In Part One, we step into the Mowday’s creative sphere.
Alex tells BresicWhitney: “I didn’t want to change the bungalow. I loved the awkwardness of the shapes. I loved the real human scale of the home."
Perfectly imperfect: A creative convergence on the Lower North Shore.
Author
BresicWhitney
Architect Alexandra Mowday and her composer husband, Hylton live in a uniquely preserved 1930s Mosman home, tucked into the contours of the Balmoral slope. Unassuming from the street, the house is a story of restraint - a study in how to honour the history and integrity of a building, while carefully reshaping it for modern life.
Leaving the exterior almost entirely untouched, Alex and Hylton focused their efforts inward - peeling back layers and reimagining the interiors as a light-filled, efficient, contemporary living space.
The result is a beautiful juxtaposition: an old-world shell concealing a surprisingly open, functional and expressive modern home.
“Arriving at the home, it’s like nothing here has changed apart from a new post box and a number down at the street. It still looks as though it was built in 1930, but the experience changes immediately as you cross the threshold.”
It’s a house in which every detail is personal. A grand piano, large-scale artworks, and the echoes of music, conversation and soirées with friends speak to a life immersed in the arts. “Long before I was an architect, I was a painter,” Alex reflects. “And for me, the relationship between the architecture and the art is a really important part of the conversation.”
From a Mission Brown man-cave in the 1970s basement to soaring white volumes above, this is a home of stories, layers and joyful contradictions.
Alex and Hylton open their doors to us, showcasing a life designed not just with precision, but with feeling - one where architecture becomes a quiet frame for art, family, and the comfort of small, imperfect things.
