North of Sydney, an artists' retreat by Glenn Murcutt comes to market

Pritzker Prize-winner Glenn Murcutt designed the Ball–Eastaway House in the early 1980s for artists Sydney Ball and Lynne Eastaway. Set within 10 hectares of dry sclerophyll forest in Glenorie, near Dural in New South Wales, it appears as a long, low corrugated-iron volume.

This was Murcutt’s first house clad entirely in corrugated iron and the first sited in unaltered bushland — no trees were removed during construction. The house sits lightly on fine steel-pipe columns inserted into a sandstone ledge at the highest point of the site. Elevated above natural drainage lines, it allows air to circulate beneath and rainwater to pass freely. The brief called for both personal retreat and working environment, so a central corridor wall separates bedrooms from living areas, including a space designed specifically to accommodate Ball’s large multi-panel painting. Repurposed agricultural sheds serve as studios nearby.

Entry unfolds as a sequence: a bush path, a slender blue-painted steel portal, then an elevated timber walkway leading to a recessed porch. Internally, space is revealed gradually. A low fireplace wall partially conceals the living area from the dining space. Beyond, a north-west-facing verandah — originally conceived as a meditation space — opens to the bush. A second verandah projects outward as a social platform.

Glass louvres, metal screens and skylights modulate light throughout the day. Murcutt’s principle of ‘prospect and refuge’ is evident in the calibrated balance between exposure and shelter.

The house won the Wilkinson Award in 1984 and has recently undergone a sympathetic restoration by Downie North. It is now State Heritage–listed. Modern House is offering it for sale, though the price is yet unpublished.