This architect-designed home in Armadale proves good design makes life better

104 Kooyong Road, Armadale
$5 million-plus
4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 3 car spaces
Auction at 6.30pm, on Thursday, March 30
Inspect on Saturday from 2pm-2.30pm
Kay & Burton, Darren Lewenberg 0412 555 556

Good design makes life better. It might be the simplest of tenets, but truths are ever so prosaic.

This house, designed in 1922 by the hugely influential Melbourne architect Harold Desbrowe Annear, provides a brilliant example of how a home can still the mad hum of the outside world and provide an exquisite haven.

A contemporary renovation brings the amenity up to 2017 standards but takes its cue from the inherent “workability” of the original design. What’s been created then is something very fine; a home with a subtle energy and vigour that is effortlessly beautiful as well as incredibly functional.

Beyond the satisfying crunch of the driveway and the large carport and store, you step up and into sheer loveliness. The broad curve of the atrium sunroom is so divine you almost don’t want to go further into the house but stay here to take in the play of the sun through the diamond leadlights and onto the oak floor.

Tearing yourself away has its rewards. Step into the hallway to catch a glimpse of those sublime sightlines – the stair to level one, the step down to the rear family room, the delineating properties of the timber storage units.

First off the hallway to the left is the formal living room. It’s here the brilliant parade of glass begins and spreads along the entire north edge of the house. A fabulous two-way fireplace is the feature here, dropping from the ceiling to provide warmth and style both here and in the formal dining room behind.

Keep wandering on from here to the sharp space of the kitchen – white stone benches, glass splashback over the green garden and bifold doors out to the deck and outdoor terrace.

Before we explore outside, duck back in and head across and down to the wonderful family room with pool views and a stacker window so you can pass some drinks out to your mates by the water.

A passage to the side takes you to two beautiful bedrooms and a smooth servicing bathroom.

Right up back at the entry is the magnificent main bedroom with a generous walk-in wardrobe and marble-trim en suite.

Upstairs there’s a wonderful bedroom sitting in its own little tower with a beautiful study and acres of storage.

Finally, there’s the pool and deck and terrace and sauna and bathroom outside. Design makes life better. Exhibit A: 104 Kooyong Road.

Need to know: The house was last traded for $2,218,000 in September 2007 and the highest recorded house price in Armadale (past 12 months) was $6.74 million for 12 Barnato Grove in April 2016. Recent sales: $3.25 million for 21 Lambeth Avenue, March 2017; $2.05 million for 65 Barkly Avenue, March 2017, and $3.66 million for 61 Union Street, February 2017.