Maidstone House is a housing proposal inspired by Coogee’s coastal setting and the layered history of its site. Anchored by the distinguished two-storey Victorian Italianate mansion for which the site is named and against a backdrop that includes the neo-Byzantine St. Brigid’s Church, the project seeks to sensitively embed itself within this significant heritage setting while enhancing its architectural and landscape qualities.

Upon the steeply inclined sandstone slopes that rise behind Coogee Beach, the site is largely defined by its collection of mature Norfolk Island Pines that form a bastion around the heritage house, the current Provincial quarters of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic Order with deep connection to the LGA and its community. The design introduces two new residential apartment buildings that together provide nine bespoke residential apartments, their placement and built form recessively arranged to retain the primacy of Maidstone House, which itself is carefully restored and refurbishment into a single family home.

The existing and complex topography is rehabilitated through a distinct ground plane — a stone plinth carved with a series of connected gardens that echo the geography of the coastal landscape.

The architecture is conceived as a dialogue between Maidstone House and St Brigid’s Church, shaped by the interplay of air, material warmth, landscape and shifting light to create an atmosphere that grounds the rituals of everyday life within its unique setting. The new façades are carefully composed of light brickwork, articulated with timber, glazing and finely detailed metalwork, mediating between the scale, character and proportions of St Brigid’s Church and the domestic, filigree character of Maidstone House.

Andrew Cortese, William Saville, Wayne Henkel, Stephanie Cheng, Michelle Lee, Annalisa Sandona