41 GREY ST, EAST MELBOURNE
3 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 2 cars
Built in 1860, this Victorian cottage was occupied the following decade by Reverend Thomas Edwards, a minister of the then Congregational Church of East Melbourne on Simpson St, and preserves something of the look and feel of its early purpose.
Nicknamed "the gingerbread house", the single-fronted dwelling, which is one of a pair, is "domestic Gothic" in style, featuring a gabled roof with attic, scalloped bargeboards and wooden shuttered windows.
On the ground floor, a bedroom or formal dining room with a timber-framed period fireplace opens onto a light-filled living room, with second fireplace, and a ceiling adorned with inlaid plaster mouldings.
Beyond the separate laundry, the terracotta and white kitchen opens out through French doors into a slate-paved terraced courtyard with storage shed.
Upstairs a wall of windows bathes the master bedroom in light while the second bedroom, or study, lit by attic windows, spreads out below vaulted ceilings.
Renovated in the mid-1930s and most recently around 20 years ago, the property is "eminently livable as is," the agent says.
Paul Caine, of Caine Real Estate East Melbourne, considers, given its location, the house is ideal for a young family.
At the end of a long path behind a grassy front yard, it sits opposite Powlett Reserve, which hosts both a childcare and healthcare centre.
Caine says 25 years ago, when he started working in East Melbourne, there were few people under 40. "We are now seeing a complete return to young families in the suburb," he says.
East Melbourne has a total of just 529 houses. "Anyone who has a house here is in a very rarified group."
PRICE GUIDE: $1.85m to $2m
AGENT: Caine Real Estate, East Melbourne. Paul Caine 0407 393 900
