The Bellevarde team build arguably the finest architectural homes in Australia. After they built our house so beautifully in 1994, John Fielding became a friend, we discovered that he doesn’t like to talk much about his work—but other people do.
My conversations with the owners and architects of all the houses built by Bellevarde revealed that everyone greatly enjoyed the building experience.
If you are contemplating building an architect-designed house, I believe you will find their comments both interesting and useful.
As a bonus, please enjoy the images of some of Australia’s most stunning homes.
Hugh Spencer
Having lived in so many houses over the years, we knew exactly what we wanted with this one. This would be our ultimate forever house.
The apartment had been quite glamorous in its heyday but when we bought it, it was run down and in need of a major renovation.
This site has a fascinating history. A hundred and fifty years ago, it housed the Surry Hills timber yard.
We had originally asked Rob Brown of Casey Brown Architecture to design us a completely new home on the adjoining block.
I met John Fielding and, after one conversation with him, knew I wanted Bellevarde to renovate my home.
The idea of replacing the old cottage was to build a beautiful place for us to live that could also house our cherished art collection.
Picture a late 1950s house on top of an ageing apartment block that had spread from its origins as a 'caretakers shack' on the roof onto a rambling penthouse of ramshackle bones and faded glory circa 1985
We had been looking for some time for a block of land with access to the water for lifestyle and water-sports.
We first met Rob Brown more than a decade ago after admiring and visiting two houses he had done on the northern beaches of Sydney.
Creating our new house has been an extraordinary experience. Something of a long-term ambition, it became a very rewarding...
My wife found this glorious old house in a great location, with superb views and beautiful old trees.
We had lots of ideas about our new house and wanted to be deeply involved, but we lacked knowledge...
When I first saw the book about Bellevarde, I was immediately struck by the quality of their work...
Just two months before completion, two floors of my three-storey home were flooded—the result of a most unlikely act of god.
This property, in Country NSW, has been a working horse stud for over 70 years. It has a rich history...
By nature my wife and I enjoy immersing ourselves in the important things in our lives. And this house was important.
John’s house is special. It perfectly reflects his design and construction philosophy of seeking to execute everything perfectly.
John Fielding really understood what Andrew Coomer, our architect, and we were seeking to accomplish.
Most builders simply say 'Give me your plans and I will build the house'. John isn't like that. He respects great architecture.
The owners wanted to transform this beautiful site into a stage for enhancing the spiritual side of life.
Our house fuses Japanese and Western influences. We are on a surf beach, which allows us to view the waves from a tatami platform.
From the outset I wanted to be involved in the rebuilding of our beautiful old 1924 home, which was designed by Professor Leslie Wilkinson.
Our practice divides evenly between the creation of top-class luxury homes, and apartment buildings.
Ours is a pretty interesting house. It was a warehouse: now it is our home and our Gallery premises.
We use four builders. John gets the ones where quality is paramount and attention to detail is crucial.
We did the usual inspections of John’s previous work and felt pretty happy that he could tackle the job.
The site is precipitous and exposed—on a 100-metre cliff, facing into southerlies of up to 130km/hr.
Architecture appropriate to its time, place and purpose, beautifully created, delivers an immediate sense of harmony and well-being.
