How Elise turned a squashy, messy terrace into an inner west retreat

When property and construction industry executive Elise Cockerill moved to Sydney from Melbourne two decades ago, she was initially drawn to Paddington’s leafy streets and historic terraces.

It wasn’t long, however, before she found herself spending time in the scrappier inner west. When she decided to leave her Paddington rental and buy, she began looking in Newtown and surrounds.

The home at 13 Fowler Street in Camperdown seemed ideal. The three-storey terrace had some of the grandeur of Paddington, but the cul-de-sac location, overlooking Camperdown Park, was low-key and family orientated.

“It had a much more neighbourly vibe,” Cockerill says. “That’s what attracted me here, and I have never looked back.”

Another attraction was the home’s renovation potential. The terrace had been built in the 1880s and refurbished haphazardly by successive owners.

Cockerill transformed the terrace to restore its period details while creating a more comfortable and contemporary living space, which she has listed for sale with plans to downsize.

When Cockerill bought it in 2009, it was crying out for attention.

“It presented neatly, but you could tell that the last round of work had been done cheaply,” she says.

The back half of the house, in particular, was slapdash. An outbuilding that originally served as horses’ stables had been connected to the kitchen with little thought for function or flow.

“That back half was squashy and skinny and messy,” Cockerill says. “I knew it had to go.”

Rather than rush into a knockdown-rebuild, she decided to set aside her initial plans for the back of the house and focus on the front.

“I wanted to live in the house and figure out how I was going to use it before changing the floorplan,” she explains.

Besides, there was plenty to do in the front rooms.

“The previous owners had given the house an industrial look: the walls were painted asylum-white and there were exposed steel beams,” Cockerill says.

“There was a real disconnect between the home’s history and the way it had been renovated.”

Within a year, she had overhauled the living room, dining room and two of the upstairs bedrooms, painting the walls in soft white and beige, reinstating traditional ceiling rosettes and installing several Murano glass chandeliers.

Two unused fireplaces downstairs were revived as gas-burners with marble trim.

“That was an easy decision, because the house was freezing when I moved in,” Cockerill says. “Guests would say: ‘I’m going home now. Your house is too cold,’ so those new fireplaces were a must.”

Before she knew it, Cockerill had spent a decade in her new home. During that time, she started a family; her children are now 12 and seven.

The park-adjacent position has been a blessing, she says. “We have a playground across the street and plenty of room for the kids to let off steam. The park has felt like an extension of the home.”

In 2019, Cockerill was ready to demolish the house’s rear. In place of the stables, she opted for an enlarged kitchen/living zone and a powder room. Above them, she added a bathroom and a third bedroom.

The existing “boring, plain-white kitchen” made way for an oversized, modern space featuring deep-blue cabinetry, an integrated fridge and marble benchtops.

“It’s a bloody expensive kitchen, but I think it was worth it,” she says. “That room anchors the house now.”

The final touches included a fresh coat of paint on the facade (“The blue tone on the front of the house carries through to the kitchen”) and Victorian bluestone crazy paving in the back courtyard. A double garage with rear-lane access was an easy value-add.

After seven years in the renovated home, Cockerill has decided to sell.

“I need to downsize,” she says. “As a developer, you can fall into the trap of developing something to its absolute potential before realising you have too much space.”

Ray White Annandale agent Tina O’Connor will take the property to auction this Saturday. She says it’s a rare opportunity in a tightly held corner of the inner west.

“These kinds of homes usually have a bit of a following, regardless of what the market is doing, because they just don’t come up for sale very often,” she said.

The home has gained interest from professionals connected to the nearby Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, as well as from buyers based in the eastern suburbs, O’Connor says.

“I’ve noticed a fair few people from Paddington are looking at this property,” O’Connor said.

Cockerill says she’ll miss the street’s community atmosphere.

“Around here, people know each other, and they’ll help you – taking in your mail and things like that – but they’re not stickybeaks.”

She says her search for a property to downsize into has affirmed her gut instinct for the inner west.

“I went over to Paddington for a quick look and thought: ‘No, I’m not moving back.’ I’ll definitely stay in the Newtown area.”

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