Architects Hawthorn

Hawthorn homes are the kind people intend to keep. Victorian villas, Federation houses in the Grace Park streets, solid interwar homes on established gardens: this is stock that repays serious design and quietly records every shortcut. Owners here rarely ask whether to use an architect; they ask which architect can meet the house's standard.

BOROONDARA & THE INNER EAST

BY Projects Architecture works across Boroondara and the inner east on exactly these projects. The practice is led by registered architect Barbara Yerondais FRAIA and carries 35+ years, 400+ projects across Victoria and 59+ heritage approvals into every engagement, with fees fixed from the outset.

35+

YEARS

400+

PROJECTS

59+

HERITAGE APPROVALS

PROJECT MIX

The Hawthorn briefs
we take on

Whole-home renovations of period houses

Unwinding decades of piecemeal changes into one coherent home. Our Nevis House project in neighbouring Camberwell did precisely this, consolidating forty years of ad-hoc additions to an interwar home into a single, resolved design.

Substantial extensions that read as belonging

Proportion, materials and roofline doing the persuading, to the street and to the council.

Second-storey and basement additions

The requests we hear most on valuable land where the footprint is already spoken for; both live or die on structure and section, which is where we start.

Heritage-sensitive interiors and kitchens

Our Alexander Street project in Box Hill reworked the kitchen of a double-fronted Victorian inside its heritage fabric, approved in six months.

New homes on established streets

Designed to sit naturally among houses a century their senior.

Restorations of graded properties

Taken through Boroondara's system, below.

THE COUNCIL

What makes
Boroondara different

Boroondara is among Melbourne's most heritage-conscious councils, and its system has a particular character: the onus sits with the owner. The council states it directly: "You are responsible for finding out whether you need a Planning Permit for your works by using our online tools or contacting us," and it points owners to Heritage Council Victoria's At Home with Heritage guide rather than an in-house advisory service. There is no council hand to hold you through it. That is not a complaint; it is a reason the architect you choose matters more here than in councils that coach applicants.

DESIGN & APPROVAL

How we run a
Boroondara approval

We establish your property's status first

Through the council's heritage overlay and grading maps, because grading, precinct context and streetscape controls set the envelope before taste enters the room.

We build the case the assessment wants

Drawings and heritage responses aligned to the planning scheme's expectations, prepared as if the reviewer were sceptical, because sometimes they are.

We program truthfully

The 60-statutory-day clock pauses for information requests and referrals; serious Boroondara projects deserve schedules that respect reality.

Planning something serious for a serious house?

For homes worth doing properly.

BOOK A FEASIBILITY SESSION

OUTCOMES

The result
that matters

A period home that works as one building rather than a main house with apologies attached. Light, flow and warmth without a false note from the street. A permit pathway managed by people who prepare for scrutiny rather than hope to avoid it. And a budget honoured, because the fee was fixed when the ambition was agreed.

COMMON QUESTIONS

Hawthorn questions,
answered honestly

Do I need a permit for my Hawthorn renovation?

In Boroondara, finding out is formally your responsibility, and the answer depends on your property's grading and overlays. We make it the first deliverable of feasibility, using the council's own tools, so nothing downstream is built on a guess.

Should we renovate the period home or extend it?

Usually the question is proportion: what the existing rooms can become versus what only new volume can provide. We answer it with sections and sketches, not slogans, in the feasibility session.

What does an architect-designed renovation or extension cost?

Across BY Projects' delivered work, renovation budgets have ranged from approximately $250,000–$570,000, and substantial extensions have started around $1 million. These are portfolio examples rather than Hawthorn-wide price guides; scope and site drive the real number, and the feasibility session gives you one for your project.

Why an architect rather than a design-and-build firm for this kind of house?

Because graded homes and streetscape controls reward full-cycle design authority: one professional accountable from feasibility through approval to construction detail. For substantial or overlay work, that oversight is the difference between approved-and-loved and endlessly revised.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE

Useful Boroondara
resources

Boroondara heritage hub

The council's heritage overlay maps and guidance.

Heritage and property development

The council's own guidance for owners.

At Home with Heritage (Heritage Council Victoria)

The guide Boroondara points owners toward.

Victorian Heritage Database

Check whether a property is heritage listed.

Start the Conversation

Every project begins with a deep inquiry into site, heritage, and vision. Let’s discuss the strategic potential of your next work.

SCHEDULE A FEASIBILITY SESSION →

A PRELIMINARY CONSULTATION TO EVALUATE HERITAGE CONSTRAINTS, SITE POTENTIAL, AND PROJECT FEASIBILITY.