McNab Apartment
Architect
Adele McNab Architecture
Interior Reinvention
2016
Design Architect
Adele McNab
Building Architect
Unknown
Designed and built
Circa 1937
Address
Campbell Parade, North Bondi
Specifications
1 Bedroom, 1 Bath
Photography
© Michael Nicholson
Streetscape & Art Photography
© Tony St Leger
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Introduction
Overlooking North Bondi, this one-bedroom apartment is as light and laid-back as the local lifestyle. McNab apartment is on the first floor of a tropical-blue Art Deco building located in the heart of the North Bondi neighbourhood. Architect Adele McNab remodelled the interior in 2016 and inspired by the building’s curves, volumes and details created a modern space that is intimate yet open.
Custom-designed built-in features are an extension of the original apartment and enhance its space and functionality. The kitchen, bookshelf, and wardrobe are streamlined and express an exceptional attention to detail, and the concrete seat and planter brings the sense of outdoors inside. The colour and textures of the material palette is inspired by the local environment: the living space has fresh white tones with light grey tiles and sand-coloured floorboards; the bedroom is deep turquoise; and the bathroom has a Flint stone basin set atop an ironwood vanity.
The 51 square metre apartment has a northwest aspect and a series of windows that offer natural light, ventilation and panoramic views of the neighbourhood and beach.
“A highly contemporary reinvention of space in one of North Bondi’s iconic Art Deco buildings, this one-bedroom apartment is as light and laid-back as the local lifestyle.”
The Design
Bondi has been a symbol of Sydney’s beachside culture since the pleasure-seeking years of the 1920s and 30s. As Sydneysiders came to Bondi to live and to play, its suburban landscape was transformed with hotels, guesthouses and blocks of flats built from one end of Campbell Parade to the other. Built circa 1937, this apartment complex sits at the northern end of Campbell Parade in North Bondi and its Art Deco style and colour express the optimism of the Inter-War years and the new spirit in lifestyle and design. Art Deco was a look, an approach and an attitude – modern, leisurely and stylish – much like North Bondi itself.
The bright-blue building has two entrances: a grand, almost-tropical entry on Brighton Boulevard and a more-understated entry on Campbell Parade. Its elongated form swoops down the hill to a series of geometric curves and angles with a vertical fin to anchor its volumes. The owners – and the architect behind the remodelled apartment – were attracted to the “same language of Deco curves” inside.
Architect Adele McNab redesigned the one-bedroom and took her cues from the forms and details of the building and the local environment. The entrance to the apartment opens to the kitchen and living-dining area, which are flooded with northwest light from a panoramic series of windows. The kitchen is open and curved at both ends enhancing the sense of space and flow. Like many features throughout the apartment, including the linen cupboard, wine rack and custom bookshelf with its Jetson-like curves, the kitchen has been designed and built with attention to detail and functionality.
The intimate yet open living and dining area extends into what was once a balcony (incorporated into the apartment prior to 1960) and the remodel nods to this former outside space with a custom built-in concrete seat and planter with a cactus rock garden. The awning below the apartment enhances its privacy and the panoramic windows offer natural light, ventilation, views and visually open the interior space to the neighbourhood outside.
While the living spaces look out to North Bondi, the bedroom is designed as a sanctuary and retreat. The custom robe and shelving maintain the openness of the room and the slatted windows provide natural light and ventilation from outside and through the dining area.
The colour and material palette is inspired by the shades and textures of the local environment. In the bathroom, a Flint stone basin is set atop an ironwood vanity with solid brass fittings. The deep-turquoise bedroom evokes the colour of the ocean and contrasts with the lighter beach tones of the living spaces: fresh-white walls, dove-grey tiles and sand-coloured original timber floorboards.
The stepped cornice and period-style doors retain the charm of the Art Deco era and the retro-styled refrigerator complements both the original and modern features.
While colour has been used for calming effect on the inside of the apartment, in the true spirit of Art Deco it has been used for striking effect on the outside of the building. Under Adele’s guidance, Dulux ‘Bay Blue’ has been mixed to match the original Bergers Paints and Varnishes reference book from the 1920s and 30s. All other upgrades to the building have been carefully undertaken to protect and respect its heritage.
