This regal kitchen has dramatic views of Hobart’s skyline and the Derwent River

From the outside, an imposing Italianate Victorian mansion in Hobart has a regal look that is enhanced by slender elongated chimneys and fine filagree wrought iron lacework.

But rather than a foreboding front entrance overseen by Lurch the butler from the TV series The Addams Family, the front door is to the side and visitors are met by frisky Labradors. Renovated for a couple with three children and two dogs, the family home in the northern suburb of Mount Stuart is neither eerie nor pretentious.

The kitchen is very much a place to enjoy the art of cooking or simply the views that extend beyond the back garden to the Eastern Shore and Frederick Henry Bay.Credit: Adam Gibson Photographer

“Our clients had a certain vision in their minds but were not exactly sure how to achieve it – something that was quite layered and, importantly, liveable. From memory, a few keywords were ‘being able to see both the garden and the sky’,” says architect Shamus Mulcahy, who worked closely with colleagues Bek Verrier and Sophie Bence, a co-director of Bence Mulcahy Architecture.

Neither the dramatic view of the Hobart skyline or the Derwent River was clearly visible from the house’s former kitchen, a 1980s glass box that had been crudely tacked onto the back of the house with little consideration for either aspect or heat retention. About two by four metres in area, the old rudimentary kitchen was far from functional or desirable to be in.

Another idea suggested by the owners was to create a kitchen that felt more like a “potting shed”, where souvenirs from travels could be displayed alongside kitchen utensils within reach.

Vases and objects lovingly brought back to life by the owners, and flowers picked from the garden are scattered on the mild steel shelves. And rather than a slab of marble on the benches, Bence Mulcahy opted for brass – with the imprints and marks made over time.

Combined with Tasmanian oak joinery, the kitchen is a place to enjoy the art of cooking or the views that extend beyond the back garden to the Eastern Shore and Frederick Henry Bay.

Vases and objects lovingly brought back to life by the owners, and flowers picked from the garden are scattered on the mild steel shelves.Credit: Adam Gibson Photographer

The six-metre-high void of the new dining nook also magnifies the vista, with the steel and glass window in the ensuite to the main bedroom, directly above, also benefiting from this aspect. “It was quite a challenging brief as providing a view from the bath tub meant creating a stepped or recessed effect,” says Mulcahy, who was also conscious of retaining the established cyprus and the mature pear tree that now almost reach the home’s pitched slate roof.

The home has won numerous accolades including a heritage award and an award from the Australian Institute of Architects (Tasmanian Chapter).Credit: Adam Gibson Photographer

The home, which has won numerous accolades including a heritage award and an award from the Australian Institute of Architects (Tasmanian Chapter), shows what can be achieved by thinking outside the box rather than simply replacing one glass box with another.

The large dining area, adjacent to the kitchen, has been carefully tweaked with the original red brick wall and fireplace adding another tactile layer in the mix. Bence Mulcahy also added detail where it felt necessary, such as designing brass vents in the floorboards that pick up the silhouettes of the green Austrian tiles used for the new bathrooms, guest powder room and for the ensuite to the main bedroom.

Given the success of the renovation, stage two – which has just been completed – took the form of a detached guest wing in the back garden. Previously a ubiquitous 1980s garage, the former pitched roof was removed and a flat roof installed, along with solar panels that generate electricity not just for the guest wing, but also to charge the cars.

“We removed the old garage door and inserted fluted glass windows and doors,” says Mulcahy. Although modest in size, the guest wing includes a kitchenette, a dining setting, a banquette window seat and an ensuite. There’s also a foldout double bed that can be eased into position when needed.

The Italianate Victorian home in Mount Stuart, a northern suburb of Hobart.Credit: Adam Gibson Photographer

At a time when kitchens can often be seen as sterile (read wall-to-wall marble) with every object and appliance allocated to the butler’s pantry, the Mount Stuart house is a reminder that kitchens can be treated like a potting shed and that worn vintage furniture adds a sense of the treasured and loved – a place where two Labradors, like the children, have free rein.

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