For architect and founding director of Plus Minus Design Phillip Arnold, ‘good design’ pertains to spaces created and maintained with love.

It’s a sentiment he’s reminded of when passing McElhone Place, better known as ‘Cat Alley’, in Surry Hills — a narrow urban laneway of bald-faced terraces shrouded in overflowing potted plants tended to by residents.

‘The gardens of McElhone Place were started by people who clearly loved their street and wanted to make it special,’ says Phillip. ‘It cannot remain special without ongoing love and care.’

The greenification of Cat Alley was spearheaded by residents in the late 1970s. The houses, which date back to the 1840s, are mostly small one-bedroom properties that lack meaningful outdoor space.

Slowly but surely, the street’s narrow footpaths began to fill with tubs, pots, trellises, and window boxes overflowing with flowers and hardy plants, transforming the concrete jungle into a communal garden. Eventually, the street was closed to vehicles.

‘There are so many pots now that it is not possible to walk along the footpaths and the narrow carriageway is the only place to walk,’ says Phillip. ‘This gradual act of gentle activism reminds us that streets are not only for vehicles but are the essential shared spaces of our cities.’

Over 45 years later, Cat Alley retains its greenscape maintained by dedicated residents. Visit today and you’ll discover a huge variety of largely robust and commonly available plants from bromeliads to yuccas, philodendrons, various succulents, and brugmansia.

You might also spot one of the resident cats, responsible for the street’s nickname.

‘Plants respond according to their conditions — and the cats do too,’ says Phillip. ‘A visitor can always recognise the most comfortable spots because that’s where the cats are.’

For Phillip, the design merits of Cat Alley are obvious, revealing the residents’ love of their city and community. ‘It is a reminder to us all that we can live richer urban lives if we choose to live in a city and its streets rather than just withdrawing to our own dwellings,’ he says.

Other nearby streets have taken a similar approach, including Rose Terrace, also off South Dowling Street. ‘This one was designed by Sue Barnsley and her office, but has now been fully adopted, occupied and maintained by the residents,’ says Phillip.

‘By the way, you must walk to find these places. Driving allows you to understand a city in another way, but you won’t find these places in your car. That’s one of the reasons these places are so important in the city.’

Cat Alley is a tangible example that a garden is never complete — a lesson Phillip and the Design Team are taking into the National Sculpture Garden Revitalisation project at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. Phillip’s practice, Plus Minus Design, is part of the multidisciplinary team reinvigorating the Sculpture Garden with deep admiration of its origins, context, and significance.

It’s a vastly different garden in size and scope to Cat Alley, but just as dependent on ongoing love, care, and change.

‘We all believe the National Sculpture Garden is the most important modernist landscape in Australia,’ says Phillip.

‘Our vision is one of respect. We respect the gallery and the garden, and we respect the Country on which the gallery and the garden are built. We want to respond gently and to develop what is already there.’

The Design Files is partnering with the National Gallery to bring you stories about Australia’s most beautiful gardens, chosen by the Gallery’s Sculpture Garden Revitalisation project design team. Find out more here.