AFL legend Jonathan Brown and wife Kylie list incredible Canterbury home for $8.25m-$8.75m

• Who: AFL commentator, Hall of Famer, three-time premiership player and captain of the Brisbane Lions Jonathan Brown, wife Kylie and their children, Olivia, 13, Jack, 10 and Macy, 9
• What: A classic manor built in 1908, elegantly renovated and set inside a spectacular garden
• Address: 22 Chaucer Street, Canterbury, Victoria

At the bottom of Kylie and Jonathan Brown’s Canterbury garden, there’s a vineyard that tells you all you need to know about how this family came to flourish and find themselves enjoying life beyond Melbourne’s frenzied footy fast lane.

Four years ago, the Brown tribe were happily ensconced in their fine Camberwell house and just about to start a renovation until Kylie found herself touring this Chaucer Crescent beauty.

“I sort of reluctantly came through,” she says. “It was lovely, but I thought there’d be a lot of work. Then I stepped out onto the deck. I had no idea you could find a place like this so close to the city.”

The incredible grounds, spread over more than 3000 square metres, were designed by Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne landscape architect Andrew Laidlaw to showcase the seasons. The terraces variously bloom and yield produce, while a beautiful solitary gum tree stands sentry-like at the garden’s core.

“It’s the space of it,” says Jonathan.  “It’s just like being in the country, in the city.”

Kylie agrees.  “Remember what our parents always said to us as soon as we got home from school? ‘Go outside and play!’ We feel so lucky to be able to say that to our own kids.”

Staying inside here is no chore either, should you want to hunker down in the stylishly updated rooms that brim with period features, deftly reinvigorated.

“I don’t like a really obvious reno,” Kylie says. “I like to be respectful to the existing house; try to match new things with old.”

That’s what especially resonates here; you won’t find showiness just for its own sake. Rather, it’s the paring back of previous renovations, the gentle unpicking and subtle upscaling that makes this house feel so amiable and real.

Case in point: the formal room beyond the magnificent deep portico entry. In here, under the divine strapped ceiling, the walls were once fire-engine red. “Just taking everything back to white meant that all the features of the room emerged,” says Kylie. “You could see it; you could take in the garden.”

It’s a similar story throughout. Things that already shone, no matter the patina or age, have been left to shine. Elements that needed attention have benefited from a subtle, stylish lift. The brilliant sunroom, for example, retains its original windows and shape and is glorious.

Upstairs in the main bedroom is a glistening new en suite. The original shower was too small for Jonathan, but rather than replacing the original sloping ceiling, layers of old tiling were removed to accommodate the former full forward.

Arches, original floors and breathtaking leadlight windows are the beautiful anchors here, while the fine restraint and thoughtful updating add an urbane light touch.

It’s the outside we keep wanting to get back to though – to those terraces, the tennis court, the sparkling swimming pool and its rejuvenated pool house cum guest accommodation cum retreat – the places this family has embraced.

“The kids have all their own spaces to go to.  Kick the footy on the tennis court, climb the treehouse, wander around and talk to imaginary friends,” laughs Jonathan of the adventures this enchanted garden has afforded them.

Moving back to Queensland, Kylie’s home state and Jonathan’s adopted one after being drafted by the Lions as a teenager, feels right but the couple say they will miss this place.

“I’ll never forget being in lockdown and getting up early to get the strawberries; their colour bright, bright red, and just being able to take a bowl outside and pick salad for our dinner,” says Kylie. “We taught the kids to get out and get their hands dirty here. We’re very grateful.”

Back to that grapevine, the fruits of which have been squashed under the feet of family and friends in the garage. Jonathan has made wine under the expert tutelage of his Tuscan mate from a Hawthorn hardware store.

“We learnt that to make good wine you need balance,” says Kylie. “You have to have a little of the stem, the good grapes, plus some that don’t look so great.”

A little of this, a little of that; it’s a recipe for life, a reminder that big, beautiful homes needn’t be museum pieces, but living places where families, like this one, can take the time and space to grow.

SOLD - $9,800,000

22 Chaucer Crescent, Canterbury VIC 3126

5

4

6

View property