Architect Virginia Kerridge lists South Coogee duplex

Architect Virginia Kerridge lists South Coogee duplex
Jonathan ChancellorDecember 7, 2020
Acclaimed architect Virginia Kerridge has listed her own South Coogee home having bought nearby. The house with apartment was completed in 2011 after a six year build by Andre Fombertaux in the beachside suburb. 
 
After paying $1.2 million in 2004, Virginia Kerridge gradually transformed her 1930s duplex into a pair of contemporary dwellings cocooned in a warm, textural palette of blackbean timber, polished concrete and raw fibre-cement.
 
It all sits within gardens designed by landscape architect Jane Irwin cultivated by John Dimitric over the past decade.
 
"The Kerridge House + Apartment represents an important chapter in the life of an intuitive Australian architect," says Marcus Lloyd-Jones, the listing agent from Modern House. 
There's even a small piece of Kerridge history – the coach rail from her breakthrough 1995 Taylor Square warehouse project, repurposed as a handrail at the 243 Rainbow Street property.
 
The 1995 Taylor Square, Darlinghurst project saw her secure a merit recommendation in the state's major architectural awards conducted by the Institute of Architects. An earlier project was the tiny Potts Point eatery, La Buvette.
 
There was also a late 1980s block of four apartments overlooking Fairy Bower at Manly. But mostly deluxe domestic commissions since Kerridge, who graduated from university in 1984.
 
By the late 1990s Virginia Kerridge's works prompted the editor of Architecture Australia, Davina Jackson, to describe her as "the leading woman private practitioner in Sydney."
 
She has since been regularly recognised in awards including as inaugural winner of the Houses Awards 2011 Australian House of the Year. Her clients have included broadcaster Merrick Watts in the inner west and at Kingscliff on the far north coast for Harvey Norman managing director Katie Page.
 
Photos of her South Coogee house by professional photographer Michael Nicholson have been posted this week to go with the realestate.com.au marketing campaign.
 
The house and apartment look directly onto Bangor Park.
 
This article first appeared in The Sunday Telegraph. 

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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