THE BRIEF: The Victorian terrace: a tale of two continents.
On heritage, adaptation and the homes that refuse to become obsolete.
Emma Stergoulis & Eunice Aubert
Victorian terraces are among the most resilient pieces of domestic architecture ever built. They were designed for a rapidly growing urban population in nineteenth century Britain, built to be practical and repeatable, and they have outlasted almost everything that has been built since. In Sydney and Melbourne, in London and Edinburgh, they are still standing, still occupied and, increasingly, still desired.
This piece is a collaboration between two designers , one based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, one in the UK, who wanted to compare notes on what it means to renovate a Victorian terrace in across two very different climates and two very different ideas of how people want to live.
What struck us most is not the differences. It is how much the problems are the same.
Setting the scene
Victorian terraces first emerged in Britain during the reign of Queen Victoria, from 1837 to 1901. They were characterised by narrow, multi-storey structures, decorative facades and a uniform street presence that was very much the point, there was social currency in belonging to a well-kept terrace, in the ironwork, the bay windows, the high ceilings, the plasterwork running the length of a long hallway.
When the British arrived in Australia, they brought the terrace with them. Adapted to the Sydney climate and landscape, these homes became prominent in the inner suburbs during the late nineteenth century. The form was largely the same, the narrow footprint, the long hall, the stacked rooms, but the material details shifted. Wider verandahs replaced the British porch. Larger rear gardens replaced the modest yard. The thick brick, originally designed to retain heat through a British winter, turned out to work equally well at keeping a Sydney summer at bay and the fireplaces adding a little warmth during those cooler months..
For all the distance between the two countries, the floor plan remained almost identical. A Victorian terrace in Paddington and a Victorian terrace in Islington are, structurally speaking, close cousins.
Keeping with the times
Fortunately these little time capsules of historical architecture have remained part of the landscape in the inner cities of Australia and the UK, with some being protected by heritage, at least in terms of their facade if not internally. But like anything in life in order for them to survive and work in modern times they need to adapt. Whilst some decades dictated a trend of stripping every little bit of detail out of them, we are definitely in an era now where the detail is very much desired,
The challenge for designers working in these homes is to honour that detail while allowing the property to function for the demands of modern life. The goal is not a museum. It is a home that carries its history without being defined by it, one that can continue to adapt as the years change around it.
The UK approach
In the United Kingdom, renovating a Victorian terrace involves a careful negotiation between historical integrity and contemporary living. The priorities tend to be:
Restoring original features: Fireplaces, cornices, sash windows and tiled hallway floors are retained wherever possible, repaired rather than replaced. Where original details have been lost, considered reinstatement, not reproduction for its own sake, but a nod to what was there.
Maximising the footprint: With limited horizontal space and planning restrictions on extending into the street, UK renovations typically look up or down. Loft conversions and basement excavations in order to create lower ground floor spaces for parking, utility rooms or additional bedrooms are common solutions.
Energy efficiency: Victorian terraces were not built with insulation in mind, and the British climate makes this an urgent consideration. Upgrading thermal performance without compromising the character of the original fabric is one of the central challenges of the category.
The Australian approach
The Sydney terrace faces a different set of demands. The climate is warmer ( not that I am bragging about the weather here or anything!), the lifestyle is more outward-facing, and the design brief almost always includes the relationship between inside and outside.
Now not that we are bragging but Australia is generally a little more gifted in the weather department that the UK, as such whilst many of the UK trends are showing up in Australian renovations there is a lot more of an emphasis on blending indoor and outdoor living spaces, reflecting the country's lifestyle. Accordingly the key trends include:
Open-Plan Living: Merging living, dining, and kitchen areas to create a spacious, airy feel. Allowing these to merge means that we can all feel part of the action in the home it allows you to work in the kitchen but at the same time socialise with guests if you are an entertainer, or watch the kids if you are a parent. There is less of a need to contain heat into smaller spaces which is why separate kitchen still remain a little more prevalent in the UK.
Outdoor Integration: Whilst Australia does have a few colder months during the year, life is where possible about enhancing the connection between indoors and outdoors with large verandahs, bi-fold doors, and alfresco dining areas. The good old BBQ often gets used as much as the kitchen oven here.
Climate Adaptation: With the sunshine does come some challenges as such designs need to respond to and make the most of materials and solutions that respond to the Australian Climate, such as optimizing natural light and ventilation and ensuring they can withstand the harsher apspects of the sun.
What the two approaches share
Despite the different climates and cultural pressures, the underlying priorities are more aligned than the geography suggests.
Heritage preservation: Both countries are in a period of genuine appreciation for what these buildings carry. Where detail has been lost, the instinct now is to reinstate rather than continue stripping. Where original fabric survives, it is protected. There is an understanding — absent in some previous eras — that the character of these buildings is not incidental. It is the point.
Modern amenities: Clients in both countries want the history without the inconvenience that came with it. The Victorian terrace is no longer expected to have an outdoor bathroom or a separate cold kitchen. What is expected is a contemporary standard of living inside a period shell — and delivering that without compromising the shell is the designer's central task.
Sustainability: Victorian terraces, whatever their original intentions, are inherently sustainable structures. They are dense, shared-wall buildings with a small footprint and a long lifespan. In both countries, the focus on energy efficiency and material longevity aligns with the fundamental sustainability argument for working with existing buildings rather than replacing them.
Where the approaches differ
Climate shapes everything. The UK approach prioritises retaining warmth and maximising what natural light there is. The Australian approach prioritises managing heat and connecting the interior to the outdoors. These are not small differences — they produce entirely different renovation briefs from the same starting floor plan.
Outdoor space reflects this. Australian terraces typically have more extensive and more considered rear gardens. The outdoor area is a room. In the UK, a courtyard garden is often the extent of the outdoor offering, and it is treated accordingly.
Extension strategy differs too. UK terraces extend up and down; Australian terraces extend to the rear. The result in Australia is often a clear contrast between the original front rooms and a more contemporary rear addition — which brings its own design challenge: how to connect old and new in a way that feels resolved rather than compromised.
And colour. This is perhaps the most visible difference. Australia tends toward white, there are several hundred of them, and the specification of the right white for a Victorian terrace in the Eastern Suburbs is its own discipline. The UK embraces considerably more colour, particularly in joinery, walls and soft furnishings. Two different climates, two different relationships with light, two quite different palettes.
Conclusion
The Victorian terrace has survived a great deal. It has survived the various eras that tried to modernise it into something unrecognisable. It has crossed an ocean and adapted to a climate its designers never intended it to inhabit. It has outlasted almost every residential building type that has been developed since.
What this piece is really about, perhaps, is why. And the answer is something that both of us, working on opposite sides of the world, come back to in our practice: these homes were built with enough quality, enough generosity of proportion, and enough inherent character that they reward the care taken with them.
They do not become obsolete. They adapt.
Emma & Eunice