The building has a communal rooftop that provides outdoor space and spectacular views over Bondi and the beach, and reflects the strong sense of community in the building and broader neighbourhood.
As symbols of modernity and leisure, Bondi and Art Deco have both been part of popular visual culture since the start of their heyday in the 1920s and 30s. Little has changed today. This cool, calm and comfortable apartment is a modern and laid-back space surrounded by the vibrant culture of North Bondi and Bondi Beach. As journalist and politician Thomas Mutch described in 1929, “The beaches are vital to the wellbeing of the people of Sydney and also of New South Wales. They are like jewels around the throat of a lady.”
Floor Plan
Download
Specifications
Address
11/33 Campbell Parade, North Bondi NSW 2026
Rooms
1 Bedroom, 1 Bath
Internal area (approx.)
51 sq m (549 sq ft)
Internal and communal laundry facilities
Shared rooftop area with panoramic views of Bondi
Strata Title complex of 26 Lots, including 18 residential units
Viewings by appointment
Modern House Estate Agents
Telephone toll-free: 1300 814 768
Email: viewings@modernhouse.co
Location
This North Bondi apartment overlooks Campbell Parade from Military Road down to Bondi Beach, which is a two-minute walk away. It is positioned in the heart of the North Bondi shops with bus stops right outside the door. It is four kilometres to Bondi Junction and 10 kilometres to the city, and is in close proximity to other ocean and harbour beaches in the Eastern Suburbs, including Tamarama to Coogee and Double Bay to Watsons Bay.
The North Bondi population is more established than its transient counterpart Bondi, fostering a greater sense of community and home. And as it was in the Art Deco era, it remains a place of pleasure seeking with a lively enclave of cafés, restaurants and bars. The Hill Eatery and The Depot Bondi are two of the most popular venues serving up seasonal menus; Porch and Parlour is perfect for a post-swim brunch; and North Bondi Fish specialises in high-quality seafood. Organic supermarkets and cafés, such as Bondi Whole Foods and Orchard Street, are also in keeping with the healthy outdoor and leisurely lifestyle of the area.
↑ To see the full panorama image above drag it to either side
Architect
Adele McNab is an emerging young architect. She graduated with a Bachelor and Master of Architecture from Unitec Institute of Technology in Auckland, New Zealand, and is registered with the NSW Architects Registration Board. McNab has worked on a range of hospitality projects in New Zealand and Fiji for Group CDA, and currently works for Bruce Stafford on high-end residential projects in Australian and New Zealand.
McNab creates spaces designed to connect people and to help them engage with their surroundings in an environmentally sustainable way. She believes architecture is about place, beauty, function and equality and good architecture can contribute to personal, social and community wellbeing.
“Architecture is about enriching life by adapting design responsive to people and place.”
Architect's Plans
Viewings by appointment
Modern House Estate Agents
Telephone toll-free: 1300 814 768
Email: viewings@modernhouse.co
History
The Art Deco style first had popular appeal in Australia in the hedonistic 1930s. It brought a sense of elegance, style and conviviality to entertainment venues and leisure locations, which flourished in the Inter-War years. The Art Deco movement espoused a new and pleasurable way of living, and Art Deco design promoted light, colour, ventilation, efficiency and comfort.
Built circa 1937, this Art Deco apartment block was adjacent to the North Bondi tram terminus (1929—1960), forming part of the North Bondi shops and just a short walk to Bondi Beach and Ben Buckler headland. The architect and builder is unknown to date, but the original building once had geometric-curved sides along its Campbell Parade façade. It is thought this allowed for balconies, which have since been incorporated into the apartments (pre-1960) with a flush windowed façade.
Like Art Deco buildings from Miami to Bondi to Napier, this apartment block is decorative, despite having no applied ornamentation. Rather its wholeness – the combination of its massed volumes, geometric curves, vertical fins and streamlined lines – is a decorative feature of the streetscape and a symbol of modern youth and leisure.