A 1970s townhouse in Caulfield ready for modern family life

6/3-5 Newlyn Street, Caulfield
$850,000-$940,000
3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 car spaces
Auction at 11.30am, on May 29
Inspect from noon-12.30pm, on Saturday, and 2.15pm-2.45pm on Sunday
Gary Peer 95261958, Benjamin Rothschild 0417 597 748

When this three-level townhouse was built 42 years ago, Melbourne was still in the grip of the quarter-acre block. The city was spreading and almost all young families fled their inner-city cottages or apartments with their baby (or their planned-for baby) and began life in a new house in a far-off suburb. 

Forty years on, the population has soared, houses are more expensive and traffic and transport seem so much worse – so townhouses old and new are sought in well-serviced suburbs.

Or as the agent selling this brown-brick townhouse put it: “what else can you buy in Caulfield for under $1 million?”

The day I visit, there are young families and couples all over this townhouse. Its combination of three levels and a large outdoor area is a winner for many – and the townhouse next door shows how families adapt: they have decked the courtyard and erected an enclosed trampoline for the kids. 

Townhouse six is down a longish drive and it’s not the most attractive welcome to the front door – via a concrete drive and through the carport – but it’s typical of this era of development. 

Inside, however, all is light and lovely with plenty of potential remaining for families to rework slightly to better use the space to suit them.

Entry is into a ground-level entrance hall that has a huge laundry/workroom to the right. This room has huge potential to be upgraded – most modern houses don’t usually have this much space for a hot water service and laundry trough. 

From the entrance hall, a few steps lead up to the living room which is a delight. A large almost square room, it has polished floor boards, what look like original 70s planet-style light fittings and a wall of glass overlooking the paved courtyard. 

The curved timber stairs are in the corner near the entrance hall and the stairs rise to the middle level which has a dining room, kitchen and one of the three bedrooms. The dining area is semi-open with an opening over the void to the living room below. High ceilings add a touch of grandeur. At the back of the dining area is a C-shaped kitchen with a large pantry – but also a big butler’s pantry that could be reworked as a laundry,  allowing the ground-floor room to be reinterpreted.  A powder room is near the stairs, as is the third bedroom which is a good size. 

Up the next set of stairs are two more bedrooms. The main has a balcony, a walk-in wardrobe and an updated en suite. The other bedroom has built-in wardrobes and another bathroom and toilet next door. 

It’s a lot of space and it represents a modern take on family life. 

Need to know: Last traded for $388,500, in November 2002. Highest priced townhouse (past 12 months) was $1.4 million, for 1/3 Daniell Crescent, in September 2015. Recent sales: $565,000, for 7/293-295 Hawthorn Road, in December 2015; $872,000, for 3/138 Bambra Road, in December 2015, and $1.19 million, for 2b Lockhart Street, in September 2015.

Room for improvement: The laundry could be reworked and the courtyard could be transformed.