This South Yarra Tudor-esque gem has character by the bagful

13 Coolullah Avenue, South Yarra
$4 million-plus+
4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 3 car spaces 
Auction at 11am, on Saturday, October 22
Inspect on Saturday from 2pm-2.30pm
Kay & Burton, Andrew Smith 0413 309 605

Character. There’s a word that could do with a holiday. A bit like “awesome” or “literally” or “totes”. Overused, misunderstood, lazily applied – let’s reunite great words with their true meanings, OK?

Truly, houses like 13 Coolullah Avenue are not made any more. A gorgeous 1936 Tudor-esque confection, it’s at once storybook and sturdy with the sublime, verdant Paul Bangay-designed gardens the perfect frame. Character with a capital C.

The other great thing here is the privacy. Sitting in a cul-de-sac, there is a terrific sense of quiet; you could be in a country villa, not a power-stroll away from Toorak Village.

The entry hallway gives you your first sight of one of the best rooms of the house – the luminous dining room, but before that enjoy the magnificent banded timber ceiling that instantly confers style and quality. We also love the powder room tucked away near the entry for those times when you can’t wait to get in the door.

To the right is the generous and very lovely living room – a space where the walls are handsomely thick, the windows invite garden views at every turn and an angled fireplace completes a superb, refined room.

A porch sits outside here and from it you can also access that splendid dining room. The deep tones of the floorboards, its light and simple bright grace make it a room you could linger in for hours. Add to that its french door access to the rear entertaining area and pool, and you’ve got yourself one of the best rooms we’ve seen all year.

Let’s stay outside a moment and enjoy this space – private and pretty – it leads beyond pool and alfresco areas and down to what the owner charmingly calls the “picking garden”, a beaut little square of herbs and aromatics.

Back inside a passage banks to the left off the entry and takes in another fine sitting room and behind it, a study with garden views.

The kitchen and meals areas sit behind and again there’s lovely access to the outdoors. A walk-in pantry has plenty of storage space and another powder room and laundry complete the downstairs amenity.

Upstairs there are four effortlessly good bedrooms, one is a tad smaller than the others but all have good storage and are serviced by a central bathroom.

The main bedroom is another to make you weep – space, lofty garden views, a brilliant walk in robe and en suite. Sigh. This is easy, sophisticated class – it doesn’t have every South Yarra bell and whistle, but its got character, and by the bagful.

Room for improvement: The upstairs bathrooms are quite lovely, as is the kitchen, but a little updating wouldn’t hurt.

Need to know: Last traded for $590,000 in December 1986. Highest recorded house price for South Yarra (past 12 months) was $12.5 million for 5 Fulham Avenue, in June 2016. Recent sales$2,682,000 for 29 Davis Avenue, in September 2016; $1.78 million for 48 Howitt Street, in September 2016, and $1.7 million for 12 Witchwood Close, in August 2016.