Melbourne homes making way for French provincial-style mansions

Original Melbourne homes are making way for fake French ‘McMansions’ in droves as our streetscapes shift.

In mid 2018, an original Spanish Mission house hit the market in Kew after 55 years in the hands of one family.

Buyers were invited by the selling agency to “be romanced” by its garden and “elegant portico”, and impressed by the “absolute rarity” of the opportunity to secure property in a “parkland cul-de-sac position in a blue-ribbon locale”.

The 19 Second Avenue property sold 45 days later for $2m, CoreLogic records show.

By January 2020, it was back on the market again asking more than double that — $4.3-$4.5m — and looking entirely different.

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19 Second Avenue, Kew, as it appears today.

Inside the lavish Kew home, which has been on the market almost a year now.

19 Second Avenue in 2018, before it was developed.

Inside the Spanish Mission house that formerly stood at 19 Second Avenue.

An imposing five-bedroom mansion in French provincial style stood where the classic four-bedroom abode once was.

This is a common story in Melbourne, especially in southeastern suburbs like Balwyn, Balwyn North, Canterbury, Mount Waverley, Glen Waverley and Kew, where faux-European mansions remain hot property — even in COVID times.

Ray White Balwyn director Helen Yan said in her patch, they were mostly sought by Asian-background buyers drawn to their palatial size, typically blue-chip locations in prized school zones, and quality builds that regularly took years to complete.

18 Hood Street, Balwyn North, recently sold for $4.25m in this form.

18 Hood Street offered plenty of space — a key factor drawing buyers to faux French homes.

The Hood Street home was drenched in marble.

The house that stood at 18 Hood Street before it housed a French provincial-style mansion.

“The French style is welcomed by Asian people. They cost more money to build as they have a lot of detail and very good materials,” she said.

“Last year, despite lockdown, we were still selling so many. There are still buyers around, mostly Chinese people already living in Melbourne.”

Ms Yan said in November, she sold a five-bedroom French provincial abode packed with marble at 18 Hood Street, Balwyn North, for $4.25m and a similar style mansion at 8 Yongala Street, Balwyn, for $4.015m — both within two weeks.

Having the No. 8 in the address — considered auspicious — certainly helped with the pair, she said.

8 Yongala Street, Balwyn, sold speedily for $4.015m last year.

Inside the ornate 8 Yongala Street property.

8 Yongala Street was previously the site of a much more modest house.

The updated interior of the former 8 Yongala Street house.

Sales of this property type aren’t always that speedy, though — a six-bedroom, seven-bathroom giant at 7 Irilbarra Road, Canterbury, finally transacted for just shy of $6m in January after three stints on the market since 2017 totalling 866 days.

Morrell and Koren buyer’s advocate David Morrell previously told the Herald Sun he tried to “avoid the European” mansions as they were “not as good an investment (as an) old mansions that was built in the ‘20s because they don’t build those anymore”.

“What tends to happen is mock mansions date quickly,” he said.

He added some lingered on the market because they were priced too high as vendors tried to hook cashed-up Chinese nationals, and offended locals by dramatically changing streetscapes.

19 Leeds Road, Mount Waverley, has a $4.28-$4.38m price guide.

The elaborate interior of 19 Leeds Road, Mount Waverley, today.

A humble 1960s home once occupied 19 Leeds Road, Mount Waverley.

Inside the old 19 Leeds Road.

Ms Yan said French provincial-style builds typically replaced “very old” houses where “living conditions were very bad”.

Jellis Craig Mount Waverley partner Stephen Huang agreed, noting “older homes that had been on the street for 60-70 years” often made way for the property type, of which he sold as many as six per year.

This was the case for the “opulent French provincial-inspired residence” he’s listed with a $4.28-$4.38m price guide at 19 Leeds Road, Mount Waverley — a 1960s brick house was bulldozed to allow for the two-and-a-half-year build.

7 Irilbarra Road, Canterbury, took years to achieve a multimillion-dollar sale.

The 7 Irilbarra Road mansion’s grand interior.

A spectacular cellar forms part of the current 7 Irilbarra Road home.

A classic Edwardian used to occupy 7 Irilbarra Road.

CoreLogic records also show a “classic brick home” with a “charming front garden” and a backyard pool and deck made way for the mansion at 18 Hood Street.

A weatherboard that had been refurbished to blend “old-world charm with modern-day elegance” once stood at 8 Yongala Street, and an Edwardian with period features including leadlighting and timber detailing, at 7 Irilbarra Road.

Mr Huang rejected the “McMansion” tag applied by those who thought the faux-French homes all looked far too similar, saying each European-style home had “their own outstanding points”, with many created by esteemed architects.

86 Headingley Road, Mount Waverley, is on the market with a $4.2-$4.5m price guide.

86 Headingley Road oozes opulence these days.

A lavish bathroom at 86 Headingley Road.

The house that formerly stood at 86 Headingley Road.

“In the last few years, the French provincial style has been very popular in the Chinese community,” he said.

“We get a lot of buyers who purchase from us and then refer friends or family who want to buy something similar.”

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