Sassafras Harry Potter manor brings magic to Dandenong Ranges market
Visitors to this Dandenong Ranges mansion regularly comment it looks like it’s “out of a Harry Potter movie”. Now, the striking manor with hidden rooms and gothic flourishes could be yours.
This mansion is bringing some magic to the Yarra Ranges market — so much so, it’s drawing comparisons to the Harry Potter universe.
The four-bedroom beauty at 4 Chudleigh Cres, Sassafras, is even being marketed under the name Beauxbatons Manor, referencing the French wizarding school in JK Rowling’s novels.
It’s for sale for the first time in 16 years with a $2.6-$2.86 million price guide.
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The four-bedroom house was built in the 1950s. But it looks like it should date back to a much earlier era, featuring wooden panelled walls, Gothic-influenced windows and doorways, chandeliers and soaring ceilings.
There’s also a flight of stairs that looks like it could substitute for the moving staircase at Hogwarts, and hidden rooms with doors camouflaged among the wall panelling.
Vendor Sara Lacey — who’s shared the 2551sq m property with her husband and their two daughters since they were aged about three and six — said visitors regularly told her the home was “just like out of a Harry Potter movie”.
“My girls thought for a while they were living in a castle,” Ms Lacey said.
“When we saw it, we fell in love with it. I loved all the old charm — the panelling, period detailing, the chandeliers, high ceilings.”
Hellenistic bronze statues line a stone staircase leading up to the front door, which introduces a dramatic entry hall that stretches up three storeys and features a timber and cast-iron stairway Ms Lacey said came from “somewhere in Belgium”.
The multiple living spaces include a top-floor home cinema where the family would watch “Friday night movies”, and a dining room decorated by a mural.
Ms Lacey said the house also offered plenty of room for entertaining, both inside and out, as well as striking city views and a handy location near Sassafras village.
She also highlighted the lush gardens featuring towering sequoia trees and a fountain where her daughters would “play with tadpoles in the water and look for fairies”.
“Sometimes it would snow and they’d make snow angels,” she said.
The family is selling to downsize.
Bell Real Estate agent Corinne Sukroo said she and fellow listing agent Jo Hirst “had tingles” when she visited the home for the first time, and immediately thought of the “amazing architecture you see in the Harry Potter films”.
She said the rare property with dual access, “exquisite gardens”, a functional floorplan and spellbinding views had immediately attracted buyer interest, even in a market impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
“(Inquiry is coming from) inner-city people who want to escape,” she said.
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Originally published as Sassafras Harry Potter manor brings magic to Dandenong Ranges market