3AW host Russel Howcroft's grand Hawthorn home for sale
- Owners: Russel Howcroft, ad guru on ABC’s Gruen and presenter of Breakfast with Ross & Russel on 3AW, and his wife Kate Burke
- Address: 23 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn, Victoria
- Type of property: A renovated Queen Anne
- Price guide: $4.8 million-$5.2 million
- Expressions of interest: Close 5pm, November 14
The regal Queen Anne house that has served as the Howcroft family home for the past 22 years isn’t in need of any PR spin. Set well back from its Hawthorn street behind a deep front garden, its elegant gables, red brick facade and slate roof can be trusted to do all the talking – but advertising guru Russel Howcroft is happy to give it a shot.
“It’s just an amazing family home,” says Howcroft, who shot to prominence on The Gruen Transfer and now co-hosts Breakfast with Ross & Russel each weekday on 3AW. “It’s set so far back that you feel you’re in the country. It’s so peaceful.”
The three grown Howcroft children are the reason the family residence is now on the market. Soon-to-be empty-nesters Russel and his wife Kate Burke are “rightsizing” from their five-bedroom showpiece on Riversdale Road. But not without reservations.
“We could so easily stay,” says Burke. “We’ve loved living here so much but it’s time to hand it over, hopefully to another family.”
The home is a beauty. Built in the 1890s, the triple-brick on more than 1400 square metres boasts the period features of upscale houses of the era: grand archways, nosebleed-high ceilings, stained glass, hand-crafted door handles and ornate fireplaces.
They certainly don’t make formal entrance foyers like this anymore. Its supersized proportions came in handy when the Howcrofts renovated 13 years ago. “We really needed to save money while we renovated so we moved into the front of the house while the work went on at the back,” says Howcroft. “Kate put a barbecue on the front porch, a storage unit in the front garden and we all pretty much moved into the foyer.”
Buying the rather run-down home in 2001 was based on Howcroft’s simple formula: “My plan was no more complicated than to buy the biggest house I could for the money I had. Kate’s father was a big real estate man, and I was very pleased when he said, ‘you’ve done a really good job’.”
The tired 1950s renovation previously tacked on the back is now a distant memory. The generous open-plan kitchen, living and informal dining area is wrapped in glass on two sides and washed in natural light. The large fireplace keeps things toasty during the colder months – “It really pumps out the heat!” – while the kitchen has a bar opening onto the outdoor barbecue area for the easy passing of plates.
The beautifully manicured gardens and pool come into their own in the warmer months and the solar-heated swimming pool is a masterstroke in the sizeable backyard.
Taking advantage of the sloping block allowed them to build an ivy-covered retainer wall rather than install “some horrible glass pool fence,” says Howcroft. “And the swimming pool’s elevated deck catches an extra hour of sunlight a day. It’s lovely to sit up there among all the greenery.”
There’s also a separate self-contained studio which has proven its utility over the years, whether being used as a band practice area by one son, an art studio by another or the bedroom of an AFL rookie the family once hosted.
Howcroft jokingly says the wine cellar is his favourite room – he recently installed a chandelier in the red brick space, which tickles his fancy – but the library with its fireplace and general air of serenity is his number one.
As for Burke? “I love the mud room; I spend a lot of time there,” she says of the supersized laundry and utility space. “But I especially love the formal dining room, which we’ve just had painted a gorgeous spinach green. You don’t have to sit down for dinner here; I often just put some really nice cheeses and bread and let our guests graze.”
Being right at the Yarra River end of Riversdale Road has had its unexpected benefits, too. “We bought a double canoe with wheels during COVID,” says Howcroft. “We just walk it down to the Leonda ramp, which is a few minutes’ away, then paddle to South Yarra or Richmond for lunch. How good is that?”
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