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Reeves House
Architect
Stutchbury and Pape
and Sue Harper Architects in association
Designed and Built
1997 – 1999
Landscape Architect
Phoebe Pape
Structural Consultant
Tihanyi Consulting
Builder
Craig Pocklington
Location
Clareville Beach, NSW 2107
Program
Three-level, east-west plan opening to north beneath a twisted skillion roof
Additions, 2018
Pool & deck
Alts + Adds Architect
Peter Stutchbury Architecture
Photography
© Modern House
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Introduction
Reeves House marks a decisive moment in Peter Stutchbury’s architecture, when decades of observation, experiment and building coalesced into a house of exceptional clarity. Designed by Peter Stutchbury and Sue Harper, it was realised between 1997 and 1999; Peter Stutchbury Architecture later added the swimming pool and extended the principal living deck.
It is a refined work of environmental and structural intelligence. Across three levels, the house is organised along an east–west axis on the high side of Hudson Parade, its principal living volume opening north beneath the expansive sweep of the twisted skillion roof. Sun, water, wind and topography are not conditions applied to the architecture; they determine it.
In 2000, Reeves House was one of two residences to receive a Commendation for the Robin Boyd Award for Residential Architecture, the Australian Institute of Architects’ highest national honour for residential architecture. Its later selection as one of only 23 Australian single residences in The Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture – featuring 1,052 buildings across 75 countries—confirmed its international standing. Here, Stutchbury’s enduring principles find their most assured expression to that point.
“Our aim was to organise the building so that it connects most with landscape and least with urbanscape.”
70/80/90 Iconic Australian Houses by Karen McCartney, p. 214
The architecture: defining principles
Peter Stutchbury’s best houses begin before the building. They begin with patient attention to the sun, wind, water, fall of the land and the way a place is already inhabited by trees, weather and light. At Reeves House, this order of thought is legible everywhere. Stutchbury knew this place intuitively. His experimental family home, begun more than a decade earlier, was less than 200 metres away, giving him a lived understanding of Clareville’s climate and vegetation. The house is not simply placed in nature; it heightens one’s awareness of it.
That relationship is resolved with remarkable economy. A largely closed southern wall shields the interior from cold southerlies, the street and neighbouring houses; the northern edge opens to sun and garden, drawing in cooling north-easterly breezes. Protection, privacy and connection are achieved in one clear move.
Architect Rick Joy recognised in Stutchbury’s work “a tenacious respect for the primacy of the site”. At Reeves House, that respect for the site shapes every part of the house. The blade walls respond to the land, water, southerly weather and need for privacy. The roof is shaped by light, heat and breeze. The plan expands towards the landscape. Each decision has immediate domestic value: quieter rooms, winter warmth, summer shade, natural ventilation and living spaces that continue across the decks and into the garden.
On the high side of Hudson Parade, just 150 metres from Clareville Beach, the original site rose through established bush and was crossed by a watercourse. Rather than divert or conceal it, Stutchbury and Harper allowed the watercourse to shape the approach to the house. Two substantial masonry blade walls extend into the land, forming a protected southern spine. Between them, a tapering passage traces the path of water, narrowing and widening as it draws the visitor inside. The walls hold the entry, stair and circulation; shield the interior from cold winds, street noise and neighbouring buildings; and provide thermal mass. Winter sun settles on concrete and masonry, its warmth held after the light has gone.
In contrast, the northern and western elevations are finely framed and extensively glazed, their slender steel supports making the upper pavilion appear to hover over the landscape. Internal blade walls continue beyond the glass and across the decks, extending the rooms outside. Sun and shadow move across polished concrete and pale plywood; reflections of branches shift across the glass; Pittwater appears and disappears between the trees. The house appears simple, but that simplicity depends on a precise balance between solid and transparent, sheltered and exposed.
Above everything is the twisted parasol roof. It lifts towards the east to gather morning light, opens to the north to admit lower winter sun and north-easterly breezes, then dips down towards the west to temper afternoon heat. Deep eaves provide summer shade. Beneath it, the interior is bright in winter, protected in summer and generous in volume. Early light catches the pale plywood overhead; later, the western fold draws shade back across the room. The roof reads the day and the seasons, turning sun, shade and breeze into comfort and atmosphere.
The form had been developing across Stutchbury’s work. An earlier twisted, tapered roof appeared in the church he helped design and build in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (c. 1983–84), and was later tested at public scale in the Sydney International Archery Park (1996–98). At Reeves House it became domestic and precisely climatic, its continuous plywood ceiling resolving structure and shelter as one encompassing gesture.
This is also an architecture that elevates the commonplace. Concrete block, polished concrete, corrugated iron, plywood, recycled timber, polycarbonate and fine steel form a restrained material palette. Each brings its own weight, texture, warmth and response to light; together, they form a finely balanced composition, most evident at the junctions where one material meets another. Rough block meets smooth concrete; blackbutt boards warm in the sun; plywood grain sharpens as light moves across it. Masonry stores warmth, translucent roofing draws daylight into the circulation spine and slender steel supports preserve the openness of the living spaces. The engineering is quiet but exact, allowing the interior to change with the weather.
