This bungalow at the end of a cul-de-sac in Hawthorn had a sunny front garden overlooking a park, but only deep shade out the back.

The designer and client shared a nostalgia for the inner city, utilitarian gardens made by Italian and Greek migrants, among others, in the post-war period in Melbourne.

And a mild disdain for the general pointlessness of the suburban front garden …

The migrant homage is evident in the allotment beds, the grapevine and Fig tree, the steel arbor, and notably the long lunch table.

The triangular geometry that owes something to the house renovation by architect Michael Markham is a counterpoint to the otherwise rectangular composition of the terrace.

The utilitarian vernacular carries through in the crib wall used to retain the garden, here embellished with basalt railway ballast in the crib apertures.