House of the week: Northcote

3 Hartington Street, Northcote
$1,100,000-plus
4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 car spaces

Auction 12.30pm, Saturday October 10
Agent, Belinda Lindsay, Collins Simms – 0409 853 769
Inspect Saturday 1.00pm-1.30pm

Please consider the orange brick home of the 1960s, a prime example of which sits on these surrounding pages. There are a brace of these houses built around the western edge of the Rucker’s Hill precinct of Northcote, spilling down towards St Georges Road and offering some the best city views you’ll likely see.

They are truly brilliant offerings, with a sublime sort of liveability in their beautiful orientation and acres of generous space carved in and under and around the ground level entry point.

Number 3 Hartington Street is an excellent example of the style and the period. A driveway and garage dips under street level with a pretty little garden and entry terrace sitting above.

Inside a wide hallway opens onto a wonderfully large front living area with a spectacularly unusual fireplace and French doors onto the front patio.

Two more bedrooms sit opposite each other a little further afield; both have excellent dimensions – the one on the right offers a set of bi fold doors that connect to that front living space if you really want to open up the whole show.

A bright modern bathroom again boasts plenty of room and storage space with a separate powder room sitting opposite.

Another large bedroom completes the front section of the house. Its out in the open plan rear is where you can really see how beautifully the configuration works here.

A handsome contemporary kitchen is tucked into the north west corner, with ample storage and good preparation space, but nicely zoned out of the way to give the living / dining spaces full reign. Glass sliding doors wrap around west to north to give you a brilliant eyeful across Northcote and North Fitzroy to those wondrous city views.

Step out onto the fabulous, spacious balcony and the New Years Eve fireworks show could feel like it’s been put on just for you.

The fabulous design here is underscore by the underground. Running down along the north side of the property and underneath the main house is a completely self-contained one-bedroom apartment with its own little walled courtyard. Beyond here is the small, but neat backyard of the house proper.

You can wind your way around down here and come to yet another capacious space – the back end of the garage where you could build another entire enclave, or jag off through a door off here to discover more cavernous storage.

Architects and scholars have long noted this little enclave as an important part of Melbourne’s evolving residential design. Who wouldn’t love a little piece of that?

Room for Improvement: There’s plenty to do here, but the shape and design means the sky’s the limit.

Need to know: First time offered for sale. Highest recorded house price in Northcote (past 12 months) $2,820,000 for 11 Mitchell Street in July 2015. Recent sales: $1,780,000 for 408 Clarke Street in September 2015, $1,465,000 for 83 Bridge Street in September 2015, $910,000 for 78 Darebin Road in September 2015.