When professional horticulturalists Kathleen and Peter and renowned architect Richard Leplastrier collaborated to blend their creative ideas and considerable skill, it was a given the result would be something truly special – the manifestation of a dream home in an idyllic piece of hilltop rainforest.
After finding their own patch of rich-soil heaven in the climatic shangri-La of Mt Wilson, and with only a shed for shelter to begin, Kathleen and Peter spent many starry nights camped out, dreaming what form the perfect home for the site would take. In Leplastrier they had found a kindred spirit. As one of the country’s most formative architects, throughout his long career he had formed a unique sensibility of the interplay between Australian landscape and building design. Through early work with Jorn Utzon on the Opera House, and later a study sojourn in Japan, his work evolved to be imbued with a unique sense of light, space and a relationship to nature, and it made him particularly suited to fulfil the vision Peter and Kathleen had for their own plot of paradise.
Leplastrier's philosophy, to build something ideally after camping onsite for “many days and many nights” matched Peter’s own “it is the best way to feel a place out” muses Leplastrier. ”The form of the terrain, its effect on climate, the path of the animals and the sun. Where do you put your campfire?” When the couple gave him a brief for what would be their ideal haven, they had done all their homework. What the couple longed for was an airy, passive-solar pavilion, that uplifted the spirit and gently sat in keeping with the spectacular locale: to lie in bed and look into the tree canopy and see the moon and stars, to feel the movement of the sun pass through the forest and clearing throughout the seasons, all from the cosy comfort of a generous space heated by the sun, plus an efficient, form-meets-function Jetmaster open wood fire and an expansive slab floor with off-peak heating.
Today, Holmwood rises out of its clearing in the forest with the clean-lines of superb craftsmanship and sublime design. Open plan, with a soaring roof line and huge double-glazed windows, it is a home that invites nature to be part of its soul. Tree ferns, native orchids, waratahs, brown barrel eucalypts and sassafras fill every window-scape, with a vista that extends down through trees to the vastness of the Wollemi wilderness beyond. The open plan living spills out through majestic French doors to the outside, in a seamless interface between lawn, forest and interior. It is a home for living in joyfully and creatively, imbued as it is with a sense of zen–like peace, peppered only by the calls of birds, the gentle nattering of nocturnal animals and the silent flitting of fireflies at dusk.
Externally, hardiflex and corrugated iron in grey tones clad the building, contrasting with vast, wood framed windows that reflect the trees and sky. Internally, strong elements of timber - hoop pine ply and contrasting tallowwood - are a warm-coloured feature, their gentle curves and riveted panels caressing ceiling lines, walls and bespoke furniture. Long slabs of tallowwood hug the kitchen and bedroom walls in elegant, sensuous lines, creating a frame for bookcases and cabinets that ‘float’ above the floor.
The ‘garden’, a vast 5 acre mosaic of wet sclerophyll forest, temperate rainforest, cleared land and super-productive flower and vegetable beds, is glorious(the majority being on level land with distant wilderness views and borrowed landscape vistas). It is a home and a haven to a myriad of bird species and native animals, including lyre birds, wallabies and wombats.
Kathleen and Peter will be sorry to leave the idyllic haven they have created, a place lovingly named for a property in Cowra Peter had spent many days of a happy, carefree childhood. Their days at Holmwood have been inspiring, creative and productive. New adventures and horizons beckon, but in their time they have embraced the special village life Mt Wilson has to offer, where community spirit and deep friendships are forged between like-minded people that have found themselves at home in this unique part of the world.
With the home Peter and Kathleen leave you more than a beautifully fulfilled dream, they also offer all the furniture pieces they have collected that ‘belong’ in this gorgeous space, along with the entirety of handcrafted pieces that are inherent to the shell of the property. These give the internal spaces a flowing, integrated design and include beds, bookcases, desks and cabinets. A list of other inclusions also go with the property.
•Constructed by the master builder Rolly Clark
•The floorplan compromises of two studies, a single/day bed reading nook and a walk-in wardrobe in addition to the master bedroom, plus a butler’s pantry with sink and extensive storage to keep the open kitchen/living streamlined
•Two rainwater tanks: 60,000 and 50,000, connected via a pump...
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