Welcome back to Behind the Facade, your backstage pass into the personal stories that shape the homes we love.
Today, we are in Marrickville at the home of architect Ian Moore, stepping through an 1885 Victorian Italianate villa that distils his philosophy of restraint, longevity and light. It is a study in keeping the best of history while inviting a calm, contemporary way of living.
Ian remembers the first time he turned onto the street and saw the house. The proportions read immediately. Solid bones, generous frontage, the quiet confidence of a freestanding villa on a deep block. “I could see what it was and what it wanted to be,” he says. Over one weekend, he sketched a concept that would guide everything that followed, opening the home to the garden and letting its best qualities speak.
The front sequence sets the tone. Four gracious rooms with approximately 3.4-metre high pressed metal ceilings , and a wide central corridor that draws you inward. Original details have been carefully retained where they belong, complemented with refined new insertions that feel inevitable. New steel-framed glazing at the entry and front windows brings clarity and light. A pale grey terrazzo to the veranda hints at a material palette chosen for beauty, endurance and ease.
Ian’s approach is deliberate: keep what is good, add what elevates, and plan for the long term. He describes his practice as adaptive reuse. This design approach preserves the social history embedded in buildings while making them deeply functional for modern life. It is also quietly sustainable. Cross-ventilation is prioritised from front to back and side to side. Insulation is integral to the design rather than an afterthought. The plan anticipates hydronic underfloor heating powered by an electric heat pump, with terrazzo flooring running from the entry to the garden studios, so the home feels calm and continuous in all seasons. “The most sustainable building is the one that already exists,” he says. “You keep it, you add to it, and you let it live on.”
The spatial idea is simple and generous. Classic at the front. Contemporary at the back. The four front rooms remain flexible for bedrooms or a formal living space, each with beautiful height and manageable proportions. Between old and new sits a purposeful transition zone for bathrooms and laundry, consolidating services and keeping the primary rooms free. Beyond that, the concept opens completely to a large open-plan living, dining and kitchen pavilion that connects to the garden in one stride. Steel-framed doors span the rear, creating a single horizontal gesture to sky and greenery. Ceiling height remains consistent from front to terrace, so the house reads as one continuous volume.
The home today is beautifully livable as it stands, a series of gracious front rooms flowing into light and garden. But what makes this property truly rare is what comes with it. The sale includes Ian Moore’s complete architectural concept and lifelike 3D renders, a fully resolved vision that carries the home’s evolution forward. Every line and proportion has been designed to respect its heritage while introducing a contemporary rear pavilion and two refined garden studios. For the buyer, it offers a ready-made blueprint from one of Australia’s most respected architects, an opportunity to complete the story with confidence and clarity.
Out in the garden, the lifestyle promise is immediate. A generous lawn, deep setbacks, mature trees and layered planting form a private oasis that feels worlds away yet sits within one of Sydney’s most walkable inner-west pockets. Ian and his wife have coaxed a lush subtropical palette into place, including a magnificent mango tree that crowns summer mornings. The front veranda catches beautiful afternoon light and offers a quiet perch for watching the neighbourhood drift by. It is the kind of block that makes weekends feel longer.
The architect’s proposed plans envision two new studio structures in place of the existing sheds, with a small bathroom between them. Oriented to look back across the lawn to the primary residence, the design creates a private garden court, a complete architectural composition conceived as part of the overall design. The main house and studios speak across the lawn, forming a private world made for both everyday living and effortless entertaining.
Materially, the home favours honest surfaces that age well. Terrazzo is chosen for longevity, thermal comfort and neutrality. Steel and glass feel crisp and light. Joinery and finishes are kept calm, so furniture, art and life bring the colour. “I like to make a neutral stage so people can live their way,” Ian says. It is architecture as quiet confidence rather than decoration.
Marrickville itself anchors the story. This is a neighbourhood rich in history, open space and culture, where the 15-minute city is more than an idea. Cafes, markets, train links and Ian’s studio all sit within an easy walk. Streets carry layers of European market-garden heritage and a contemporary food scene that rewards routine and curiosity in equal measure. It is urban living with room to breathe.
If this house could speak, it would talk about endurance. How time has shaped it, and how design has given it a new purpose. It would speak of balance: heritage and modernity, structure and light, the calm confidence of a home built to last. Standing here now, you sense that this is not just a restoration, but a continuation. A place ready to carry its story forward for another century.
For the following custodians, the invitation is clear. Enjoy the home’s elegant calm as it stands today, or take the next step and realise Ian Moore’s complete architectural vision. This design resolves the home’s heritage and future in one continuous gesture of light, proportion and calm.
Watch the full interview here.
‘Behind The Facade’ is your backstage pass to the world of architecture and homeownership. We go beyond the status quo to bring you candid conversations with architects and homeowners, discovering the inspirations, challenges and personal stories that breathe life into these structures. It’s architecture unmasked. Raw, authentic, and deeply human.