Mygunyah by the Circus
North Fitzroy, Melbourne
An 1880s terraced house opposite Edinburgh Gardens in North Fitzroy, renovated and extended for a multigenerational family with children and live-in grandparents. The name was already on the parapet: Mygunyah, a word derived from Australian Aboriginal languages meaning my hut or my home, while the Circus is the circular road system nearby. Two new brick pavilions doubled the house's area, borrowing their character from the neighbouring house's Arts and Crafts renewal: steep roof pitches, asymmetry, exaggerated chimneys and brick everywhere.
The side pavilion is black brick, a shared family room under a steeply pitched timber-lined roof with a central skylight and a tall chimney rising off the wood burner. The rear pavilion, pale rough brick under an asymmetrical gable, holds kitchen and dining with a bedroom above, and the garden is divided into rooms of its own behind walls of climbing jasmine. The studio used a carbon-neutral Daniel Robertson brick called Buff Blend to sit with the original building, with La Paloma Romero in the double-brick family room. The house was shortlisted in heritage and alterations categories at the 2024 Victorian Architecture Awards, and twice at the 2024 Houses Awards.
Matt Gibson Architecture + Design
The Melbourne architecture and interior design studio of Matt Gibson, founded in 2003 and based in Collingwood. On this project the design architect was Matt Gibson and the project architect Cassie Southon, with Overend Constructions building and Robyn Barlow Design shaping the garden.
Architecture Matt Gibson Architecture + Design (@mattgibsonad). Photography Derek Swalwell (@derek_swalwell). Words Jon Astbury (@jonastbury). Seen via @dezeen.
The picture comes from this post on Instagram.
Researched August 2026. I credit each piece as carefully as I can; if you know more about this one, message me on Instagram.