Melbourne real estate: standout dream homes for sale in 2019
Truly spectacular homes graced the Melbourne market in 2019, from a work-of-art Kew mansion to a Peninsula vineyard. You’ll be as green (with envy) as your Christmas tree after checking them out.
Melbourne’s wealthiest vendors outdid themselves in 2019, listing spectacular mansions with jawdropping pools, work-of-art designs, and even their own vineyards.
You’ll be as green (with envy) as your Christmas tree after inspecting some of the most spectacular houses to hit the market, and feature in the Herald Sun’s weekly “Dream Homes” spread this year.
52A Molesworth St, Kew
Featured in: November
Price guide at the time: $5.5-$6 million
Status update: sold for more than $6 million in December
A deal worth more than $6 million was done for Kew’s one-of-a-kind Orb House about a month after it hit the market.
Kay & Burton selling agent Sam Wilkinson couldn’t comment on the undisclosed price. But he said the buyer, a local family with older children, had some serious competition for the “strong architectural statement” created by Bojan Simic Architecture almost a decade ago.
“That’s the fourth time I’ve sold that property, and every time it’s been popular,” Mr Wilkinson said.
“Genuine buyer interest was strong, and we had strong numbers through opens — close to 100 groups.”
Spectacular architecture, combined with a functional floorplan that particularly suited older families, drove demand for the four-bedroom home.
The architects described the home as being inspired by “the dwellings of ancient Pompeii”,
favouring “tranquil, introspective living” by flanking a central courtyard.
It was short-listed in the residential category of the Australian Institute of Architects Awards in 2010, shortly after being completed, and thoroughly renovated by the current owners.
READ MORE: Orb House, Kew, offers chance to live in piece of art
768 Mt Macedon Rd, Mt Macedon
Featured in: March
Price guide at the time: $4-$4.4 million
Status update: taken off market
This spectacular estate rose from the ashes of a 1980s fire to feature a six-bedroom, four-bathroom house mansion with a glass-encased conservatory, a resort-style pool and historic gardens.
Abercromby’s director Jock Langley described the property as being “in the top five per cent of houses” in the Macedon region when it hit the market in March with a $4-$4.4 million price guide.
Its listing has since been removed from realetstate.com.au.
Mr Langley said the site’s original dwelling was built by an early settler family, but that burned down in the ‘80s and was replaced by the one now standing.
The vendors recreated the house, adding “all the mod cons”.
READ MORE: Lush retreat with glass conservatory elevates Mt Macedon market
260 & 265 Old Moorooduc Rd, Tuerong
Featured in: March
Price guide at the time: $10-$11 million
Status update: still for sale, asking $9-$9.9 million
Award-winning house, check. Renowned commercial vineyard, check. About 40ha of land, check. All that’s missing at this corker of a property is a buyer.
The abode became the toast of the Mornington Peninsula market in March, when it was listed for $10-$11 million.
The vendors have since reduced their price expectations to $9-$9.9 million.
They began planting the vineyard in 1988.
Kay & Burton director Gowan Stubbings previously told the Herald Sun Robinson Vineyard had since grown to feature 23ha of vines including chardonnay, pinot noir, shiraz, pinot gris and sauvignon blanc, and become a key grape supplier to top wine producers Stonier, Moorooduc Estate and Paringa Estate.
The three-bedroom Vineyard House won the Australian Institute of Architects’ Harold Desbrowe-Annear Award for “best new residential house” in 2004 — and appropriately, features a 1200-bottle wine cellar.
READ MORE: Toast a luxury lifestyle at Mornington Peninsula vineyard
10 Kent Hughes Rd, Eltham
Featured in: July
Price guide at the time: $3.5-$3.8 million
Status update: sold for $3.7 million in August
This mansion took six years to create, and just a month on the market to bowl over Eltham’s residential price record.
Its $3.7 million sale eclipsed the northeastern suburb’s $3.5 million benchmark held by a Sweeneys Lane property since April last year.
And it came about after the buyers — a young family from Hawthorn — saw the seven-bedroom beauty’s Coldstream Stone facade and sparkling pool on the front cover of the Herald Sun Realestate liftout last month.
“(The buyers) said, ‘Eltham wasn’t even on our radar, but we saw it in the paper and were intrigued to have a look’,” Morrison Kleeman director Rocco Montanaro said.
The owner-builder spent about six years getting planning approval to create the three-storey house on a 3500sq m block.
READ MORE: Eltham rock star pad has house price record in sights
Eltham house price record busted by mansion with striking stone facade
797 Orrong Rd, Toorak
Featured in: August
Price guide at the time: $6.95-$7.645 million
Status update: still for sale, asking $7-$7.645 million
This grand clinker brick mansion with a modern twist could still be yours — but whoever snaps it up will have to dig deep.
Design features of the three-bedroom house include walls of glass, bold pendant lights, parquetry floorboards, original fireplaces and a translucent marble wall in the entrance foyer.
Completing the 1142sq m grounds are a north-facing pool, manicured gardens, water fountains, a pond, and a private west-facing terrace with an old-world water feature and lush wall of vines.
In addition to all this, the home’s position in a prestigious Toorak cul-de-sac on the banks of the Yarra is second to none.
READ MORE: Toorak mansion has spectacular extension on edge of Yarra River
Originally published as Melbourne real estate: standout dream homes for sale in 2019