Northcote House No. 3
Northcote, Melbourne
This is the interior designer Jane Kilpatrick's own family home in Westgarth, in Melbourne's Northcote, which she shares with her husband and three sons. Her studio calls it Northcote house no. 3, the third of its Northcote houses. The family bought the double-fronted Victorian in 2016. Its front section was restored, the 1970s extension behind it was demolished, and Ancher Architecture Office designed a new two-storey brick addition held away from the old house, with two courtyards either side of a largely glazed link so that light reaches deep into a south-facing rear that runs boundary to boundary. Pipkorn Kilpatrick, Kilpatrick's own studio, did the interiors: full-height blackbutt windows and doors, exposed brick outside and bagged brick inside, concrete floors, and joinery in blackbutt, messmate and a creamy off-white. Kilpatrick: "We were keen to minimise materials, particularly by reducing the need for plasterboard and paint". Senmak Construction built it, and the house was complete by September 2024.
The card looks back at the addition from the fire pit at the bottom of the garden: a rusted steel fire bowl on gravel among large round stepping stones, a sleeper edge, the lawn, and the brick addition with its lower dining box pushed out towards the garden, a timber screen fence at left and fruit trees in pots. The hardscaping is by Gavin Smith Garden Design & Construction. In the studio's own words: "The country feel is carried from front to back with recycled bricks, timber cladding and the original barn sliding door retained from the old shed which needed to be halved in size to allow for the fire pit area."
Pipkorn Kilpatrick
Pipkorn Kilpatrick is an interior architecture and design studio based in Northcote and Jan Juc, a small team working with clients across country, city and coastal locations. Jane Kilpatrick is a co-founder.
pipkornkilpatrick.com.au · Instagram
Ancher Architecture Office
Ancher Architecture Office is the practice of the registered architects Anna Ancher and Garth Ancher, launched in 2017 after they had worked at firms in Australia and Europe, and working on projects across Victoria and Tasmania.
Interior design Jane Kilpatrick of Pipkorn Kilpatrick (@pipkorn_kilpatrick). Architecture @ancherarchitectureoffice. Photography @gemmola. Build @senmak.construction. Hardscaping Gavin Smith Garden Design & Construction. Seen via @thedesignfiles.
The picture comes from this post on Instagram.
Researched September 2026. I credit each piece as carefully as I can; if you know more about this one, message me on Instagram.