House of the Week: it's love-all in leafy Kooyong

26 Monaro Road, Kooyong
$6 million-plus
5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 car spaces
Auction at 1.30pm, on May 13
Inspect on Saturday, from 1.15pm-1.45pm, and on Thursday, from 1pm-1.30pm
Marshall White, Andrew Hayne 0418 395 349

Family homes rarely come on the market in the quiet pocket of Kooyong. As Melbourne’s fifth smallest suburb on just 50 hectares, it has only 350-odd premises (according to the 2011 census). Doesn’t that make it even more exclusive than its bordering ‘burbs of Toorak, Malvern and Hawthorn?

Most of its land was developed by the time the iconic Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club hosted its first Australian championship in 1927. Some fashionable maisonettes were built and the odd subdivision has crept in, but most heritage-rich properties have received quality upgrades so streetscapes are as dignified and tranquil as they ever were.

That is pretty much the story at Bonventure, a fine c1920s property in a prime spot, blending perfectly preserved original charm with the essentials of a contemporary extension.

However, you know from your arrival at its broad timber verandah that this house is much more than solid-brick walls and thoughtful floor plan. It has a perfect balance of energy and composure.

In practical terms, the north-facing verandah has a white-painted balustrade, leadlight and rippled-glass windows and stucco pillars. But it’s also an outside room, a welcome for visitors and the spot for a morning cuppa, a cocktail with friends or to watch a thunderstorm.

Meanwhile, the kids might be in the TV room, working in the well-fitted study, having a hit on the tennis court, or chilling on the back patio, just in view of our verandah across a low wall that defines the rear garden.

Or, like the vendor’s kids when young, they might be hosting a club powwow in the secret under-house room, unless it has become your cellar. And we haven’t even mentioned the under-age domain upstairs: four bedrooms and bathroom where gabled rooflines create attic-style ceiling shapes, their quirkiness and natural light emphasised by triangular windows and internal panes above doorways.

Back downstairs, the double-height family room and its kitchen continue that easy-living contemporary style, embracing a green outlook and sun from the north and west.

The front rooms, however, maintain the dignified mood of the period-style verandah. The grand foyer has double doors to the formal lounge room, the dining room and the hallway that leads to the main en suited bedroom.

Beautifully preserved timber wall panelling, plate rails, wide bay windows and ornate plasterwork begin the story, but note also the inglenook with flip-top storage seating around the fireplace, a sunny reading corner extended from the dining room and a built-in curved timber credenza with a servery slider to the kitchen.

Old and new, it’s love-all in Kooyong.

Kooyong: More a neighbourhood than a suburb, walkable Kooyong is a third open green space of sports grounds and Gardiner’s Creek reserve. It is bordered by the curve of the M1 and Glenferrie and Toorak roads. Kooyong station is opposite a cluster of boutique shops, a couple of lovely cafes and Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club. A wealth of facilities is in walking distance.

Recent sales: $6.29 million for 30 Monaro Road, September 2016; $3,415,000 for 8 Avenel Road, May 2016, and $2.2 million for 92 Elizabeth Street, March 2016.