The Art Deco exterior was what first piqued Ed and Edwina’s interest in repurposing an existing building. Within walking distance of the famed recording studio, Armstrong Studios, the Town Hall Hotel is rumoured to have welcomed the Rolling Stones and Elton John in its heyday. Familiar with the hotel, after having lived in the suburb for 16 years, it wasn’t until months after first considering the idea of living there that they walked past with friends who encouraged them to take on the project.

“The facade was always magnificent,” Edwina says. “But the Victorian interior had been completely butchered by very nineties pub architecture.” Following a few site visits, it was revealed the hotel had four parts: the original Victorian building built in 1868, an Art Deco renovation and two additions that supported the venue’s pub and bistro at the rear. After understanding what could be achieved working with the building’s heritage overlay, Ed and Edwina conceived a U-shaped addition on the first floor.

“There’s an element of surprise as soon as you walk through the door,” Edwina says. The interior designer’s workspace lies at the front of the building, which also doubles as an entertaining area, adjacent to the deep green bar. The space’s windows and doors have a direct connection to the street, tempered by full-height linen curtains. The home’s ground floor also includes a rumpus room, powder room, guest bedroom and bathroom.

Upstairs, Edwina describes the first floor as the family zone, featuring the kitchen, dining and living areas. “Everything is shaped around the internal courtyard to capture the northern light,” she says, “It’s also a very private space, with all of the bedrooms facing north and facing the city”.

Architecturally, the hotel’s large, square shape was a challenge. “We wanted to carve courtyards and light out of that large form,” Ed says, introducing a checkerboard plan, “where each space, particularly on the first floor, is never more than a few paces from a courtyard garden and a quality light source.” Designed by Myles Baldwin, a courtyard inspired by South Melbourne’s Mediterranean migrant gardens grounds the first floor. “When you contrast larger spatial volumes with more intimate gardens, you get a very nice effect,” he adds.

The material palette, such as the kitchen’s stainless-steel joinery, solid Tasmanian oak timber floors and terrazzo tiles, reinterprets the commercial space through a contemporary lens. In the bedrooms, colour creates a moment of arrival, while in the shared spaces, white walls are accented by Ed and Edwina’s art collection and custom lighting by Sarah Nedovic and Peter Cole. Works range from paintings and sculptures by Ed’s uncle, renowned artist Les Kossatz, Joseph McGlennon’s Kangaroos series, and an oil painting by Robert Malherbe. Ed credits the late collector Geoffrey Hatty for several vintage pieces in the home, such as the Danish table lamp, ‘Kongelys’ by Niels Rasmussen Thykier for Fog & Morup.

“We plan to spend the next 20-plus years filling this place with art and objects that bring us joy,” Ed says. “It’s part of what we love about this place; it’s a home with an unexpected warmth and intimacy.”

This featured originally appeared in est magazine issue 50: Celebrating 50.