Simply stunning, award winning and sustainable, a masterpiece in Merimbula

Offered for sale at $1,225,000, 24 Hill Street is a thoroughly unique residence, designed by award-winning architect Clinton Murray. Built in 2001 as his family home, Murray called the building ‘House for Pam’.

“The title was well-considered, given my wife Pam could never quite comprehend why I hadn’t designed a house for our family,” Mr Murray says. “It’s every architect’s nightmare, your own home. The fear of your ideas being captured in a moment in time.”

Listed for sale by Eve O’Brien, this house is a completely stunning moment in time, a modern, elegant and colourful home with a focus on living simply.

Mr Murray describes the home as “two simple forms. One long box divided into three, 6 x 6-metre spaces and a vertical box 4.8 metres square and 10 metres high”.

The vertical box became a tower for whale watching, star gazing and dream creating. It’s built entirely from reclaimed Oregon taken from a 1940s-built Sydney factory, and from it, the natural beauty of Merimbula is on show.

Described by Mr Murray himself as a “deeply personal project”, the house was awarded the 2001 NSW Institute of Architects Sustainable Architecture Award.

Murray says “from my experience, buildings are like people, every one has a story” – 24 Hill Street is definitely a home in which to create family stories.

“When we moved back to Melbourne in 2008, ownership passed to the Foster family. They have been wonderful custodians of a house that means so much to me, to Pam and our four boys.”

The home has been beautifully and respectfully maintained.

Clinton Murray also designed the impressive Windsong Pavilion at Barragga Bay’s Four Winds Festival enclave.

Convinced by philanthropists Carillo and Neilma Gantner to join them in building what started as a kind of ‘community hall’, the Windsong Pavilion became a great performance space.

“To do this we needed to seriously consider acoustics, scale and materials. But we didn’t want to compromise the experience or the setting.”

Clinton Murray’s design of ‘House for Pam’ echoes his thoughts on his design for Four Winds: “We wanted to see into the trees … to be able to open the space entirely to outside and to ultimately make the space adaptable for all levels and types of performance”.

Meaning that this Merimbula home is adaptable for all levels and types of family activity!

In Clinton Murray’s buildings such as this one, you are never far from the nature surrounding you. A feature is the beautiful, large timber-framed sliding windows, the timber floors and other natural materials.

Clinton Murray has cited Robin Boyd (yes of those Boyd’s) as an influence and generator of ideas. Robin Boyd was an Australian architect, writer, teacher and social commentator. He, along with Harry Seidler, stands as one of the foremost proponents for the International Modern Movement in Australian architecture.

This comfortable, light-filled and relaxed home reflects the Modern Movement.

Clinton Murray’s sense of good design and his love of complementary natural materials has resulted in an extremely attractive home with a fairly light footprint.

The use of thick timber cladding with its insulating properties, the careful positioning of windows to attract the north-east breeze, and under slab heating in the kitchen has meant the house stays comfortable all-year-round.

The residence has three bedrooms, a dining space, kitchen with walk-in pantry, a main living area, single bathroom, laundry nook, and the tower retreat which acts as a vast viewing platform for whale watching and stargazing.

This home is packed with many innovative and outstanding design features such as the vertical louvre windows of the kitchen, custom made cabinetry throughout and high-end cooking appliances.

You can bath in your pond like free-standing concrete bath, and watch water flow from the tower ‘eagle’ water catcher and a colour palette that captures the very essence of Architect Murray’s aesthetic.

With two street frontages, the rear of the property enters from Cliff Street.

Here you will find a fabulous double garage, currently being used as a games and party room, which is a true rumpus room. In true Clinton Murray style, it too has a design quality of its own and merges beautifully with the architecture of the main house.

Exterior features of the property include fencing and a fully enclosed backyard, plus of course those ocean and mountain vistas.

This unique residence at 24 Hill Street at Merimbula will appeal to someone with an eye for detail, a desire to live in the exclusive Long Point area of Merimbula, and with a wish to own a landmark Clinton Murray design.

Block size: 882 m² approx.

To arrange an inspection of this stellar property, contact Eve O’Brien on 0411 861 507.

Original Article published by Lisa Herbert on The RiotACT.