How an Australian couple made their forever home after decades in Hong Kong and Singapore
- Returning home, the pair poured their hearts into transforming a 19th century terrace house in Melbourne, moments from the beach and the city centre
- The couple planned their renovation while still in Hong Kong, but lived in the house for six months before setting to work to develop a feel for the space
Integrating back to one’s home country is not always easy after two decades away.
Happily, Australians Paul Calder and Graeme Fowler had a major project to throw themselves into when they called time on the expat life after 11 years in Singapore and 13 in Hong Kong.
Having made the decision in June 2019, Calder, a public relations and communications director, and Fowler, a retail designer, turned their attention to the renovation of their 19th century terrace house in Melbourne’s St Kilda, purchased 10 years earlier.
Fowler had first seen, and fallen in love with, the middle of three conjoined terrace houses in an online advertisement. A few months later, when they went home for Christmas and discovered the property was still available, they knew they had to act.
This distinctly Australian style of architecture first appeared in the 1850s as developers, seeking to optimise prime inner urban sites, stacked homes together in rows, trimming each with an ornate veranda.
Although many of Melbourne’s “terraces” have been stripped of their Victorian adornments over time, this one remained largely intact. As a trio of “gentlemen’s residences” built by a wealthy tobacco trader in 1886, it had the luxury of a large front garden, a sunny rear courtyard, and even a double garage accessible from a shared laneway.