THE SEARCH
For the big family who has outgrown the house, but not the neighbourhood.
The plans have been on the kitchen table for two years. An extension here. A second storey there. A quote you try not to think about.
Meanwhile the kids keep growing. Two still share a room. The eldest wants a door that closes. Every evening, everyone ends up in the same room, whether they want to or not.
You don't want to leave. You want room for all of you. Room to be together. Room to be alone.
THE STORY
Welcome to The Family Federation.
It sits on the Tara Estate, still Camberwell's most prized and intact heritage pocket.
A garden by Ian Barker takes the street away. Still ponds. Slate and brick. Then the house itself. Red brick, built in 1903, Federation through and through.
Five or six bedrooms. Up to five living areas. A zone for everyone.
The front of the house belongs to the adults. A formal living room with high ceilings and an open fire. Across the hall, a study with its own bar and fireplace, for work calls by day and the nights that turn into singing.
The kids get a wing of their own on each floor. Downstairs, a rumpus room with a fireplace and space to make a mess. Upstairs, a retreat with three bedrooms and a bathroom around it. Every child gets a door that closes.
In the middle, everyone meets. The family room rises under a vaulted ceiling. Herringbone floors run to a kitchen built to feed a crowd, set beneath an oversized stained-glass period window, with a Lacanche range cooker, a meals area and a cellar.
The main suite sits apart at the end of the upstairs hall, with its own fireplace, dressing room, double-shower ensuite and a balcony to the city. A fifth bedroom downstairs gives guests their own space, and a library study off the kitchen gives homework its own room.
Out back, the covered terrace has a fire, BBQ and heating. The pool glows blue at night. Above the double garage, reached from the rear lane, is a studio with its own ensuite. Make it a sixth bedroom for a grandparent, a uni student or the guest who stays the season. Or make it a fifth living zone: a gym, a home office, a teenage hangout as far from the house as the block allows.
THE LIFE
Weeknights, the house spreads out. Little ones in the rumpus.
Teenagers upstairs in the retreat. Homework in the library. Adults in the study with a drink from the bar. Then everyone drifts back to the kitchen for dinner.
Mornings are a short walk to Camberwell station, or coffee on Burke Road on the way to school. Camberwell Grammar, Camberwell Girls Grammar and Canterbury Girls' Secondary College are all close.
Weekends start at the Fresh Food Market and end by the pool.
Together when you want. Apart when you need.
Every generation under one roof. The Family Federation.
By Storyhouse.
Stories Told. Houses Sold.
