New life for a 1960s classic.

“We were immediately drawn in by the property’s warmth and light and saw what this property could be with some considered design choices,” Amy Lee says.

Their response was not to strip the apartment of its identity, but to work with it. The renovation became an exercise in translation: taking the colours, proportions and details of the 1960s and finding their contemporary equivalents. The result is a home that feels unmistakably current while retaining a sense of where it came from.

For Amy Lee and Tim, this approach is familiar territory. The Wollstonecraft apartment is their fourth renovation of an older building, a shared interest that has become something of a signature. They first met while working on a project Amy Lee had designed and Tim’s commercial building company had been engaged to construct. Both share a fascination with heritage architecture and the challenge of bringing older spaces into contemporary life.

“We’ve always been drawn to the character of older properties,” Amy Lee says. “We love the idea that we’re breathing new life into something that’s already seen so much.”

The starting point was the kitchen. Previously disconnected from the main living areas, it functioned more as a passage than a place to gather. The renovation reversed that relationship. An oversized archway now opens the kitchen towards the living room, while a redundant rear thoroughfare has been closed off.

It is a relatively simple architectural move, but one that has fundamentally changed the way the family inhabits the apartment.

“Being able to spend time in the kitchen whilst our daughters play in the living room was a gamechanger for how we use the home,” Amy Lee says.

That sense of connection extends beyond the kitchen. As a spacious ground-floor apartment, the home has an unusually strong relationship with the gardens surrounding the building. Oversized windows draw leafy outlooks inside, while generous living spaces create a feeling more commonly associated with a freestanding house.

“Being on the ground floor and having the outlook to the beautiful private gardens around the building makes this property feel more like a house than an apartment,” Amy Lee says.

The material palette continues that conversation between old and new. Timber flooring runs from the entry through the living, dining and kitchen spaces, establishing a sense of continuity and warmth. Penny-round flooring, wallpaper and carefully selected lighting reference the period without slipping into nostalgia.

The bathroom is perhaps the clearest example. The original bright pink became the unlikely inspiration for its replacement, translated into a softer and more restrained palette. Then there is the breccia rose stone vanity top - a detail discovered almost by chance among rows of slabs at the stonemason’s factory.

“We found it between racks and racks of marble slabs and immediately fell in love with the stunning pink and green tones,” Amy Lee says.

The kitchen presented a more difficult decision. The owners had hoped to retain and adapt the existing cabinetry, preserving another fragment of the apartment’s history. In the end, the cabinetry could not accommodate the demands of contemporary appliances and storage.

The renovation is therefore less about making an old apartment look new than making it work beautifully for a modern family. Warmth and practicality sit alongside refined detailing, while the original building remains present in the background.

That balance is particularly evident in the main living room, the owners’ favourite space. Its generous scale allows it to shift with family life, while the oversized windows turn the surrounding gardens into a constantly changing backdrop.

“It’s such a large space and we utilise it in so many ways,” Amy Lee says. “We have also loved watching the gardens change throughout the seasons from the massive, oversized windows.

Outside the apartment, the same appreciation for established character continues. Wollstonecraft surprised the couple with its abundance of green space, from Berry Island - a short walk from home - to the parks and waterfront around Greenwich.

Greenwich Baths became another favourite, particularly over summer. Yet perhaps the suburb’s greatest luxury is its proximity to the city without the feeling of living in it. From the office, the couple can be home within minutes, trading the density of the CBD for gardens, quiet streets and waterfront landscapes.

That combination of convenience and calm is central to the apartment’s appeal. The home sits within easy reach of Crows Nest, Waverton and Greenwich Village, while remaining removed from the intensity of Pacific Highway.

For Amy Lee and Tim, it reinforces what they have always believed about older buildings: their age should be part of their value, not a reason to discount them. An older home arrives with a story. The challenge is knowing which parts to preserve, which to reinterpret and which to let go. Here, the owners have done all three with a light touch.

“This home has brought us so much joy and has been a warm sanctuary for our family,” Amy Lee says. “We hope that the next owners have that same experience.”

View the listing: 3/50 Shirley Road, Wollstonecraft