Property Of The Week: 97 Eglinton Street, Kew, VIC

A picturesque Victorian cottage has hit the market in the popular Melbourne suburb of Kew.

Offering eye-catching character details such as timber fretwork and bull-nose verandah on the façade, where this 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom, 1-car parking home really captures the imagination is through its renewed interiors.

Period purists fear not, after a stunning renovation, the interior has subtly retained period attributes through its flowing floor-plan, such as the arched hallway, refurbished fireplaces, plantation shutters, timber flooring and ducted heating.

Added to the home, the extension delivers a rear living domain, complete with a vaulted ceiling alongside a sleek galley styled kitchen fitted with stone bench-tops and premium Miele appliances.

Also here is a free-flowing indoor-outdoor through-line which sees the indoor living and dining area open to a tree-lined garden complete with a covered deck, built-in stainless-steel barbeque and drinks refrigerator – ideal for entertaining.

Elsewhere, three bedrooms complete the home all with built-in robes – with the main featuring a fully-tiled ensuite.

The home also features a modernised main bathroom and concealed laundry in addition to myriad storage options.

Moreover, the home is positioned to offer the best of Melbourne’s inner-city lifestyle. Moments from Eglinton Reserve or Victoria Park, Kew Junction shopping, Leo’s Fine Foods and Toscanos, cafes and restaurants, the lifestyle benefits of this pocket of Kew are there to be enjoyed.

Property is listed with Hamish Tostevin (+61 408 004 766) of Marshall White Boroondara. Price guide, $1.5m-$1.65m; marshallwhite.com.au/

Idaho is not a place that’s often associated with Medieval castles, but a pair have just hit the market for $6.25 million.

The imposing stone structures have towers, turrets, ramparts, arrow-slit windows and even a drawbridge, and might just be the most authentic-looking castles this side of the Atlantic.

“Who expects to see a castle like this in Idaho?” said listing agent Brenda Burk of Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty, who brought the property to the market last week. They are, she said, “extremely unusual.”

Schweitzer Castle and Château de Melusine, as they’re known, stand within Schweitzer Mountain Resort in the Selkirk Mountains and overlook the nearby mountain resort town of Sandpoint. They take in panoramic views of Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho’s largest lake.

The pair of ski-in/ski-out homes each have three bedrooms, two bathrooms and three stories, Burk explained. They are “so authentic,” she said. “Every single stone was handlaid.”

Schweitzer Castle, she said, wasn’t built for “functionality,” but has been modernized and adapted and now has everything a 21st-century residence requires, along with a dungeon, which for some buyers may also be a requisite.

The chateau, meanwhile, has a hot tub room with mountain views, as well as a garage.

The property is being sold furnished, and will come complete with the hand-carved statues, armor, mounted swords, stained-glass windows and a host of antiques dating to the 15th and 16th centuries.

The owner, an antique collector who couldn’t be reached for comment, “is always looking for that hidden jewel and he found that here,” Burk said.

The next custodian is likely to stem from a varied pool of buyers, Burk said, that would include “the trophy-home buyer, someone who can say ‘I own a castle.’”

The property could also appeal to someone looking for a vacation home, or a multi-generational estate, and beyond that “there’s the dreamers,” she said. “We definitely try to market to people who like Medieval history or maybe do Renaissance fairs.”

The seller “really wants it to go to someone with the same passion.”

Property Of The Week: 97 Eglinton Street, Kew, VIC

A pretty slice of Melbourne’s inner suburbs.

The imposing stone structures, with towers, turrets and a hot tub room, lord over the landscape near the mountain resort town of Sandpoint.