Grand Designs Australia: Peter Maddison rates his top Sydney, NSW homes ever

Love them or hate them, these eye-catching homes have been declared the most ambitious and innovative in Australia. SEE THE LIST

It’s the suburban home where the 1950s have never died, or perhaps rather where the post-war era has been forever immortalised in one of Australia’s greatest designer homes.

This North Balgalow head-turning, time warp gem has been rated as one of our best architectural creations by leading industry figure and host of hit Foxtel show Grand Designs Australia Peter Maddison.

Mr Maddison rated the top 21 homes from the nine seasons of his show, with this shrine to the decade which witnessed the birth of rock and rock and the explosion of television, coming in at No. 11 on the list.

Warwick Noble and wife Melanie Hughes with daughters Lola (r) and Evie 14 live in one of Grand Designs Australia's top 21 grandest houses as rated by celebrated architect Peter Maddison. Picture: Toby Zerna

The house’s greatest achievement is that is undeniably a piece of art yet is also a comfortable, liveable home.

Completed in 2014 after a year’s build at a cost of $450,000, the former 1908s townhouse was transformed into a celebration of Pop Art that is now coming into its own as a neighbourhood icon.

Owners Warwick Noble and Melanie Hughes’s love of 1950s pop culture was the inspiration behind the project.

“People are often shocked when they drive past, they are not sure if it’s original or new,” Mr Noble said.

The 1950s is alive and well here. Picture: Toby Zerna

“We had a typical crap fibro shack before, now we have a Palm Springs front, a Japanese middle and a functional backyard with an inside and outside flow.

“It’s a classic minimalist house like the case studies that came out of California and it references the motels at Surfers Paradise I stayed in as a child. It’s thought provoking, cost efficient, fairly practical and not overly ostentatious.

“It’s not pretending to be anything that it isn’t. It’s honest and it fits into the ideals from that period of time.

The rooftop garden is one of many highlights. Picture: Toby Zerna

“It’s been great watching the kids grow up in a space like this and really enjoying it.”

An incredible Mystery Bay home, on the far NSW south coast, designed by the father-son team of Rob and Jack Hawkins took out the top spot. There were five NSW homes on the list.

“It’s an honour but I don’t see the home as a grand design,” Rob Hawkins said.

“It doesn’t have an expansive wine cellar or anything like that. It’s simple, elegant and a modest piece of architecture that is great to live in.”

No.1: Rob and Jack Hawkins’ Mystery Bay stunner. Picture: Supplied

In choosing his top 21 Mr Maddison said prioritised “architecture that is derived from materials that are from the place (the site of the house), or have a synergy to the place” to create a style that relates to the environment the home sits in.”

“Architecture that is original in its own right. It might have an element you can’t quite put your finger on, or if you have seem it somewhere, it’s not derivative. It’s original.”

Of the Mystery Bay home that brings new meaning to the term ‘beach shack’.

“It’s understated but inspiring,” Mr Maddison said.

The new series of Grand Designs Australia starts Wednesdays at 8.30pm from March 31 on Foxtel’s LifeStyle channel.