The couple found the reconstruction of their modern Hawthorn home – hidden behind a Californian bungalow facade – fun.

“Yeah I love it,” Bill, a developer, said. “It’s what we do, and I wake up every day enjoying what I do. It’s always good to be able to build to your capabilities, do what you really want to do and test yourself a little.

“For some people it creates an impediment for construction because it’s not a rectangular block. For us, it created an opportunity.”

The modern four-bedroom, four-bathroom home at 12 Mary Street interacts with the allotment in a unique way.

“We used the centrepoint of that dog-leg in the building as a knuckle to hinge the building from, which provided the opportunity to go between old and new and graduate the space between them,” he said. “It was a natural pivot point.”