Hunter Valley House Upper Karuah River NSW, New South Wales home photos, Modern Australian property

Hunter Valley House in Upper Karuah River, NSW

9 June 2025

Architect: Sarah Waller Architecture

Location: Upper Karuah River, New South Wales, Australia

Photos © Joshua Hogan Photography

Hunter Valley House, Upper Karuah River, New South Wales, Australia

A reimagined modern home, The Hunter Valley House designed by Sarah Waller Architecture and beautifully executed by Lance Lennard from Len Pro Building, is an outstanding residential home in a historic town in the Hunter Valley that captivates a response to its surrounding context and enriches its habitants with a spatial sense of strength and solidity.

The client, a young at heart lady in her 70’s, had been living in a traditional cottage and had sought out SWA to create her dream home due to her experience with bespoke, luxury homes and she was encaptivated with Sarah’s use of clean lines, transparency, and minimalistic details in her designs.

The Hunter Valley House brings a new meaning to modernist architecture in the Hunter Valley region with a single level dwelling, perfectly proportioned and beautifully orientated to incorporate warmth and light with natural outlooks through a central courtyard that blurs the distinction between inside and out while appreciating the surrounding intricacies of its location.

With an interest in symmetry, the interior and exterior Living, Kitchen and Dining spaces were to be centrally located and open to one another to allow for cohesive entertaining and socialising with the master wing closely located. These areas were to be used daily while a guest headquarters allowed for plenty of space when accompanied with visitors.

The refined monochromatic palette is signature to SWA and the Hunter Valley House is no exception; the striking façade creates intrigue from the get-go with elements that suggest an elevated feeling of open and closed that draws the attention of the eye, while the interior style welcomes clean crisp lines creates an architectural statement that is the definition of minimalism.