Australia’s most expensive apartment in the 1960s has had a luxurious facelift

And while the gilt edge might have faded in some apartments, there’s one, recently reworked by Kennedy Nolan, that sets a benchmark in top-end design.

The address, in highly coveted Anderson Street in South Yarra overlooking the Royal Botanic Gardens, is one reason they are so popular. The other is the quality of the building, designed by Yuncken Freeman.

Kennedy Nolan’s reworking in the Fairlie has won them an architecture award from the Australian Institute of Architects (Victorian Chapter) in the category of interior architecture. Their work shows what can be achieved when every square centimetre is highly considered.

For the owners, who scaled down from a nearby family house by 1930s modernist architect Marcus Martin, the move to a 150-square-metre apartment that would accommodate a lifetime of treasures was challenging, both for the clients and the architects.

“We saw the apartment like a giant Wunderkammer (a cabinet of curiosities), where there had to be space for each object and artwork,” says architect Patrick Kennedy, principal of the practice.

When Kennedy Nolan first inspected the apartment, it was, in Kennedy’s word, “bland”.

“There weren’t any significant period features, apart from the unique building itself, a rare example of regency revival modernism in Australia,” says Kennedy, whose brief was to reconfigure the floorplan into a one-bedroom apartment with a second space that could be used as a second bedroom or an alternative use.

The other directive was to imbue the apartment with a sense of glamour that would have been evident when the building was completed.

Kennedy and his team took their design cues from The Peacock Room in London, a lavish interior designed by James McNeil Whistler completed in 1923 – featuring a rich melange of peachy, golden hues and peacock-green walls.

The other source of inspiration came from the work of Australian interior designer, Marion Hall Best, the doyen of the 1960s, known for her reflective and mirror-finished painted ceilings.

“We wanted to capture the richness and texture of that period, while moving forward,” says Kennedy, pointing out the cloth wallpapers and the home’s many travertine finishes – from floors to benchtops.

The apartment now features what’s referred to as the long room – an elongated space that includes the living and dining area with a secondary sitting area, all of which are connected to the generous western terrace, with its enfilade of pillars.

The kitchen and “snug”, or office beyond, forms an L-shape to the plan, with the main bedroom and two bathrooms located at the other end of the apartment. From the living areas, orientated to the Botanic Gardens, the views take in Port Phillip Bay, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Government House and Melbourne’s skyline.

“We wanted to ensure these sight lines could be appreciated from within the core of the floorplan,” says Kennedy, retracting the sliding door to the home office/snug/second bedroom.

However, while a guest could theoretically stay over, Kennedy Nolan’s design encapsulates perfectly a configuration tailored to a couple who have an impressive collection of furniture and art – including a photograph by Christian Thompson at the apartment’s entrance and furniture by Warren Platner, who made his indelible mark in the 1960s and ’70s.

Other pieces include a dining table commissioned from Thomas Lentini and richly embroidered curtains from Pierre Frey for the bedroom, artworks in their own right.

At a time when many of today’s top-end developments appear cookie-cutter, offering a standard (read predictable) range of finishes and fittings, this Fairlie abode celebrates the whimsical and stylish interiors of both the past and, more importantly, the present.