Reconnecting New and Old Narratives - Captain Kelly's Cottage by John Wardle Architects

John Wardle, founding principle of John Wardle Architects, and his family have lived in the cottage on their Bruny Island farm since 2002, maintaining and improving the land over that time, and developing an affinity with the modesty of the dwelling while “pondering the changes that could be implemented”. Through living in the cottage and working on the land, the design “unfolded over time”, says John.

When observing Captain Kelly’s Cottage one recognises the easy familiarity of the galvanized iron pitched roof and the Australian low veranda.

A large part of this unfolding design involved a process of discovery as they delved into the cottage’s history, learning that it had been built in the 1830s for Captain James Kelly, a mariner who, it is speculated, employed his whaling crew to construct the cottage during the off season. The labour of this crew became visible in the unconventional construction techniques uncovered as the architects and construction team painstakingly removed the intrusions of previous unsympathetic renovations and additions.

“We undertook extensive research into the historical and social context of this cottage, mainly for personal interest but it became inextricable from my great desire to maintain the integrity of the cottage and the techniques of the past”, says John. The project may be termed a restoration, which in many ways describes how the design continuously finds its way back to remain true to the original, yet it by no means seeks to return the cottage to its utterly original state. Rather, the evidence is left to remain of the process undertaken to ‘peel back’ these later layers of the building and expose the original, creating a chronology that culminates in the home’s present incarnation.

The new design by John Wardle Architects stays true to the modesty of the original dwelling, reconnecting the new with the narrative of the old.

In this way, the structure of the cottage is imbued with the compounded narrative of its history. The materiality of the design is integral to recalling the old in the new through the deliberate use of a single purchase of Tasmanian oak for everything from the floor and the walls, structure and ceiling to the joinery. “We sought to showcase old techniques, reuse original timbers and highlight the work of the original fabricators”, says John. “In this project the significance of history and place are highlighted by these materials. The materials in the contemporary interventions are sympathetic with the old and continue a narrative of global imports in similar way to what the original builders would have encountered, as there were so few materials available at the time in the new colony.”

This sense of uniting the local with global imported products comes through in the few aspects of Captain Kelly’s Cottage not fashioned in timber. An earlier trip to Japan had seen John’s love of handmade traditional crafts leading him on the arduous journey to the small, inaccessible town of Tokoname. This town, where the streets are paved with broken clay sake bottles and few tourists ever venture, is the home of INAX tiles, founded by a father and son following the commission by Frank Lloyd Wright to produce the tiles for his Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. On his return, John discovered that Artedomus, whose products he has long specified in his work, are the Australian distributor of INAX Tiles.

John Wardle Architects highlighted the significance of history and place through the natural materials and Artedomus products used in the design.

These fortuitous circumstances enabled Artedomus to source the bronze scalloped INAX Yousai tiles that cover the hearth and coffee table and the Yohen Border mosaics for the bathroom walls in Captain Kelly’s Cottage, their handmade quality, texture and hues complementing the interior’s warmth and depth. “The handmade is always of interest to me and seeing the facility in Tokoname where these tiles were made was a wonderful experience”, recalls John. These imported tiles, which carry with them their own historical narrative, beautifully encapsulate the unique combination of local materials and global products found in early Australian colonial architecture, creating yet another contemporary link to the cottage’s past.

Captain Kelly’s Cottage connects with the essential humanity whose thread has endured throughout the humble cottage’s long history.