MONA HOUSE

This local solo designer has cleverly given the Mosman community a precious gift for the future. By skillfully re-imagining the original 1899 Mona House, Latimer has creatively ensured a robust commitment to authenticity and future sustainability.

Sensitive recycling of local stone, aged timbers, resurrected stained glass and marble works sympathetically, improving every aesthetic. Towering parlour doors and Victorian features, faithfully sourced from Sydney seconds markets, produce a seamless old-new convergence which deceives the human eye but warms the heart.

This masterful extension is intriguing. Ingenious use of light, flooding muscular Federation ‘bones’, it celebrates millennial open-plan living, replete with butler’s kitchen & mudroom, honouring local history and modern lifestyle. Latimer’s vision triumphs by inviting visitors to reminisce but seduces them with modern grandeur. Her firm conviction towards sustainability, proportion, colour & texture is achieved without worshipping at the altar of formulaic architecture. Future generations in Mosman have inherited a gift!

Sustainability

This stunning federation home renovation highlights a worthy design ambition. It overcomes common clashes between old and new with shrewd design. Pleasingly, it remains loyal to traditional materials, ignores new synthetics, but seamlessly weaves recycled doors, windows, antique fireplaces with reclaimed stone and timbers reincarnating a generational affection for superb architecture.