On A Mission

This 1930s Spanish Mission style duplex was first brought back to life by the current owner-builders in 2001.

The original features which reflected the romance and grandeur of its Hollywood-style heritage included twisted columns, high ornate ceilings, a Juliet balcony, leadlight windows and timber floors. Sadly, in the process of the updating the building for modern living, a number of Spanish Mission features such as the internal columns were lost.

The building is located in the eastern suburbs of Sydney with breathtaking views of Bondi Beach, an open-plan to capture the most of the view was both inevitable and understandable.

Older buildings are always vulnerable in areas where property prices are high and views sell at a great premium. So many of these original buildings, that add so much character to the area, have already been lost.  The reality is that many buyers would have pulled the whole dilapidated structure down, so we will take what we can!

The building consists of two three-bedroom apartments, a small front garden, a shared driveway to two garages and a level garden at the rear. Both apartments have their own entry and veranda and original ornate front doors and an internal access to the garages and garden.  An additional bedroom/study and bathroom was added to the bottom apartment during the original renovation by excavating behind the garage area.

In 2013 the owners decided to renovate the top apartment and build an attic extension to create an upstairs parent retreat.  This involved lowering the ceiling in the hallway and kitchen area to achieve regulation height upstairs.  At the same time this allowed further opening up of the living area as by altering the roof structure they were able to renovate a couple of intrusive support beams.  The addition using terracotta tiles and clip-lock metal roofing, rendered walls, glass balustrading is very discrete and is hardly visible from the street.

The façade is unaltered and in fact looks as fresh as it did over a decade ago following the initial restoration work.  The new bedroom ensuite and storage area are accessed via and internal stairway.  What was once a common stairwell has now been closed off at the top apartment level.

This grand old building has a lot of competition in its neighbourhood, but we think it continues to hold its head high.