Madeleine Blanchfield Architects renovates a 1920s Sydney flat with new openings, rearranged circulation, and contemporary insertions within the original plan.
Madeleine Blanchfield Architects renovated an apartment in The Astor, a State Heritage building from the early 1920s in Sydney, Australia. Designed by Esplin and Mould in the Interwar Free Classical Style, the building features reinforced concrete frame construction and steel windows typical of early prestige apartment buildings.
The original apartment had a cramped separate kitchen, outdated bathroom, and accumulated modifications from previous decades. The architects stripped the interior to its shell and reconfigured the layout to maximize views and highlight heritage features. They opened the kitchen to adjacent spaces, redesigned the bathroom, and added a discrete laundry area.
New elements include an entry foyer with gentle curved walls and sheer curtains with integrated lighting troughs throughout the apartment. The design restores original details like skirting boards that had been replaced over time. Custom built-in joinery, feature lighting, and area rugs complete the updated interior.
The renovation removed accumulated changes and opened key spaces, allowing the building's 1920s character to register against new curved walls, integrated lighting, and reconfigured circulation. Original concrete, steel windows, and restored skirting boards share the apartment with contemporary joinery and finishes.











