Saturday, May 12, 2007

Back to front

Back of the house yesterday, front today.
This has to be the prettiest of all terrace houses I have come across in Sydney. I have to confess that my friend Photofiltre and I have edited this photo to remove the very ugly power line spanning across the façade. I just couldn't live with it. By the way I can't tell you the exact address of this house: the day I found it I was lost - read about it here.

Most of these houses' charm comes from their cast-iron balconies (often wrongly referred to as wrought-iron). For all your renovation needs the Terrace House Factory has a huge selection of original decorative lace and columns. A fun place to shop for antique pieces.

Devant derrière : l'arrière des maisons hier, le devant aujourd'hui.
Cette maison en terrasse est sans aucun doute la plus jolie que je connaisse à Sydney. Mais j'ai une confession à vous faire : mon ami Photofiltre et moi avons effacé l'immonde ligne électrique qui défigurait la façade. Je ne la supportais pas. Par ailleurs je suis incapable de vous donner l'adresse exacte de cette maison : le jour où je l'ai trouvée j'étais perdue. Lire l'histoire ici.
Le charme de ces maisons vient en grande partie de leur balcons ouvragés en fonte (et non en fer forgé comme on le dit souvent par erreur). Ceux qui s'intéressent à la restauration connaissent sûrement The Terrace House Factory, un bon endroit où chiner des éléments décoratifs anciens.


Bonus photo: anoter balcony I particularly like - En bonus : un autre balcon que j'adore.

18 comments:

Maxime said...

Le style est superbe, et il évoque plutôt les rues de la nouvelle Orleans, ou les vieilles maisons coloniales des antilles que je connais bien, avec leurs plafonds hauts, leur galerie et les balcons ouvragés. Il ne doit pas faire bien froid en hiver à Sidney, et plutôt chaud l'été, j'imagine.

hpy said...

Elles ont un charme fou, ces vieilles maisons restaurées avec amour que l'on peut trouver dans de nombreux pays. (Bien qu'elles ne soient pas toutes semblables...)

Peter said...

Really nice! I'm happy to see that these old houses are being taken care of. The only problem may be that the original habitants have been forced to move and that the houses are taken over by more wealthy people, only. This is also what you can see in Paris and elsewhere. In any case, it's much better than just let this type of housing become ruins or to be teared down.

I'm happy you were only temporarily lost!

Dick said...

Nice picture of a beautiful house indeed. Powerlines are not good looking on a photo but in my place they are all under the street, so I don't have that problem.

Dsole said...

wow! That's such an imposing balcony and facade!! this a great finding, Nathalie!

Anonymous said...

It certainly is a striking house and caught my attention right away. I like it. I had not heard of your photofilter thingy but will look it up. I use Photoshop CS3 only because I have it. But anything on the Internet is of interest to me. Thanks.

I also posted a house, but it is nothing like your house.

Anonymous said...

I love the intricacy of that railing.

Janet said...

The decorative trim on this house is just exquisite.

Fabrizio Zanelli said...

I love me too to take in photo thoe houses with nice or particular façade. This one look a bit "colonialist style" but very appealing.

M.Benaut said...

This residence is truly Magnifique. The old CAST iron filigree work on the balconies can now be found, reproduced in cast alumimium.
In this manner, the lovely old victorian era lacework can be reinstated when one restores these charming old homes.
I will certainly look for la maison perdue, when I am next in your beautiful city.

Chuckeroon said...

This is a stunner, Nathalie. Tks for posting it.

GMG said...

Magnifiques photos. J'aime bien les balcons, même si, par erreur, on les baptise en fer forgé...

Kate said...

Cast iron rather than wrought iron--interesting? Why? Can't help but wonder which is more expensive and which holds up better? The design is intricate and quite lovely!

Jilly said...

Beautiful these balconies. One of the many joys of Sydney.

Cergie said...

Cela te saute aux yeux cette forme hexagonale, un vrai château d'eau
Le balcon du bas est plus humain, mais bon t'as pas l'échelle rien que sur une photo
En ce qui concerne le fer forgé, je me suis posé ausi des question avec mes grilles de Nancy, il et vrai qu'il y a du fer martelé
Après c'est une question de terminologie
(Je dis crayon de papier et mon mari dit crayon de bois...)

Anonymous said...

We used to call it "Paddington Lace", Nathalie, even on homes well way from that suburb. It was once one of Sydney's poorer areas, but most of those residents were long ago tempted by cash payments to move out and make way for the predecessors of the yuppy class.

julia said...

This style is appealing, a house from our past had that same iron work motif as seen in the second photo,i keep a look out for it again.

Anonymous said...

These are gorgeous lacy balconies. Doesn't it seem that only the older houses have beautiful architectural features? It makes me sad that some day we'll have only new construction that does not have these details. Who can afford this stuff new?