TOTNES, A BRIGHTON ICON SINCE 1890, RETURNS TO THE MARKET
Brighton icon Totnes hits the market with history, luxury and a $9.25m price tag.
2 min
There’s nothing middle of the road about Middle Crescent in Melbourne’s coveted bayside suburb of Brighton.
The celebrated semi-circular street is not only known for its Victorian-era architecture, but it has also been home to a long list of remarkable residents.
Number 32 was famously owned (not once, but twice) by the late, great test cricketer Shane Warne, while 43 Middle Crescent featured in the final season of The Bachelor Australia. Brighton’s “White House” at number 31 is also another architectural icon.
Right across the road, at number 36, Totnes has come to market with $9.25 million to $9.75 million price expectations through Kay & Burton Bayside agents Alex Schiavo, James Driver and Shantelle Francis.
The four-bedroom parkside residence last sold in December 2013 for $3.752 million.
Completed around 1890 for local dentist John Davy, the elegant period property is situated on a vast 1,169 sq m block surrounded by a mix of ultra-modern mansions and heritage dream homes.
For more than 130 years, Totnes’ storybook facade has remained largely unchanged, making it one of the neighbourhood’s most iconic homes.
Beyond its fairytale frontage, complete with wrought-iron fences and ornate lacework, Totnes features a traditional tessellated-tile veranda and manicured gardens.
Behind the commanding front door with stained glass detailing, an elaborate entry hall awaits, featuring stately archways, herringbone parquetry, and high patterned ceilings that set a great first impression for the rest of the house.
Centred on the spacious footprint, there is an illuminated open-plan family room with a conservatory-style glass ceiling and a kitchen featuring Miele appliances, a huge island bench, and a wine room. The icing on the architectural cake is the combined butler’s pantry and laundry with a secret wrought-iron spiral staircase leading up to the “tower” office and roof top terrace showcasing city and bay views.
Spoiled for choice, homeowners have two separate living rooms with fireplaces, as well as a louvred alfresco dining area and an integrated barbecue for poolside entertaining all year round.
In the palatial main bedroom suite, there is a long walk-in wardrobe and a deluxe ensuite, while two more bedrooms share another ensuite, and a third family-friendly bathroom has a tub.
Additional highlights at Totnes include intricate stained-glass and sash windows throughout, garden irrigation, a security system, and a two-car garage.
Facing Wilson Reserve from its corner block, Totnes is close to Brighton and Firbank Grammar Schools, Bay and Church St eateries, local shopping, swimming beaches, and the foreshore’s Yacht Club.
Totnes at 36 Middle Crescent, Brighton is listed with Kay & Burton Bayside with a price guide of $9.25 million to $9.75 million.
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A five-bedroom Palo Alto home designed by Steven Ehrlich is listed for $44 million, making it the city’s most expensive listing. Built around a dramatic concrete spine, the home features four courtyards and a pool.
3 min
For years, tech entrepreneur Asher Waldfogel and his wife, Helyn MacLean, dreamed of building a modern house in Palo Alto, Calif.
The couple, however, worried about clashing with the Mediterranean-style architecture typically associated with their neighborhood of Old Palo Alto.
So they tapped architect Steven Ehrlich to create a design that paid homage to its surroundings with stucco, mahogany and titanium zinc cladding. They spent $20 million over several years building the house, completed in 2005.
Now looking to be closer to their adult daughter on the East Coast, they are putting the five-bedroom home on the market for $44 million—the most expensive listing in Palo Alto.
Waldfogel is an angel investor who co-founded Redback Networks, a telecommunications-equipment company. MacLean previously had a career in fundraising.
The couple purchased the roughly 0.4-acre site for $7.1 million in 2000 and demolished a circa-1930s Spanish Colonial home. The house they built pinwheels around a central staircase. It has 7,900 square feet of livable space, with four distinct courtyards and a pool.
A key feature of the home is a cast-in-place concrete wall, or spine, that is two stories high and about 80 feet long. “There’s a little bit of controlled chaos in what comes out of the form,” unlike a perfectly uniform surface, Waldfogel said. “If you want that, you do it in plastic.”
Waldfogel said he and his wife are thinking about the next phase of life now that their daughter is grown, although they have not decided where they will move. They also have a home in Sun Valley, Idaho.
“Right now we’re just trying to emotionally let go and decide what to do next,” he said.
Palo Alto, an epicenter of venture capital and tech startups in Silicon Valley, is home to some of the country’s biggest tech titans. Sales volume and prices are rising, with a median sale price of $3.5 million for the three months ending in August, up 5.8% year-over-year, according to real-estate brokerage Redfin.
Arthur Sharif of Sotheby’s International Realty—San Francisco Brokerage has the listing.
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