La Casa Rosa / Luigi Rosselli Architects

Under the reign of Queen Victoria, the residential architecture of the British colonies was immersed in a nostalgic and late romantic borrowing of gothic architecture in its idealised interpretations of John Ruskin’s essay, The Seven Lamps of Architecture1, where the skill and craft of the builder were more important than the architect’s conceptualisation. Lacework, fretwork, intricate plaster detailing, and elaborate timberwork was the currency of the Victorian colonial home. In a modest way, this home in the Sydney beachside suburb of Bronte possessed many of the traits of that late Victorian style, and when called upon to provide it with a new lease of life, for Luigi it brought to mind a holiday villa of his childhood, located on a hilltop overlooking Lago Maggiore (Italy) and named La Casa Rosa for its washed pink render.