2010 Bankwest Top WA Home
2010 MBA Housing Excellence Awards Winner - Contract Homes over $2million
Winner – MBA Excellence In Plastering
The quiet subtlety of the front elevation gives way to stunning timber floors flowing through from the front study, into the music room (which is separated from the living area by a massive salt water fish tank) and out into the living, meals and beautiful chefs kitchen, complete with a scullery. All of these areas open up through high bifold doors to the full width balcony beyond, and it is only from here you suddenly realise you are not at road level at all anymore, you are three storeys up in the air!
A discrete passage leads from the kitchen and meals area directly to the secure garage passing a private powder room and stairwell. Because the stairwell was located away from the river views to give maximum exposure to the main rooms it is also obviously away from the source of natural light. To overcome this the stairs have been cleverly built around a light shaft with windows from that shaft emitting light on each and every flight.
A trip down these stairs delivers you to another discreet passage from which you access the luxurious master suite consisting of a well fitted out dressing room, big bedroom and resplendent marble clad ensuite which has a beautiful circular spa to sit and relax in while enjoying the panoramic private views. You can also visit the massive gym and further down are three more substantial bedrooms two of which (together with the main bedroom) open out onto another full width balcony. There is also another well appointed bathroom and spacious powder room. Just when you think there couldn’t be any more a pair of double doors open to reveal a full blown home theatre with an ornately framed screen, raised rear floor for viewing and a private bar. Suddenly you come to comprehend what extent of earthworks was required to create this amount of floor space underneath what essentially is a simple single storey home.
Down the well lit stairs again and you arrive once more in a private lobby from which a superbly fitted out wine cellar can be accessed as can the huge laundry and another attractive bathroom, the cellar having a dumbwaiter to service the home from top to bottom. However, as on the other floors, the surprise comes when you step through from the passage and into a truly enormous combination games room, bar and TV room. All of these areas then open out to an equally huge tiled terrace with a warm cedar ceiling and across a swimming pool the size of a small ocean. The pool is surrounded by very chic timber decking and privacy for this area as well as the upper balconies is provided by 3m high walls all the way around which in turn are softened by landscaping.
There are environmental factors that need to be acknowledged when having a pool of this size and in this instance they have to a large degree been addressed by the inclusion of a subterranean water storage system that can hold 76,000 litres, hidden solar heating and a Polymer ‘blanket’ that invisibly sits on top of the water preventing evaporation.
Throughout the home subtle ceiling features, discreet wall niches & cedar lining carry that sense of subdued elegance from beginning to end. It is truly a house of surprises, and it can probably only really be appreciated what has been achieved when one looks back up from the pool area to the towering home above. It is an achievement Brian Burke Homes is very proud of.