The Park Orchards house that pays homage to Melbourne's history and environment
There are few things more stirring than to see your own city reflected back to you as a rich, redolent story. It’s especially rousing when that tale is told, not by dug-in natives, but by newcomers who have taken your city to their heart.
To see accountant Praty Patel and learning and development consultant Juanita Ypinazar’s paean to Melbourne in Park Orchards – a semi-rural suburb 23 kilometres northeast of the CBD – is to be floored not only by its attention to detail, but by its coherent, comprehensive narration of place.
The Yarra River runs through it, in a manner of speaking. More on that astonishing sight soon.
“Anywhere I’ve been in the world, I’ve always wanted to understand what the locals like, what they do, how they live,” Patel says, explaining the motivation for this extraordinary residence. “I am drawn to telling the story of the area.”
After moving from Adelaide in 2018, work on their Melbourne magnum opus at 628-630 Park Road began in the garden – a prolific wonderland of diverse pockets that perfectly frame the timber-battened exteriors.
“We spent such a long time working out the garden that the locals began to think we were making a community green space,” Patel laughs.
It’s a telling indication of the depth of planning undertaken here, as is the self-contained space they now use as a wellness centre – concrete ice bath, sauna and gym – which acted as their practice run of sorts.
“We lived in here while the house was being built and tested different materials and ideas,” Patel says.
Origin, creation, growth and development are all represented across the material palette, referencing everything from the microcosm of Park Orchards to the broad scope of greater Melbourne and the diverse, productive Yarra Valley.
The home’s external timbers have been tonally modulated to express an historical timeline – darker timbers denote age and forest origins, lighter wood the new and developing landscape. Blackened battens respectfully acknowledge the shaping power of bushfire and the hard growth in adversity. Stunning.
The story rolls on in the large ponds that represent the region’s reservoirs. One, home to a local Indigenous totem, the long-necked turtle, flows in under a bank of windows and over a rock wall, to swirl beneath the formal dining room floor. From here it meanders below nine glazed panels, reproducing the river’s journey from source to sea.
“Yarra means ‘to flow’,” Patel says. “This represents how that flow defines Melbourne.”
Such beautiful intent doesn’t just happen, though. A yacht builder was consulted to keep water out and make the “river” secure. Underfloor fans, pumps and aeration systems ensure the moisture doesn’t seep into the house itself.
Little steel bridges cross the stream, each cut with grape motifs to represent the region’s wine-making history.
The watery arc cuts a swathe through polished concrete floors on its way to the kitchen’s burnished copper rangehood and deeply textured Italian marble island bench, all three signifying the river’s arrival in the big smoke. Cement sheet walls reflect a concrete-jungle cityscape. Dazzling stuff.
Running alongside the enthralling narrative arc here, another design fascination for Praty is the “pushing of architecture into nature and nature being drawn inside”.
Apart from the spectacular example of the river, this motif appears in the show-stopping heft of honey-toned granite that creates a brawny contour in the sunken lounge. Facing it, the dry-rock wall hearth is an elemental masterpiece of craftsmanship.
“Really, the key element to the success of a house like this is the people you work with,” Patel says. “The draftsman, stonemasons, carpenters, everyone, were all local talent, and everyone got involved with the telling of the story. It was such a great collaboration.”
Another huge boulder pushes through from the entry foyer to the internal cellar wall, a metaphoric nod to how the gold rush shaped the city.
“Modern Melbourne’s foundations were built on gold,” Patel says. “It’s the city’s bedrock. The house hunkers into it.”
Set above the foyer stone a black metal staircase winds up to the whiskey room, in homage to the city’s industrial edge and its alleyways leading to unexpected places. Brilliant.
The bedroom zones here all break that internal-external barrier, showcasing splendid garden, water or sky views. The hardwood walls insulate, soundproof and elevate – and the eco credentials are comprehensive.
At the end of this tale is, of course, the “river”, flowing back under another window, out to another pond – Port Phillip Bay – and finally breaking open into Bass Strait as represented by the shimmering swimming pool. Symmetrical, superb, special.
The house is now on the market through Simon Curtain of Abercrombys with a price guide of $4.5 million-$4.95 million. Expressions of interest close at noon on May 16.
“We will miss the memories we have made here and the community,” Patel says. “But hopefully it will be a multigenerational home where families gather to create their own history.”
Another absorbing Melbourne story here would be a fitting thing.
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