that maintains a kinship between the two infrastructures. To further the connection between the two parts, thin white structural yet decorative columns are anchored with knee-high mason reflective of the front.

The new panelled ceiling is a simple rendition of the existing with a minimal touch. Lighter and honey-coloured timber now becomes the staircase and joinery. Bedrooms and bathrooms, mostly painted in white, are dashed with cases of deep cherry browns otherwise blossom red terrazzo flooring and joinery. Albeit a block of ocean blue of the painted shelf right next to the bay window is a gentle reminder of where the inspiration comes from.

The transitioning from old to new, Dulwich Hill House is a walking timeline of architectural charm, making elements that may be kitsch into charmingly desirable ones. The gradual and smooth integration of two characteristics feels like warmth of a loved one, reading me a story that will lull me into peace and excitement in equal measure.

[Images courtesy of Tribe Studio Architects. Photography by Kat Lu.]