An award-winning Yeronga home that captured an architect’s heart the moment he walked through the front door has quietly come to market — and its owners admit selling is “a bit devastating”.
There’s a certain irony in an architect being surprised by good design, but that’s exactly what happened to Michael Kisluk when he wandered down a long shared driveway at the end of a quiet Rome Street South cul-de-sac in Yeronga. He’d spotted an open-for-inspection sign and — on a whim — decided to take a look. What he found inside changed the course of his life.
Light filtered through mechanised louvres and expansive glass sliding doors into a double-height, open-plan living space. Beyond the glass, there was nothing but greenery. Kisluk, who had been renting nearby, was immediately captivated by the proportions, the orientation, and the quality of detail throughout. His professional instincts told him straight away that a fellow architect had conceived the space.
He was right. The home was designed by Queensland architect Shane Thompson — who faced significant challenges with the site, a gully setting near the Brisbane River — and was ultimately named Brisbane’s House of the Year in 2006. Thompson is a Robin Boyd Award recipient whose work has earned him numerous national and international accolades. Learning about that recognition only confirmed what Kisluk already felt in his gut.
He bought the property — a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home with two car spaces at 102a Rome Street South — and moved in with his partner, film director Mairi Cameron, within weeks.
Cameron is no stranger to recognition herself. Her psychological thriller The Second — the first Stan Originals feature film produced in Australia — was nominated for an AACTA Award, a Logie Award, and SPAA’s Feature Film of the Year. With a dedicated media room converted from the fourth bedroom, she was able to bring her work home comfortably.
For Kisluk, the experience of living in a well-designed home proved revelatory in a different way. Rather than uncovering flaws — as he says tends to happen when moving into a new property — the couple kept discovering things to admire. The blackbutt timber floors, the Miele kitchen, and the mechanised louvres were all in exceptional condition. The main bedroom suite includes what Kisluk describes as an extraordinarily generous walk-in wardrobe, while two additional upstairs bedrooms have hosted his adult daughters on visits.
One of those daughters was so taken with the home that she chose it as the venue for her own wedding.
The property occupies a unique position in the Yeronga streetscape: while it doesn’t have direct river frontage, it backs onto the gardens of several neighbours on three sides, creating an atmosphere Kisluk likens to living within a private botanical garden — all the visual rewards of lush surroundings without the maintenance that comes with them. In the mornings, he says, the only sounds are rowers on the Brisbane River and king parrots picking through sunflower seeds on the deck.
The living room opens directly to the garden, and the couple have made generous use of the space, hosting gatherings that bring together friends from the architecture and creative communities alike. On warm evenings, fairy lights strung outside transform the garden into something approaching the theatrical.
So why leave? The couple recently purchased a property on South Stradbroke Island — a fixer-upper, a project — and have found themselves spending most weekends there. With the island calling, keeping a large family home in the city no longer makes sense.
It’s a practical decision, but not an easy one. Kisluk says friends and colleagues who learn they’re selling respond with genuine disbelief. Finding a home where everything works in harmony, he notes, is genuinely rare. For now, 102a Rome Street South is listed through Place, with agent Julia Doyle (0426 388 876).
Published 6-August-2026
