2021 Houses Awards: House in a Heritage Context – joint winner

Jury comment

The Hat Factory by Welsh and Major has a colourful past. The building, most recently partially derelict after fire and its use as a notorious squat, is an important feature that anchors locally listed Hollis Park in Newtown. The brief to create a pair of flexible, contemporary residences could have erased history but instead has enriched it. The private residences acknowledge existing social attachment to the place and add a readable new layer. This public gesture is made more generous in the absence of a heritage listing or any requirement for the built fabric to be retained.

The retention of deteriorated fabric as a platform for new development required creative design, careful engineering and skilled building. From the street, the upper-floor additions appear to effortlessly complement the old. The rudimentary nature of the factory is beautifully offset by the lightness of the construction and the industrial aesthetic. The staircase is an absolute highlight.

Welsh and Major has balanced the achieve- ment of a flexible, future-focused home for their clients with a reworking of a gritty part of the public realm. The project should be applauded for demonstrating commitment to, and passion for, re-valuing our past as part of a richer future.

For more coverage, read the project review by Geneveive Lilley.

The Award for House in a Heritage Context is supported by the Heritage Council of Victoria. See full image galleries of all the winning and shortlisted projects here.

The Hat Factory is located in Sydney, NSW, on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation.

Project credits

Architect: Welsh and Major Project team: Andrew Short, Chris Major, Katrina Passer, Felicity May, Danielle Severino Builder: SFN Constructions Engineer: Central Engineers Heritage consultant and town planner: Urbis Lighting and electrical: Lighting Art and Science Quantity surveyor: QS Plus Surveyor: G. K. Wilson