Reeves House represents a coming of age in Stutchbury’s body of work. The exploratory intelligence of his early houses remains, joined here by a new command of mass, scale, planning and construction. Ideas tested through platforms, parasols and light frames are brought together with a confidence that anticipates his later work. Its sophistication resides in resolving difficult things simply: the rise and watercourse of the site, the competing needs for shelter and transparency, and a large open volume made intimate through section, light and material.
Its selection by Phaidon places that achievement on an international level. Among 1,052 buildings across 75 countries, Reeves House was one of only 23 Australian single residences chosen to represent contemporary architecture. The distinction recognises more than an arresting roof or beautiful setting. It recognises an architectural idea of wider relevance: locally formed, environmentally intelligent and carried through with exceptional discipline.
Richard Leplastrier, Stutchbury’s mentor, described Stutchbury’s work as “an architecture at once beautiful and local” and observed that it “understands absolutely where it is and what it needs to be”. At Reeves House, those qualities come together with a maturity and assurance that help explain both its place in Stutchbury’s work and its recognition beyond Australia.
“Snare the sun, capture the wind, elevate the commonplace.”
The experience of the house
From Hudson Parade, Reeves House reveals little. Its southern and eastern masonry walls are quiet and protective, preserving privacy before the house opens fully to garden and outlook. Entry is through a glazed opening between the two heavy blade walls. The weight of concrete, softened light, the rising stair and the path of water recalled between the walls create a contained and deliberate arrival. The house does not disclose its full scale at once.
The release into the principal living level is extraordinary. Beyond the masonry spine, the structure becomes light and the space opens almost completely to the north. Living, dining, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom are gathered beneath the single rising roof plane. Long sightlines, changes in floor level and slender steel supports carry the eye across the decks and through the trees towards Pittwater. The shared spaces feel expansive, while the stepped section and blade walls give each area its own atmosphere and privacy.
At the western end, full-height timber-framed openings fold away and the living room extends onto the deck beneath the shelter of the roof. The experience changes through the day: morning light enters below the lifted eastern roof; leaves cast moving shadows across the floor; the north-easterly breeze passes through the open elevation; western light catches the water through the trees; masonry retains warmth as evening arrives.
At the centre, the kitchen makes Stutchbury’s principles social. The original client was a chef, and the stainless-steel work surface continues onto the northern deck, allowing preparation, cooking and gathering to move outside without leaving the conversation. The roof holds both spaces together. For much of the year, the decks are outdoor rooms for eating, working, reading and entertaining within the garden and under the changing sky.
“The kitchen is the focal point, stretching from inside to outside.”
The principal bedroom and bathroom rise approximately one metre above the main living floor. A partition wall and change in level create privacy without surrendering the continuity of the pavilion. The bedroom opens to its own northern deck beneath the soaring roofline, catching first light through the trees. The long bathroom doubles as a dressing room and remains close to air, sky and garden, bringing bathing as near to outdoors as shelter allows.
On the level below, the atmosphere becomes cooler and more contained. The bedroom and adjoining bathroom sit within the heavier concrete and masonry construction and open to a private terrace and western aspect, providing a genuine retreat. Lower again, the garage is embedded into the fall of the land. Across three levels, the section creates separation without disconnecting any part of the house from its setting.
The later swimming pool and enlarged principal deck continue the original architectural thought. Interior, deck, garden, water and canopy now form one extended place to live, equally suited to entertaining, quiet afternoons and summer swimming. The house can open broadly to warmth and breeze or draw back towards the protection of its masonry walls. The architecture is rigorous; living within it appears wonderfully free.
The national awards jury found in Reeves House “rational program yet poetic order”. Rationality lies in its orientation, environmental control, structural economy and lucid planning. Poetry arrives in what those decisions allow: light moving across the plywood ceiling, air passing through an open pavilion, water recalled within the entrance passage and daily life extending beneath one great roof into the trees.
Floor Plan
Download
Specifications
Address
91 Hudson Parade, Clareville NSW 2107
Planning
3 level indoor outdoor house, generous in plan & elevation
Internal living (approx.)
208 sq m (2,239 sq ft)
Internal area (approx.) incl. Garage & Store
255 sq m (2,745 sq ft)
External living (approx.) not incl. garden terraces
140 sq m (1,507 sq ft)
Total area (approx.)
395 sq m (4,252 sq ft)
Land area (approx.)
