Quiet By Design

The Age

Saturday October 30, 1999

ELWOOD - 7/87 Marine Parade

This building in Marine Parade was specially designed so that the apartments stepped back from the facade, and those towards the rear enjoy water views but not the heavy rumbling of passing cars and trucks.

The project was completed some four years ago and included the work of Crema Bahramis architects and Chris Connell.

The two-storey apartment on offer is entered from a quiet side street and has its own carport and staircase leading to the front door.

Inside, the living room on the first level overlooks the palm trees of the park opposite and out to the ships sailing on Port Phillip Bay. Enormous sliding doors separate the sitting room from two bedrooms, either of which could be used as a study or home office. Both open on to their own balconies.

A well-designed central bathroom and a laundry divides the two bedrooms. A long marble bench spans the width of the bathroom and the pale grey tones work well with the small white ceramic tiles lining the walls and the creamy terrazzo floor.

The apartment's top level is a big open-plan living space with floor-to-ceiling glass doors at each end. The room is like an elegant glass-walled pavilion.

One of the outdoor terraces overlooks terracotta rooftops and plane trees to the city skyline, the other has uninterrupted views of parkland and sea.

A sleek kitchen combines steel and mosaic tile finishes with speckled and black granite benchtops and golden-hued timber cupboards.

Auction: 2pm, Saturday 14 November, by Rand (9531 1888).

Price: $380,000-plus. Inspect: today and tomorrow from 2-2.45pm.

Mews retains dairy facade

CARLTON - 115 Station Street

This Victorian red-brick building, which was once a dairy, has been transformed into townhouses. While the developers retained the original facade with its scrolled pediments, the interior was gutted and new units built within the old walls. Called Station Mews, the project was one of the suburb's early warehouse redevelopments and was completed in the mid-1980s.

Since then, the trees lining the development's central walkway have grown tall, forming an attractive entrance. Iron gates open from the street into the gardens with the eight townhouses flanking each side.

Inside, tall glass doors lead from a secluded sitting room to a veranda and the courtyard garden. The sense of space is enhanced by the polished wooden floors and large windows.

Unlike many warehouse-style homes, which have open-plan living areas, this place has several sitting and dining sections.

The layout allows the owners to use each of the living spaces for different activities. A large kitchen divides the front sitting area from the spacious living and dining room at the rear. Lit by big windows, this room is enclosed by the dairy's original walls and has extensive built-in bookshelves and cabinets at one end.

The kitchen is functional and well-equipped and has cream-colored cupboards, broad laminated benches and special tiles with a honeysuckle design. Tucked away at one side of the living area and kitchen is a powder room and a laundry.

Beyond the townhouse's entry is an open stairway leading up to the second level, where the main bedroom opens to a tiled roof terrace. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlook the terrace and flood the bedroom with light. Completing this level are another two bedrooms and a central bathroom.

The property is close to Lygon and Brunswick Streets and has ducted heating and air-conditioning as well as a security system and a lock-up garage with storage space.

Auction: today at noon, by Thomson (9347 1755).

Price: low-to-mid $300,000s.

Inspect: today from 11.30am.