April 2026

Yes it’s a house that’s a photo of a house. It’s from 2005, in Tyson Street Richmond, and was designed by @jcbarchitects back when they did some more creative stuff, and this is very creative, but also reads as a joke or a snub – it happened because the whole area is a heritage precinct, but the existing weatherboard Victorian was deemed too altered, but Yarra Council said a new house had to be sympathetic with the streetscape (of course), so JCB came up with this – a photo of the house etched on the glass facade of the new one.

When it happened I thought it was just making fun of heritage, what was Yarra thinking ? But actually I think it almost works, it reads simultaneously as attempting to relate while also being a modern flat facade (which is largely a double garage). Now that the tree has grown, you hardly notice it anyway, pics 4,5 are I guess 20 years ago. It’s still loads better than some other things in the area, see last pic, which could also date from 2005.

It was listed for sale late last year but hasn’t sold; inside it’s perfectly nice, but not extraordinary. Having the big garage in this area is a real plus, in fact I would be surprised if that’s isn’t what drove (😊) the design, fitting a big door into a heritage streetscape.

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