Property Of The Week: 79A Blencowe Street, West Leederville, WA

Modern and chic, this statement home sees a striking combination of raw industrial style, flexible floor plans and intelligent features within one of Perth’s enviable inner-city suburbs.

Generously sized for comfort, the 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom, 2-bedroom two storey home offers streamlined living nearby to Perth’s picturesque Lake Monger.

Street appeal is immediate through the striking façade with low maintenance garden while entry to the home – via the extra-wide hallway to a massive light filled void – reveals soaring ceiling and an open plan layout.

Here, a custom kitchen is complete with Miele appliances, Smeg stovetop and oven and boundless cabinetry.

The meals area flows to the expansive downstairs living room and continues through glass doors to the outdoor alfresco area. The backyard offers space to entertain while enjoying the custom concrete pool.

A further, separate downstairs office/lounge adds to the home’s flexibility.

Upstairs an activity room provides a third indoor living area – ideal for a parents’ retreat.

Also here, a main, capacious bedroom offers a true retreat from the rest of the home and is fitted with a modern ensuite. The additional bathroom is well equipped with a hob-less shower, soaking tub and double vanity.

Planted in a convenient, sought-after locale, the residence is nearby to Subiaco, Lake Monger, Cowden Park and public transport.

The listing is with The Agency’s Paul Tonich (+61 478 180 765), $1,625,000; theagency.com.au

For years, tech entrepreneur Asher Waldfogel and his wife, Helyn MacLean, dreamed of building a modern house in Palo Alto, Calif.

The couple, however, worried about clashing with the Mediterranean-style architecture typically associated with their neighborhood of Old Palo Alto.

So they tapped architect Steven Ehrlich to create a design that paid homage to its surroundings with stucco, mahogany and titanium zinc cladding. They spent $20 million over several years building the house, completed in 2005.

Designed for indoor-outdoor living, the house has matching mahogany paneling and limestone both inside and out. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

The dining room is between an outdoor garden and the staircase. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Now looking to be closer to their adult daughter on the East Coast, they are putting the five-bedroom home on the market for $44 million—the most expensive listing in Palo Alto.

Waldfogel is an angel investor who co-founded Redback Networks, a telecommunications-equipment company. MacLean previously had a career in fundraising.

The kitchen and family room open to the garden and pool. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Cast alcoves and mahogany shelves house the couple’s books and ceramics. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

The couple purchased the roughly 0.4-acre site for $7.1 million in 2000 and demolished a circa-1930s Spanish Colonial home. The house they built pinwheels around a central staircase. It has 7,900 square feet of livable space, with four distinct courtyards and a pool.

A key feature of the home is a cast-in-place concrete wall, or spine, that is two stories high and about 80 feet long. “There’s a little bit of controlled chaos in what comes out of the form,” unlike a perfectly uniform surface, Waldfogel said. “If you want that, you do it in plastic.”

Ehrlich said it took a few tries to get the concrete wall right. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

‘It’s a really hard material to tame,’ Ehrlich said of concrete. Workers learned as they went, and Waldfogel and Helyn grew to appreciate the imperfect material. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

A central staircase is housed in a glass tower. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Waldfogel said he and his wife are thinking about the next phase of life now that their daughter is grown, although they have not decided where they will move. They also have a home in Sun Valley, Idaho.

“Right now we’re just trying to emotionally let go and decide what to do next,” he said.

Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Two wings of the house are connected by horizontal planes. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Palo Alto, an epicenter of venture capital and tech startups in Silicon Valley, is home to some of the country’s biggest tech titans. Sales volume and prices are rising, with a median sale price of $3.5 million for the three months ending in August, up 5.8% year-over-year, according to real-estate brokerage Redfin.

Arthur Sharif of Sotheby’s International Realty—San Francisco Brokerage has the listing.

Property Of The Week: 79A Blencowe Street, West Leederville, WA

Intelligent living in Perth’s inner-city suburbs.

A five-bedroom Palo Alto home designed by Steven Ehrlich is listed for $44 million, making it the city’s most expensive listing. Built around a dramatic concrete spine, the home features four courtyards and a pool.