1,347 sq m (14,499 sq ft)
Sustainability + Structure
Passive solar design with principal living spaces opening north
Twisted parasol roof admitting lower winter sun while tempering summer sun
Deep eaves providing seasonal shade
Masonry blade walls providing shelter, privacy and thermal mass
Fine steel framing and extensive operable glazin
Heating moderated by passive solar gain and thermal mass
Cooling through shade, cross-ventilation, north-easterly breezes and thermal mass
For Sale by Private Treaty
Price on application
View by Appointment
Marcus Lloyd-Jones
Modern House Estate Agents
Mobile: 0424 00 55 31
International: +61 2 8014 5363
Email: viewings@modernhouse.co
Co-Agent
Tara Jaijee
Ray White Northern Beaches – Palm Beach
Mobile: 0423 737 826
Email: tara.jaijee@raywhite.com
Location
Clareville occupies the sheltered Pittwater side of the Barrenjoey Peninsula, approximately 40 kilometres north of the Sydney CBD. From the high side of Hudson Parade, established trees frame filtered views to the water. Clareville Beach, also known as Long Beach, having a NW orientation is just 150 metres away.
Clareville Beach extends north from Taylors Point along the peninsula’s calm western shore. Pittwater shapes daily life: swim before breakfast, walk the sand when everyone else has gone, or take the dinghy to a moored boat and follow wind and tide north through Pittwater, around Lion Island in Broken Bay or beyond Barrenjoey along the coast. The Clareville [Kiosk], behind the beach, is the informal local dining room – when no one wants to cook or wash up. Avalon’s shops & service are just a 5 minute drive ‘in town’; Whale Beach and Palm Beach are a short drive north.
Long before European settlement and subdivision, the Clareville foreshore formed part of the Country of the Garigal people, also recorded as Caregal, supporting life through abundant marine and bush resources. European settlement gathered at the water’s edge, with steamers visiting Clareville wharf in the early twentieth century. Subdivision in the 1920s brought holiday houses; after 1950, Clareville became a settled residential community.
That passage from seasonal escape to sustained daily life remains central to Clareville. Its sand-between-the-toes informality brings beach, boat and local table into one easy rhythm, with days measured by sun, breeze, canopy and Pittwater’s shifting light and tides.
Architect
The collaboration between Peter Stutchbury and Sue Harper had been years in the making. Harper was taught by Stutchbury and Richard Leplastrier at the University of Sydney before spending six years with Troppo Architects in the Northern Territory and a further six years in Stutchbury’s studio. By the time they came together for Reeves House, she had established her own practice. The relationship had evolved—from student and teacher, then employee and employer, to two independent architects working as peers.
Their architectural instincts had been shaped by different places. Stutchbury’s developed through his experience of rural New South Wales and Papua New Guinea, extensive travel, and direct involvement in constructing his early buildings. Harper brought the practical intelligence acquired through six years with Troppo Architects in the Northern Territory, where climate, economy and the directness of making were fundamental. What they shared was a belief that architecture should begin with place, and that invention must be resolved through planning, structure and detail.
Harper remembered the Reeves commission: “The process of working with Pete’s sense of invention was fun.” Her role was more than an additional hand. She brought rigour and clarity to the work and, as project architect, carried its ambitious ideas through to resolution. Their collaboration continued with Richard Leplastrier on the Birabahn Indigenous Centre at the University of Newcastle, completed soon afterwards.
The work emerging from Stutchbury’s studio during this period established many of the principles that would define his subsequent practice. In 2015, the Australian Institute of Architects awarded Stutchbury its Gold Medal for his wider contribution to architecture through practice, teaching and professional life.
Sue Harper and Peter Stutchbury, 2022
Photograph: Michael Nicholson
Published & Awards
Published
The Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture – Miquel Adrià, Ben Campkin, and Céline Condorelli, Phaidon, 2004, p. 33
Peter Stutchbury: Of People and Places: Between the Bush and the Beach – Philip Drew, Pesaro Publishing, 2000, pp. 102–107
Peter Stutchbury: Selected Projects – Patrick Bingham-Hall, Pesaro Publishing, 2010, pp. 48–55
Under the Edge: The Architecture of Peter Stutchbury – Ewan McEoin, Architecture Foundation Australia, 2011, pp. 42–43
70/80/90 Iconic Australian Houses: Three Decades of Domestic Architecture – Karen McCartney, Murdoch Books, 2011, pp. 204-217
Awards
Australian Institute of Architects, 2000 National Architecture Awards, Robin Boyd Award, Residential Architecture – Houses (New), Commendation
Australian Institute of Architects, 2000 NSW Architecture Awards, Residential Architecture – Houses (New), Award
For Sale by Private Treaty
Price on application
View by Appointment
Marcus Lloyd-Jones
Modern House Estate Agents
Mobile: 0424 00 55 31
International: +61 2 8014 5363
Email: viewings@modernhouse.co
Co-Agent
Tara Jaijee
Ray White Northern Beaches – Palm Beach
Mobile: 0423 737 826
Email: tara.jaijee@raywhite.com
“We look forward to welcoming you to this very special house.”