If it weren't so well concealed, this Kew home would be a landmark

This place would be a landmark if only it weren’t so well concealed. One of the earliest houses on the Edgevale estate, it’s an impressive concoction of bay windows and leadlight, wrapped in a colonnaded verandah and nestled on a 0.1 hectare corner block.

Not that anyone gets to gawk. Passers-by see the top of a slate roof, and that’s it. Hidden by a high wall, the property has all the benefits of a central location – trams, private schools, shopping – while being snugly secluded. The house was built in 1890 and has six original rooms, including living and dining, a study and a master suite. Careful extension in the 1970s added a kitchen, family and meals area opening to an elevated terrace. To the rear is a loft-style retreat.

There’s also an attic (or fourth bedroom), cellar, powder room and laundry. Airy and grand, yet with the friendly atmosphere of a home well loved, it will appeal to a family with active kids who seek space and a big backyard. Two pedestrian gates – posh on Cotham Road, casual on Edgevale – will lead you down the stepping-stone path to the side entry. Living and dining rooms face each other across the beautiful leadlight hall. The bay-window living room has an Edwardian mirrored fireplace, while the box-bay dining room has an arched sunroom with a fireplace and a leadlight casement hand-painted with robins.

Three double bedrooms include the spacious main, with a built-in wardrobe and a cream-tiled semi-en suite. Two further bedrooms have wardrobes, and the central bathroom has a shower. Tasmanian oak gives a golden gleam to the family area, neat and modernist below a beamed ceiling.

The renovated kitchen has AEG appliances and a subway-tiled splashback. There’s a door to the leadlight study and another to the slate terrace. Fans of Skippy will adore the first-floor retreat, whose pine panelling and wraparound windows evoke the rangers’ headquarters. Downstairs – on the groovy caramel floor tiles – are the laundry and powder room.

196 Cotham Road, Kew

Agent: Anton Zhouk, Anton Zhouk 0430 224 438

Expressions of interest: close 5pm, March 4