High glamour on St Kilda's Robe Street

5/24 Robe Street, St Kilda
$900,000-plus
3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1 car space
​Auction at noon, on April 30
Inspect from 1.45pm-2.15pm on Saturday
​Biggin & Scott, Claudio Perruzza 0412 304 152

In 1854, during St Kilda’s first heyday, the Star and Garter hotel opened in the middle of Robe Street, just up the road from the sea. Converted to apartments in the 1920s, there are few obvious remnants of the hotel remaining in the building now known as Windsor Court, but if the walls could talk …

This three-bedroom apartment on the third level is a stand-out with exceptional style – and much more glamorous than the low-key exterior suggests.

A dashing and well-executed renovation by the designer owner has been done with flair, and without any slavish commitment to retaining anything ye olde.

The look throughout is a mix of black, white and grey in materials that include concrete to marble. All finishes are set against dark herringbone parquetry floors and many mirrored walls of cupboards.

The layout devotes one side of the apartment to an all-in-one kitchen, living and dining room. Here there are big black gloss doors that close to hide the cooking area, including the large La Germania stove. Opposite there’s a wall of shallow mirrored cupboards for food storage. A marble island bench is near the window. When all is closed, there is nothing left but the dining table and the sheet of marble. At the sitting end, there are glossy white walls, large, tall windows and a gas fire set in a concrete fireplace.

A long, narrow sunroom opens from the far end of the living room and it would be a lovely spot for breakfast. It has black and white tiled floors, a glitzy chandelier, black ceiling and great views over St Kilda. There are small terraces at either end.

The large main bedroom is also off the sunroom (although it is accessible from the main internal hallway too) and this continues the high-glam look. Large, with a black feature wall, ornate plaster fireplace above a gas fire and mirrored built-in wardrobes, it is a sophisticated and glamorous space and it has the high ceilings seen throughout.

Two more bedrooms are slightly smaller and irregularly shaped but still come with the glamour finish. They all share a marble bathroom that includes a large shower area and a laundry concealed behind a mirrored wall.

This glamorous apartment is part of St Kilda’s past and present and feels like a sanctuary away from the outside world.

Room for improvement: If Gina Liano were an apartment, this is who she would be. Nothing needs to be done; it’s either your taste or it isn’t.

Need to know: Last sold for $495,000, in January 2006. Highest-priced apartment in St Kilda (past 12 months) was $2,125,000, for 709/6 Victoria Street, in June 2015. Recent sales: $1.24 million for 2/43 Acland Street, in March 2016; $680,000 for G05/29-31 Herbert Street, March 2016, and $557,000 for 1/89 Fitzroy Street, March 2016.