Timber Cottage, Balmain

Oikos Architects restored and extended a dilapidated double-fronted cottage on an unusual corner lot, and Oikos Constructions carried out the work.

While appearing simple from the front, the interiors are unique for such a simple cottage. The restoration work involved restoring the original Australian Cedar and Kauri Pine timber panelling and extensive built-in joinery. The two tones of timber continued to the new living pavilion at the rear.

Architecture: OIKOS Architects

Construction: Oikos Constructions

Photography: OIKOS Architects

Sodwalls Inn, Sodwalls.

The former Rockfield Inn (now Sodwalls Inn) is a well-preserved early colonial Georgian inn and residence constructed in 1856 on Locker’s line of road, an important early road to Bathurst. The property has a significant association with prominent local families.

The building overlooks the local farmlands, railways and creeks and is a highly significant part of an important cultural landscape. It has further social associations, having a disused cemetery for the nearby railway construction camp and a former quarry within the boundaries.

Oikos architects were commissioned to design a new guest facility and garage at the side of the former inn, along with a heritage report and Heritage Impact Statement.

Architecture: OIKOS Architects

Photography: OIKOS Architects & Lyn Fowler

Former shop and residence, Palmer Street Balmain

Relatively minor changes to a heritage item involve almost as much work as extensive alterations when it comes to securing Development Consent. Oikos Architects was commissioned to carry out internal changes and a new rear addition to this important landmark shop and residence.

The place had been extended multiple times, and the approach was to express this as further addition. The result can be interpreted as a changing building, growing and adapting to its various owners within an important heritage precinct.

Architecture: OIKOS Architects

Construction: Simon Brain Constructions

Photography: OIKOS Architects

St Thomas Church Parsonage, Rozelle

Edmund Blacket designed the St Thomas Church Parsonage and Church, which was later altered by Blacket & Sons. They were the colony’s most prodigious ecclesiastic architects and provided the full gamut of religious building types. The St Thomas Parsonage is a mansion built in Victorian Filigree style by Edmund Blacket.

Oikos Architects was commissioned to undertake extensive restoration and alteration work on the Parsonage, including a heritage study and Heritage Impact Statement.

Architecture: OIKOS Architects

Construction: Brian Woodward Constructions

Photography: OIKOS Architects

Oddfellows Hall, Darling Street Balmain

Founded in March 1840, the Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows was the second Friendly Society to be established in Sydney, the first being the Independent Order of Oddfellows. The Balmain Oddfellows Hall was completed in 1864 and extended several times.

Oikos Architects conducted a conservation study and heritage impact statement at the place prior to the work. Work is ongoing for its adaptive re-use and reinstatement of a grand two-storey street verandah.

Architecture: OIKOS Architects

Construction: Level 1 Constructions (Stage 1)

Photography: OIKOS Architects

Balmain East Townhouses

Two townhouses were built on an important site containing a historic house called Ternan’s Cottage c. 1840. (Refer to the Heritage page for details on the cottage.) The development required careful negotiations with Leichhardt Council to integrate the old cottage into the design for two new dwellings and to allow subdivision of the lot.

Each house was built over two levels with a split-level configuration due to the site’s slope.

The finishes were simple, and the overall design reflected something of the post-industrial nature of the Balmain Peninsula.

Architecture: OIKOS Architects

Construction: Oikos Constructions

Heritage Cottage, York Place Petersham

The original timber cottage is of historical significance as evidence of the early development of the Wardellville Estate, which was established circa 1857. The unusual triangular land allotment was formed as part of the original subdivision, and the house is believed to have been constructed in 1868 for Louis Smith.

The place is a locally rare mid-19th-century Victorian Georgian-style weatherboard cottage. Oikos Architects was commissioned to undertake extensive restoration work, including alterations and additions to the cottage, including a heritage study and Heritage Impact Statement.

Architecture: OIKOS Architects

Construction: All Time Constructions

Photography: OIKOS Architects