Our houses
We’ve all heard the age-old saying that home is where the heart is, and, when you look around our 12 unique places, it’s easy to see why. From the rare and precious gem of Meroogal, built in the 1880s and home to four generations of women, to Rouse Hill House & Farm, owned by six generations of the one family, where today, every object, stain and repair has a story to tell to Elizabeth Farm, Australia’s oldest homestead, built for John and Elizabeth Macarthur, every one of our ‘living museums’ has been a home to doers and dreamers, families and lovers.
If you love architecture, interiors, gardens or Australian history, a visit to any one of Sydney Living Museums’ historic homes and museums will reveal the fascinating people and stories of Sydney’s living history. But look closer and you’ll see how these remarkable properties tell the evolving story of architecture in Sydney.
How do we better understand the history of the homes we live in? The Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection (CSL&RC) answers this question both by collecting historic materials connected to the home and also by commissioning photographic recordings of present-day houses and gardens in New South Wales.
Latest news
New online
200 years of the NSW Government ArchitectThursday 23 June 2016
When Francis Greenway was appointed Civil Architect by Governor Lachlan Macquarie in March 1816, he became the first government architect of New South Wales, a post which celebrates its 200th anniversary in 2016.
Competition
Winners announced! 27 Smith Street competitionMonday 4 April 2016
The 27 Smith Street Home of Tomorrow competition, in its second year, attracted a number of high quality entries, with the design brief of devising an innovative, sustainable, functional and aesthetically pleasing family home.
Competition
Got what it takes to design the home of tomorrow?Wednesday 11 November 2015
Sydney Living Museums’ 27 Smith Street design competition calls on the architects of today to design the brick home of tomorrow. There are categories for both architecture students and professional architects and a prize pool of $10,000.
Exhibition
The art of LEGO [Sydney Morning Herald]Friday 6 November 2015
Sydney Open
Tim Ross Explores Modernist SydneyTuesday 22 September 2015
Related stories
A straight edge and a semicircle
Architect Harry Seidler and artist Frank Stella collaborated on just one project - Grosvenor Place. But the influence of Stella’s work is evident in the geometric plans of many houses, towers and civic centres designed by Seidler.
An Eye For Design
The development of the exhibition Iconic Australian Houses saw a collaboration between two of SLMs in-house designers with freelance creative Tracy Lines. Find out more...
Background on Beulah
Beulah, on Appin Road south of Campbelltown, is a unique property that combines elements of both heritage and environmental significance.
Conserving the Arcade
The conservation of the Rouse Hill House arcade is an ongoing process of evaluation and cautious intervention.
Handmade wallpaper
Morrison's built a successful wallpaper manfacturing business in early 20th century Sydney.
Locking up at Throsby Park
Among the set of house keys for Throsby Park are a number of very large brass mortice keys for 19th century internal door locks.
Rebuilding the Beulah bridge
The bridge at Beulah is believed to be the oldest privately owned bridge on mainland Australia.
Reconstructing history
If there is one architect who has shaped the way we think about Sydney, it is Harry Seidler, the visionary responsible for some of our most iconic skyscrapers and modernist houses.
The Audette House
The original commission for the Audette House, located in Castlecrag, Sydney, was for a house in the American Colonial style. Instead the young architect, Peter Muller, delivered a modern Australian home heavily influenced by the philosophies of Frank Lloyd Wright.
The Butterfly House
Designed by Peter McIntyre in 1955, the Butterfly House in Kew, Victoria, challenged conservative postwar architecture in Australia through the use of bold colour and experimental design.
The Dingle House
Defined by its strong horizontal roof planes, the Dingle House responds to the site, a steep cross-sloping block, by way of an ingenious three-way split-level plan.
The Droga Apartment
Muscling into a tough urban streetscape, the Droga Apartment sits atop a 19th-century brick warehouse that acts as a plinth to its remarkable curved zinc-clad form.
The Gottlieb House
The Gottlieb House, designed and built between 1990 and 1994, provides no clues to its domestic use from the street. Inside, custom designed furnishings, light, form and sheer monumentality create a sense of the theatrical.
The Jack House
The design and layout of the Jack House challenged the conventional style of 1950s Australia. Oriented away from the street, the house embraces the natural landscape and has been described as robust, modest and unfussy.
The Marshall House
The Marshall House, located in Sydney, exemplifies Bruce Rickard’s architectural principles – a strong emphasis on indoor and outdoor living spaces, the use of natural materials and a connection to the landscape.
The Mooloomba House
The distinctive belvedere of the Mooloomba House, designed by Andresen O'Gorman Architects in 1995 on the idyllic North Stradbroke Island, has a nest-like affect, providing a peaceful area to enjoy the ocean and night sky view.
The Palm Beach House
To overcome the problems of building on a cliff face with numerous rock shelves, architect Ken Woolley designed a timber 'tower' with multiple outdoor decks and balconies that connect the house to the cliff face.
The Phillip Island House
Watch the extended interview with architect Barrie Marshall and hear how he really feels about the experimental Phillip Island House.
The Walsh Street House
The Walsh Street House epitomises daring and modernist 1950s architecture. While architect Robin Boyd experimented with a distinctive Australian design, this house also embraces a Japanese simplicity of style.
Tusculum
Saved from demolition in the 1980s, Tusculum represents a highpoint in Regency architectural design in Australia. It is one of only three houses designed by the fashionable colonial architect, John Verge (1782-1861) to have survived in the Potts Point area - along with Rockwall and Elizabeth Bay House.
When art meets architecture
We talk to Penelope Seidler AM about her extraordinary 50- year collaboration with her husband, Harry Seidler AC, and the upcoming exhibition exploring his life and work.