Leslie Wilkinson House – Double Bay

This project entailed the addition of an upper storey and enlargement of the basement garage of a house designed by Professor Leslie Wilkinson in 1941. The original intention for the completion of the design by an additional upper floor was researched in the Wilkinson Archives in the NSW State Public Library. 

The scheme was carried out in two stages of which the first part was based upon a 1962 sketch plan by Wilkinson and the second was based on a rational configuration in response to the clients need for an additional two bedrooms and bathroom. The completed house nevertheless presents as harmonious whole with all major elements of the original house conserved and enhanced in the new.

The scheme was carried out with best conservation practice, while using a language of Wilkinson’s invention yet making subtle distinctions between the old fabric and the new.