Central Park: European Ease in a Melbourne Heritage Home

RESIDENTIAL · MELBOURNE

Central Park occupies an Edwardian residence in Melbourne. Georgina Jeffries designed the interiors and Pleysier Perkins the new addition, retaining the gridded ceiling, herringbone floors and original openings while reshaping the kitchen, dining and informal living areas for a family of four.

A view from the meals area towards the kitchen and family living space, where the island, long table and curved fireplace form a continuous shared zone.

Family life centred on the kitchen

The kitchen and adjoining meals area form the family's everyday gathering place. A generous island supports cooking and conversation, while the window-side banquette accommodates longer meals and study; a pantry behind a sliding door keeps practical equipment out of the main room.

A curved banquette and round table beside the steel-framed window provide a place for everyday meals and study.

Vertical timber detailing wraps the kitchen island, while the stone worktop and splashback extend along the rear wall.

Vertical timber detailing around the island takes its cue from European bar tables, making the fixed joinery read more like furniture. A Lacanche cooker, Artedomus Quaresto stone, brass details and a tiled-stone splashback give the kitchen a material weight that sits comfortably beside the older rooms.

The informal living area combines low dark cabinetry, upholstered seating and a free-form timber coffee table.

A curved fireplace and pale plastered wall form the backdrop to the living area, with seating arranged around a low table.

The stair between two eras

The stair and hallway sit between the original house and its addition. Herringbone timber meets pink and Carrara marble flooring at this threshold, where a curved wall wraps the stair and daylight enters through steel-framed glazing.

A curved wall wraps the stair, while the steps and window seat mark the threshold between the original house and the addition.

In the formal dining room, an oak table sits between the fireplace, mirror and large painting.

The formal dining and living rooms retain the proportions of the Edwardian house. Its gridded ceiling is painted in a lighter tone, while an oak dining table, walnut coffee table and contemporary sofas furnish the rooms; vintage pieces, Italian lighting and locally sourced art sit among the original details without concealing them.

The formal living room retains its gridded ceiling and original windows, with contemporary sofas and armchairs set on a patterned rug.

The dining table, leather chairs and pendant lights sit beneath the pale gridded ceiling, with dark cabinetry along the side wall.

A softer approach to bedrooms and bathrooms

The main bedroom pairs a custom-upholstered bedhead with a low timber nightstand and a wall light, while herringbone flooring continues through this part of the original house. Full-height cabinetry consolidates storage on the opposite wall, leaving an armchair and floor lamp by the window.

A custom upholstered bedhead extends across the main bedroom wall, accompanied by a timber nightstand and slender wall light.

Full-height cabinetry consolidates storage in the main bedroom, leaving a separate window seat with an armchair and floor lamp.

The family bathroom is organised around a freestanding Rockwell bath and matching basin, with a granular floor finish and small-format wall tiles across the wet areas. Mirrors, wall lights and textured glazing manage reflection and privacy in tones that remain close to the bedrooms' dusty pinks, beige and timber.

The family bathroom is centred on a freestanding bath, enclosed by textured glazing and a granular floor finish.

Small-format tiles line the bathroom walls, with an irregular mirror and wall light above the basin.

A timber vanity supports a strongly veined stone top, with an irregular mirror and adjustable wall lights above. The smaller fittings carry the timber and stone palette of the shared rooms into the bathroom.

A timber vanity supports a strongly veined stone top, with adjustable wall lights placed beside the mirror.

From the entry to the garden

The entry retains its original timber door and arched glazed doors, with pink and white stone flooring leading inward from the hall. A hammered-brass table by Luciano Frigerio, a Murano chandelier and a vintage Italian brass coat rack furnish this transitional space.

Arched glazed doors open the view through the hall, where pink and white stone flooring leads to a round table.

The original timber entrance frames the hall from outside, with patterned stone flooring extending into the interior.

At the rear, the new addition opens to the garden through steel-framed glazing, placing curved volumes beside the brick walls of the original house. The kitchen, family living area and outdoor dining occupy this end of the plan, while the formal living and dining rooms and bedrooms remain within the older rooms.

The new addition faces the garden through broad glazing, with outdoor dining furniture arranged along the terrace.

From the rear garden path, the brick walls of the old house sit beside the pale addition, with planting between them.

Central Park does not flatten the old house and its addition into a single material language. The gridded ceiling, timber floors and original openings remain, while stone, brass, steel-framed glazing and curved walls shape the kitchen, stair and garden side for family routines and entertaining.

Project credits

Project — Central Park
Location — Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country / Melbourne, Australia
Interior design — Georgina Jeffries
Architecture — Pleysier Perkins
Builder — Tykon
Landscape design — Eckersleys
Photography — Lillie Thompson
Images and original feature — est living
Original words — Sophie Lewis
Editorial adaptation — 01DES