A brindle whippet greets me at the door, all dainty limbs and shining eyes. Behind her, the door’s pane of rippling glass falls somewhere between olive green and a goldy brown. Beneath her paws, tessellated tiles in brown and white step out beneath an arched portico crafted in brown brick, like so many of its peers from this era of suburban Melbourne architecture.

architects Tara Ward and Jessie Fowler of Melbourne

While 1970s residences of this ilk have not always received the love they deserve, architects Tara Ward and Jessie Fowler of Melbourne studio Fowler and Ward saw an opportunity to deftly meld the nostalgic and contemporary. Like-minded clients with a well-honed design sensibility had lived in the house for a few years prior to embarking on this reimagining, and had a keen sense of what worked and what needed to be updated.

At the outset, there was plenty to recommend the existing house, which had endured some 50-odd years. Its structural condition was good, its rooms nicely proportioned, and most of its floorplan worked well, save for an enclosed and outdated dine-in kitchen and limited connection to the mature rear garden. It was not so much a question of creating more space as it was of better configuring the existing space.

Fowler and Ward’s response is a lesson in restraint. The new home extends a mere eight square metres beyond the original footprint, and many of the existing rooms were given a light refresh to show off their best features. Everywhere, the successful elements of the original house lend character and warmth.