Three vacant storeys, brought back to life.
The upper floors of 137 Liverpool Street had sat empty and deteriorating for decades. Originally known as Tasmanian House, the building dates to the early 1850s when it was built as an elegant three-storey brick premises with attic dormers on the corner of Liverpool and Murray Streets. It has been a grocery and tea merchant, a tailor, a clothing store and an optometrist - but its upper levels had long been forgotten.
Our brief was to adapt these floors into contemporary office space while respecting the heritage fabric that had survived nearly 170 years of use and alteration. The open nature of the existing spaces suited the new purpose well. The challenge was circulation - the building had no lift, no street-level entry to the upper floors, and a stair arrangement that couldn't support modern access requirements.
A new way in, through the quieter side.
Our strategy placed all new vertical circulation at the Murray Street end of the building, consolidating the lift, stair and bathroom amenities into one zone and leaving the heritage floor plates largely intact. The lift sits within the 1975 addition rather than cutting into the original fabric. At street level, a new foyer gives tenants a presence on Murray Street, with potential for a small hole-in-the-wall coffee shop at the ground floor. The foyer facade makes reference to the original goods pulley system that once occupied this part of the elevation.
Heritage kept, not hidden.
Throughout the building, our approach was to reveal and protect rather than conceal. Aluminium windows were replaced with timber double-hung sashes to match historical photographs. Original timber floorboards were encapsulated beneath new flooring rather than removed. On level two, a section of floorboards above was opened up to bring light down from the dormer windows and restore the lofty quality of the original space. Two skylights were reinstated. The original central stair was retained as a visual feature within the office levels.
The rear 1975 addition was reworked to provide a kitchen and rooftop deck for the upper tenancy, replacing a roof that had reached the end of its life. All work was carried out while the ground floor tenant remained operational beneath.
The result is a building that earns its keep again - functional, accessible and full of daylight, with nearly two centuries of history still legible in its walls.
