House of the Week: The ceiling in this early 20th-century Hawthorn cottage will mend your mind

Those lovely Hawthorn houses are a thing to behold – the fine shape and easy elegance of the suburb’s period homes are among the best in the city.

The home at 2 Wellesley Road is a gorgeous place in one of the most sought-after patches in the area. Sitting high on Scotch Hill just a jag across the road from the exclusive private school, Wellesley Road is a picture of early 20th-century style.

Dip down to the entry and under the portico and into the broad hallway. The deep tones of the timber floors make for an excellent introduction before heading to bedroom one on the left. Here, good storage, an en suite and a window over the garden are the features.

Across the way, those elegant dimensions of this era find their best expression in the formal dining and living rooms. Back in the entry hallway to the left is the central bathroom and down a set of steps you’ll find two attractive bedrooms.

To the right of the central stair, more steps take you to the impressive retreat before the kitchen/meals area with a large circular skylight.

The dining space seems to float across to the side, a curved balustrade in front taking its arc from the nautilus-like ceiling that starts above and runs over the fabulous living area below.

Down here the floor-to-ceiling bank of windows curves across, creating a conservatory-like space. Step outside and down to the sloping lawn that runs to a swimming pool at the end of the garden. Decking surrounds a pool house that sits atop the garage.

Head back inside and up the central stair to find the main bedroom with a walk-in robe and en suite just outside the door.

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The bathrooms and floor plan need a slightly modernising tweak, but the style is effortlessly lovely and perfectly presented.

RT Edgar’s Abby Innes, who is marketing the property with a guide of $4 million to $4.4 million ahead of its March 24 auction, says the home has flexible uses. 

“Unique opportunity to live in, develop or subdivide. fabulous newly renovated house on a generous block with pool and ideally situated on highly sought-after Scotch Hill.”