This midcentury Australian home by second Sydney Opera House architect Peter Hall is wrapped around a secluded courtyard swimming pool.

Halsham House is tucked away in the Willoughby East suburb of Sydney and was commissioned by New South Wales Supreme Court judge Michael Helsham in 1974. The single-storey home – for sale via Modern House, with price on application – is a simple brick structure capped by a cantilevered flat metal roof.

Hall took on the difficult job as replacement architect for the Opera House in 1966 after Jørn Utzon resigned amid controversy over its spiralling costs and delayed schedule. They were difficult shoes to fill, and Halsham House was completed six years after the iconic landmark was finished, marking Hall’s return to smaller residential projects.

The 1,851 sq ft Sydney property is modest in scale but it’s highly function. Rooms inside the ‘L-shaped’ home are light-filled and fold around the swimming pool. The kitchen and living room feature triple-fronted glass doors that open onto the terrace, and there’s a full size tennis court and landscaped gardens behind it.

Three bedrooms fill the short arm of the L, and are stocked with period features such as painted brick walls, cork floors and timber-slatted ceilings. Custom cabinetry and wood-panelling have also been preserved throughout the midcentury Australian home.

Aside from a small extension by Lewis Tzannes added in 1990, the house remains true to Hall’s vision – a timecapsule of 1970s Australian Modernism.

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