Behind the listing: A heritage Summer Hill Federation house that has neighbours stopping in the street

• Owners: Lawyer and teacher Madeleine Titmarsh and lawyer Shaun Titmarsh
• Address: 12 Seaview Street, Summer Hill 
• Type of house: Renovated 1915 Queen Anne residence with oodles of street appeal
• Price guide: $4 million

At a street party Madeleine and Shaun Titmarsh hosted on their wide nature strip one Christmas, two unidentified visitors confessed they actually lived around the corner but had taken the opportunity to pop by for a sticky beak.

“We obliged,” Madeleine says with a laugh. 

SOLD - $4,800,000

12 Seaview Street, Summer Hill NSW 2130

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The couple couldn’t really blame the intruders. In a boutique street of heritage properties, No. 12 is one of the loveliest, with its restored heritage facade and mature camellia trees often admired by passers-by. 

“It’s a pretty, pretty house,” Madeleine says. “I mean, it’s what I loved about it when I first saw it too, so I get it. If we’re out the front gardening, people will stop and say, ‘Oh, it looks good,’ or whatever. It’s pretty common – and my husband loves it! Shaun will be out the front talking to someone and I just think, ‘Here we go,’” she jokes.

Since moving into the old house with their two small children in 2003, the couple have embarked on a labour of love to restore the home to the grandeur of its 1915 beginnings.

“When we bought, it was a beautiful house, but it needed a lot of work,” says Madeleine. “We couldn’t really afford to do anything major so we just did what we could and saved up.”

While they could see potential in the high ceilings, the wide hallway, elaborate plasterwork and large front verandah, the back of the house was a “higgledy-piggledy” arrangement of rooms. 

The strange laundry-kitchen hybrid wouldn’t cut it for family life, so Shaun sourced a makeshift setup from the Trading Post and, with a friend’s help, rigged it up. 

“Shaun said, ‘We’ll only have it for five minutes; we’ll get you a proper kitchen soon,’” Madeleine recalls. “And then, of course, that didn’t happen, but I didn’t mind because it was kind of cool, and we made it look beautiful even though it was nothing.”

Interested in restoration and with a penchant for a project, Shaun sourced large leadlight windows for the two front rooms and restored the home’s original fireplaces and an old workshop in the garden. 

“Shaun is into preserving the integrity of beautiful houses and bringing them back to life,” Madeleine says. “He and his mates have professional jobs where you don’t see the fruits of your labour in the same way, and so they get a lot of satisfaction out of restoration projects and work where they can use their hands. He has always really enjoyed that.”

In 2017, when they were ready to begin a large-scale renovation – which involved demolishing the back half of the house – the couple brought in local architect Andrew Hebdon, who they felt had a good grasp of the heritage rules and regulations of the area, as well as an affinity with their house and its history.

“You see these modern blocks on the back of beautiful old houses and I didn’t want anything like that, which Andrew understood,” Madeleine says. 

“You wouldn’t even know that we have gone up from the streetscape. The renovation is very much in keeping with the heritage of the house. It’s very sympathetic; he knew that’s what we were after.”

Despite this softly-softly approach, the results have been dramatic. The rebuild extended the back of the house to include a vastly bigger and, now, open-plan living zone, with a modern kitchen and walk-in pantry, dining room and adjoining covered outdoor entertaining space.

In “going up”, the floor plan’s bedroom count swelled from three to five, with two big rooms, a lounge and bathroom tucked under the eaves.

Downstairs, period proportions and the couple’s careful restoration shine, with the wide central hallway a grand and welcoming entrance which connects the three front bedrooms – or formal lounge, home office and main bedroom, depending on your needs – with the newer portion of the house. 

Really, having been teased by the major renovation works throughout much of 2017, it’s a wonder the curious gate crashers hadn’t knocked on the door sooner.   

“We just felt such relief that what we had wanted and what we designed was as beautiful as we had hoped it would be,” Madeleine says of the end result. “It’s very hard to imagine how your ideas will materialise. The space is so beautiful, the outlook to the garden is so beautiful; we are really, really happy.”

The garden has been another labour of love. Growing up with parents who owned a nursery, Madeleine has relished filling it with cuttings and seeds from her father. It now holds many of her favourite plants – lavender, roses and azaleas among them. 

What began as a patch of earth evolved into a sanctuary for small children, a setting for social activity and merriment, and also peaceful reflection.

“The move is an emotional one,” Madeleine says of the couple’s decision to sell. “I think I will miss the garden the most; it really is a special and peaceful place for us … I do most of my thinking there.”

The thing about restoring an old house, however, is that once it is completed, there’s very little in the way of new jobs to tackle. 

“Shaun is on the look-out for a new project.”