Warrawee Story Part I
09 November 2017
Leading up to the festive season, we thought we would share the one-of-a-kind story behind the construction of our stunningly elegant Warrawee House. This custom home build was unique from the beginning since we were blending two quite different architecture styles together as one. The family believed that to build their dream home they needed Chateau’s expertise in combining styles to create a modernised Georgian style to support their growing family in Sydney.
Planning The Dream Home
To give you some context, our client is a young family recently relocated from South East Asia enjoying a great new opportunity in Sydney. Being a young family, they wanted to remain in Sydney’s North Shore for years to come so they purchased a slice of Sydney’s property market in a newly sub-divided parcel of land on one of Sydney’s most exclusive eastside streets within the suburb of Warrawee. They saw a bright future in the area since they were close to well-recognised and leading schools, boutique village shops, Warrawee and Wahroonga railway stations.The sticking point was that they loved the sense of community in their suburb & its surrounds.
Our client came to us with a clear vision of their dream home. There were some site limitations which challenged us like never before, however we were able to present our clients with their vision, turned into reality through our architectural plans.
Site Limitations
Within the property boundary there was a listed heritage garden as you can see within the image below. There was a nice garden at the front-left of the property (from the street) which needed to be retained and assured that it will remain as part of the house plan. The main feature of this garden was a protected Liquidambar styraciflua (commonly known as a Liquidambar and circled in the image) which was deemed significant within the local ecology.
The property itself had a slight slant which wasn’t necessarily a challenge but it certainly was something to consider for drainage as well as the foundations of the home. The land boundary was also significantly higher than the front of the property where it meets the road.
Architecture Style
Our clients wanted a modern yet traditional design with a quality feel since they planned to live in it for many years to come. The requirements were that it needed to meet their needs as a home for a growing family and quality double brick with a solid concrete slab construction. The Georgian appeal of square and symmetry was combined with contemporary touches throughout. Inspiring and elegant are just two words to describe this architectural style.
Architectural Plans
Our in-house architects at Chateau put together some final drawings of the custom home for our clients to sign off on. The plans are then submitted to the local council for approval. After approval is granted from council we can start the build. We will begin with clearing and excavating the property as per the architectural plans- leaving the heritage garden and heritage tree in tact (of course).
Chateau takes the stress away from this process for our clients, so the entire process of building your dream home is so much simpler. Often, council negotiations can be lengthy, time consuming and emotionally tiring for anyone submitting plans.
At Chateau Architects + Builders, our process involves a team of quality professionals who work as one right from the very beginning to the very end. Having a relatively vacant block of land, makes the process somewhat simpler, however we take care of it from the first enquiry from a client right through to that final coat of paint.
We take pride in our work, not only because we love what we do – but we also want our clients to feel as comfortable as possible during the entire process.
If you would like to know more about our recent home builds, you can look under Recent Projects on our website or call us on (02) 9634 6888.