The apartment renovation is in The Astor, a 13-storey apartment building in Sydney. Built in the early 1920s, The Astor is an Australian State Heritage item designed by Esplin and Mould. It was one of the first prestige apartment buildings in the city and includes a reinforced concrete frame and steel windows. ‘The brief was to update the layout of the apartment, maximise appreciation of the existing heritage features and incredible view,’ says architect Madeleine Blanchfield, whose eponymous studio headed up the project. ‘The existing apartment had a tiny, separate kitchen, old bathroom and some dubious tinkering had been done over the years.’
To achieve their objectives, Madeleine and her team stripped out the shell, opened up the kitchen, updated the bathroom and squeezed in a discreet laundry room. ‘We created an entry foyer with a gentle curve and put sheer curtains with built-in lighting troughs throughout, restored elements such as skirtings, which had been replaced over the years, and incorporated feature lights, built-in joinery and rugs,’ she says. The team was also responsible for selecting new furniture.
However, as can be expected when dealing with such a site-sensitive project, challenges were bound to arise, especially when considering the existing concrete frame, which made the alterations and lighting difficult. ‘We weren’t able to make large structural changes and the ones we did make had to be done carefully and with heritage sensitivity,’ says Madeleine. The existing timber floor was stained and the walls painted white, while kitchen joinery was kept purposefully subtle. ‘We managed to fit an incredible amount into a very tiny space,’ says Madeleine. Similarly, the furniture is eclectic but each piece is a refined example of exceptional design. The lounge, for example, incorporates pieces such as a Saarinen table, chairs and daybed by Carl Hansen & Søn and Henry Timi timber chairs. ‘The steel windows have vistas to the Opera House and also more unexpected views onto the copper roof of the nearby Chief Secretary’s Building,’ says Madeleine. ‘We wanted to allow these elements to shine and not compete with them.’
