THE MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR MELBOURNE HOME WITH DRAMATIC STREET CRED
A grand East Melbourne terrace with theatrical roots, reimagined by the late Sue Carr into a layered, light-filled family home.
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Traditional Victorian-era terraces are famed for their theatrical façades adorned with intricate lacework and plenty of character. However, one historic home on Gipps St in East Melbourne has the ultimate dramatic street cred; it was designed by William Pitts, the architect behind Melbourne’s iconic Princess Theatre.
Pitts designed multiple Melbourne beauties, including St Kilda Town Hall, Queens Bridge, the Olderfleet building and the Rialto on Collins St, even the Wellington Opera House in New Zealand.
Crafted and built around 1870, prior to the completion of the Princess Theatre in 1886, this end-of-row terrace gained a new lease on life in 2019 when acclaimed architect Sue Carr AM was tasked with bringing it gracefully into the 21st Century via a four-year labour of love transformation.
Today, Kay & Burton agents Monique Depierre and Arabella Houghton are seeking between $10.5 and $11 million for 123 Gipps St via an expressions of interest campaign. The home was last exchanged for $4 million in 2012, before the extensive renovation.
In a pocket of East Melbourne where heritage overlays protect the character of the streetscape, the Victorian terrace was carefully reimagined to balance period elegance with contemporary comfort. Behind its striking white façade, Carr and her team created a series of layered spaces where period detail and modern function co-exist.
Carr has described her approach to the Gipps St property as “a journey of reduction.” By stripping back superfluous elements, to reveal the grandeur of Pitts’ original structure.
“The idea was to bring order and appropriateness of scale, respect for heritage, and outright contemporaneity to a Victorian terrace,” Carr has said when describing the home.
Central to that vision was light. The home is arranged across three zones: the restored terrace, a private courtyard garden, and a two-storey rear addition.
In the original front rooms, there are decorative cornices, ceiling roses and marble fireplaces. These classic old-world spaces with a modern makeover include a versatile music room, a library and a grand dining area.
Stepping through to the next generation of the floor plan, the heart of the home features a contemporary kitchen with a stone island bench and a hidden butler’s pantry fully-equipped with Gaggenau appliances.
The casual everyday family zone, complete with a cosy gas pebble fireplace, opens out to a bluestone-paved north-facing courtyard, where the current owners have created a calming retreat filled with bonsai trees and manicured landscaping.
Up on the first floor, all four bedrooms feature ample natural light and have built-in wardrobes. Beyond a statement pivot door, the main bedroom opens to a full-width private balcony overlooking leafy East Melbourne and has a walk-through wardrobe to an ensuite with a freestanding sculptural bath. One more bedroom has its own ensuite, while two more share a full family-friendly bathroom.
More than just a Melbourne terrace with an extension out the back, Carr’s transformation also includes a new zinc-clad rear addition that plays a dual role; it is a secure two-car garage with laneway access, that is also home to a self-contained studio above. Fitted out with its own kitchenette and bathroom, the independent space is an ideal guest suite, a home office or au pair retreat.
The modernised home boasts a long list of added extras, including honed limestone floors with underfloor hydronic heating and zoned climate control, as well as full security and custom lighting.
Close to green spaces, such as Fitzroy Gardens, Powlett Reserve and Darling Square, the East Melbourne house is within walking distance to the MCG, and city restaurants.
Listed with Monique Depierre and Arabella Houghton of Kay & Burton, 123 Gipps St, East Melbourne, is on the market with a price guide of $10.5 million to $11 million. The expressions of interest is closing on October 28 at 12 pm.
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As interest rates, inflation and market sentiment fluctuate, investors are being urged to focus on data, not panic.
Australia’s housing affordability crisis is being fuelled by chronic undersupply, planning delays and rising development costs, as politicians continue to focus on the wrong solutions.
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Australia’s housing crisis will not be solved by first-home buyer incentives or tax changes alone, with leading property figures warning governments must tackle supply constraints if affordability is to improve.
Speaking at the Kanebridge Quarterly Property Leadership Summit in Sydney last week, expert project marketing specialist Sam Elbanna, property investor and fund manager Paul Miron and property consultant Karla McNeice said that a lack of housing supply remained the central issue facing the market.
Elbanna, Director of CPM Realty with more than 30 years’ experience in project sales, argued that successive governments had focused too heavily on stimulating demand rather than addressing the barriers preventing new housing from being delivered.
“The misconception is that politicians think the way to solve the housing crisis is to drive demand,” he said.
“The reality is that’s not the way. This is a supply-side problem, and it needs to be solved on the supply side.”
Drawing on his experience in project sales, Elbanna said policies designed to help first-home buyers often had unintended consequences, pointing to previous grants that ultimately flowed through to higher property prices.
Instead, he said developers were facing increasing red tape, approval delays and rising costs, which were discouraging new housing supply.
“In the absence of stock, demand exceeds supply,” he said.
Miron, a Co-Founder and Fund Manager of Msquared Capital, said the housing debate had become overly focused on tax policy while overlooking broader structural issues.
He argued that affordability challenges stemmed from a combination of factors, including planning constraints, supply shortages, migration levels and interest rates.
“No-one can be 100 per cent certain on the real reason for property prices is going up,” he said.
“The reason why property prices are higher is a combination of interest rates, lack of supply, migration, vacancy rates and maybe taxes play a role.”
Miron was critical of recent federal housing policy changes, warning they could reduce the number of new homes being built and further constrain supply that was even highlighted in the budget.
He also highlighted the importance of the property sector to the broader economy, noting that residential real estate and related industries employed more than one million Australians.
McNeice, who advises developers on sales strategy and market intelligence, said understanding buyers had become increasingly important as affordability pressures intensified.
While affordability remained a major consideration, she said today’s buyers were focused on value rather than simply price.
“People are looking for value for money,” she said.
She said buyers were increasingly evaluating factors such as transport connections, walkability, nearby amenities and flexible living spaces that could accommodate changing family needs.
“What infrastructure is going on? Can I walk to the shops? Can I meet people at the local cafe?” she said.
The panel also discussed the mounting pressures facing developers, with Elbanna arguing that many projects become financially unviable from the moment a site is purchased.
“The viability of a development happens at the moment the site is bought,” he said.
He said rising construction costs, higher interest rates and overly optimistic feasibility assumptions had left some developers exposed as market conditions changed.
While acknowledging the growing number of smaller and first-time developers entering the market, Elbanna said property development required expertise across finance, construction, marketing and legal disciplines.
“It is actually a business that requires a level of expertise,” he said.
Looking ahead, the panel agreed opportunities remained in the market despite current challenges.
Miron said property should continue to be viewed as a long-term investment and cautioned against trying to time short-term market movements.
McNeice said success would increasingly depend on identifying projects that genuinely met changing buyer expectations.
Elbanna said affordable housing remained achievable, but developers needed to deliver more than just homes.
“We can provide affordable housing in this country,” he said.
“But we’ve got to wrap that affordable housing with the things that people want.”
As Australia’s housing affordability debate intensifies, the panellists agreed on one point: without a meaningful increase in housing supply, demand-side measures alone are unlikely to solve the nation’s property challenges.
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