17A POWER STREET The Art of Flexible Living A tour through this home poses an immediate contemporary question: If a home could inhale and exhale, would you notice its breath? And if you didn’t visit 17A Power Street during the 2026 Open House tour, would you truly understand what it feels like to live inside a home that moves with you… a house that expands, contracts, shifts, and adapts to the rhythm of life like a great architectural lung? Because this is more than a home. This is an experience… one that draws you in like a sensory fidget toy made large, an architectural ‘expandaball’ of timber, steel, glass, and ingenuity. A house that stretches open in generosity, folds inward in privacy, and reveals itself piece by piece, moment by moment, as though it were always waiting for you to arrive. From the street, 17A Power Street sits with an understated poise, quietly confident among Hawthorn’s grander historic neighbours. But its modesty is a misdirection. Behind the façade lies a residence that behaves nothing like a traditional home. This is a place designed not just to be lived in, but to be played with; a house that welcomes touch, interaction, fluidity, and a certain spirited curiosity that only expands with time. Built by Craig Rossetti and Rossetti Architects, masters of precision and craft, the home stands as a testament to what can be achieved when architecture, engineering, and art decide to dance. Every detail reflects a philosophy of movement, not dramatic gesturing, but considered unfolding. Corners melt into curves, doors dissolve into walls, spaces pivot and transform as though compelled by an invisible choreography. Nothing here is static. Everything is alive. The story of 17A Power Street begins, appropriately, with a strong sense of place. Nestled in one of Melbourne’s most historically rich pockets, the home was conceived as an urban sanctuary and a retreat from the hum of the city, yet a celebration of its energy. After the owners acquired the sizeable pocket of land on a busy Hawthorn road, they subdivided the site and sold off the extra space, which also included a large Victorian residence. The inspiration behind design sprang from the laneway that runs “A home that delights in transformation, breathing and reshaping itself around the rhythms of family life”
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