Brown House by Redbox Architects

ArchiPro Project Summary - Brown House: A meticulously renovated heritage dwelling in central Nelson, blending historic charm with modern comfort, featuring three versatile bedrooms and inviting communal spaces, all while preserving its iconic facade and vibrant character.

Title:: Brown House
Architect:: Redbox Architects
Category:: Residential/; New Builds

Brown House is an iconic Nelson historic settlers building with a rich and colourful past dating back to the 1860’s. It is located in the heart of central Nelson on a long and narrow site stretching between two busy streets. The clients wished to create a unique inner-city dwelling that could be used as short-term accommodation.

Like many older Nelson inner-city homes, the original Brown House was long, narrow and dark, with a variety of uses over its time, including retail and hospitality. The existing building was in a state of disrepair with a lot of the finishing timber damaged or removed. With hardly any original materials and features left, it required extensive renovation and modernisation.

Retaining only the front facade, the house was stripped back to the framing and reconfigured into a three bedroom dwelling that can be arranged in several ways to sleep up to six guests. The house has a strong street presence – the weatherboards aptly painted a chocolate brown colour contrasted with white window facings and shutters, with the entry being marked by a bright pink front door. A long hallway leads down to the light-filled dining, kitchen and living area. The sun-soaked verandah upstairs and generous courtyard at ground level create a little urban oasis amongst the industrial city fabric.

Brown House is a thoughtful and playful response to heritage controls, the site and program. It is a heritage gem brought back to life, adding another chapter to its vibrant history.

Featured in Wild Tomato's September issue on heritage homes: Salvaging the Past for the Future.

Photography by Kate Webster Photography.

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Professionals used

Redbox ArchitectsArchitectsNelson, Nelson

Redbox Architects

Architects

Nelson

redboxarchitects.co.nz

Redbox Architects. Redbox Architects are an energetic, tight-knit team working on a wide range of building sizes and typologies including education, residential, multi-residential, commercial and public projects. We are passionate about architecture and all the process entails, and believe that like many things, it comes down to the people. We seek to get the right people involved in a project at the right time to ensure a smooth and fulfilling process. We pride ourselves on working collaboratively with our clients to take on their ideas and provide our own insights to build on that. Our design work develops organically and we strive to find a balance between beauty, sustainability, compliance, buildability and budget. We are problem solvers at the end of the day and love nothing more than finding the optimum solution for a particular site and brief.