Neometro | Smith Street Fitzroy Apartments

You may remember us covering the work of the Melbourne based design-focused development group Neometro and their Darling Street development with Nina Proven as our pin up design doyenne inside Issue #8. This week we bring to you their latest contribution, a heritage redevelopment atop the iconic 110-year-old Edwardian Panama House building at 231 Smith Street, Fitzroy.

Neometro worked with MA Architects and Grant Amon Architects on the Fitzroy Apartments, to design a subtle integration of the old with the new by carefully balancing heritage attributes and modern design.

Giving a distinct New York loft appeal, the 15 one and two-bedroom warehouse-style apartments and refurbished commercial spaces, are unified through the use of terrazzo tiles in the wet areas and concrete flooring, combined with the use of custom drop pendant lighting and spotted gum timber cabinetry.

While the upper floors make the most of the views across Fitzroy and Collingwood, with Juliet balconies and dark powder coated steel balustrades, it is the metal roof cladding that has us dreaming of Parisian rooftops in downtown Fitzroy. The facade while beautiful today will only develop over time with a patina that will be inherently stunning.

For us the Neometro handwriting is obvious, in the use of both colour and light. The bright, light apartments and their use of feature walls and sliding doors in pastel mint, works beautifully with the contrasting white walls and dark timber joinery, creating a modern and contemporary aesthetic that is both individual in style and timeless in appeal. The hallmarks of the Neometro attention to detail that we have come to love.

PHOTOGRAPHY Derek Swalwell