Rose Street Residence, in the back streets of Melbourne, has had a colourful past. The Victorian-era terrace was an abandoned brothel when Paul Ghaie, co-founder of neighbourhood wine stores Blackhearts and Sparrows, and Lucy Wallace, a hospitality professional, purchased it. They engaged Fieldwork to transform the terrace into a contemporary home. Fieldwork embraced the disorder and decadence of the former brothel’s interior to honour the building’s vivid history.
The terrace had seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms and seven “vibes” – a different mood in each room. Decked out with vermillion and pink walls, yellow velvet curtains, classical detailing, gold Roman columns, plus neon signs and mirrored ceilings, the interior was lurid and gaudy, the trickle-down result of postmodernism. “It was fascinating and confronting,” says architect Quino Holland. “Over time we realized that someone had thought carefully about the spaces, design and colours. The initial instinct was to wipe it all away, but then we thought let’s have a dialogue with history and extract some positives from the chequered past.”
The existing interior and the open-mindedness and personality of the clients inspired Fieldwork’s approach to overlay references to the brothel throughout the house. Clashing, garish colours and unexpected material combinations create contrasting and different atmospheres in every room, while the repetition of colour, light, form and the overall eclecticism ties them together. “At first you think the colours and materials don’t work, but we got to like them and embraced it,” Quino says. He describes the result as Apollo and Dionysus: Apollo being the god of light, reason, harmony and balance, and Dionysus the god of wine, revelry, passion, emotion and instinct.
The custom shelving units have a pink metal frame with inlays of granite.
Image: Tom Ross
The front rooms of the terrace have been retained and a new extension added to the rear. The lounge, kitchen and dining spaces are downstairs, and there is a bedroom and bathroom on both levels. Across the landscaped courtyard is a two-storey self-contained apartment, with a single multipurpose space downstairs and two bedrooms, each with spas, upstairs.
Fieldwork created a cinema-like space in the front lounge room to cater for Paul and Lucy’s love of music and films. The original floorboards remain, and crushed velvet curtains can be drawn to enclose the room.
The flooring changes to pink-flecked granite in the kitchen, which is the centrepiece of the house for cooking and entertaining. Timber veneer cabinetry is warm and luxe, and the raw brass benchtop will become patinaed with time and use. Brass accents such as the half-moon handles and inset floor trim reference the gaudy goldpainted architraves and cornices of the brothel.
The dining booth is an unabashed combination of fairy floss–pink with olive-green leather and velvet, while gold curtains provide a backdrop to the living room. Coloured film on the high windows is a take on traditional lead glass windows. If you peek behind the gold curtain, you see that the courtyard is illuminated with a red light and a neon pink “Exquisite Ladies” sign, both a literal nod to the brothel. In the self-contained apartment, pink LED leads up the staircase and around the perimeter of the rooms, bathing the textured white walls with a hue that matches the peach carpets.
A pink film on the skylight in the bathroom bathes the white walls in a rose-coloured glow.
Image: Tom Ross
Back in the main house, the black-and-white mosaic tiling and blue joinery in the downstairs bathroom are inspired by the “grim” bathroom that formerly occupied the space. Upstairs, the bathroom shifts in atmosphere and aesthetic depending on the time of day, sunlight and weather. At night, it is white with shiny bottle-green tiles. By day, a pink film on the skylight bathes it in a rose-coloured glow.
Rose Street Residence is a cohesive fusing of a Victorian terrace and modern architecture, layered with references that pay homage to the chaotic and colourful character of the brothel. “The Dionysian spirit is alive and well,” Quino says.
This extract is republished with permission from Ornament is Not a Crime by Rebecca Gross, published by Thames and Hudson Australia. Ornament is Not a Crime is available from 26 September 2023. RRP $69.99.
