Villa Amor by Arent&Pyke
Such was the grace already embedded in this 1928 apartment in Bellevue Hill that it required a delicate – or apparently delicate touch. Inversely proportional to our soft intervention was the ultimate transformation of the home and, to their surprise, our clients.
Before the renovation, the idea of ‘home’ had been of no consequence to them, but the process culminated in a complete change of pace and priorities for the hitherto hotel-loving nomads.
The top-floor apartment of a stuccoed Spanish mission-style building, it already had the atmosphere of a large Parisian apartment, with grand proportions and elevated views, all of which conjured a theme of romance.
The central living room’s interior architecture included an original French-style garland frieze and fluted archways, large windows framing harbour views, and a vaulted ceiling concealing all the room’s lighting.
These big romantic gestures required reciprocal respect when it came to decoration. The finished scheme references a typically eclectic Parisian style of decor, which marries antiques of many eras with the new and avant garde.
Photography by Anson Smart
