Rathgar, almost the highest home in Hawthorn, listed with $5 million-plus hopes: Title Tattle

Rathgar, the 1886 Victorian mansion (pictured below) situated at possibly the highest point in Hawthorn, has been listed for auction with $5 million-plus hopes.

It was built with two tiers of elegant verandas that offer extensive views across Melbourne.

The landmark five-bedroom, two-bathroom Italianate property is thought to have been designed by architect John Edmund Burke, whose works include mid-1890s shops near the Hawthorn Town Hall which was designed by John Beswicke who also designed Auburn Village shops.

In the past it's been the residence of the Consul for Belgium and a period as Woodhouse Grove' Girls' School.

Set within 1,650-square-metre landscaped gardens created by Jack Merlo, the house comes with solar/gas heated pool and spa and a flood-lit north-south mod-grass tennis court.

It comes with bathrooms designed in 2010 by Jane Riddell.

There are traces of a late 1980s bold renovation by Jane Scally that enhanced the rich period details inside.

At its 1993 auction it was priced with $900,000-plus hopes and sold at $1.36 million.

Its been listed for private auction on September 20 through Jock Langley at Abercromby's Real Estate Armadale.

Sales this year in Hawthorn have included the $5.75 million Friesia (pictured below), an 1888-built Italian Renaissance-designed house and one of Melbourne’s most captivating residences.

The single-storey mansion was designed for the German consul William Brahe by architect John August Bernard Koch, who later designed Labassa in North Caulfield.

It’s been bought by Caulfield North couple Valeri and Irma Danilova. He hails originally from Makhachkala in the Russian Federation and resided in Sydney’s North Bondi in the early 1990s. He heads Australia's Quality Sheepskin Pty Ltd, whose core business is to supply raw sheep and lamb skins to tanners and dressers worldwide from its processing plant at Leongatha North in Gippsland.

The Hawthorn house was last traded in 1970 for $49,000 totally derelict – with no electricity, no hot water, no internal toilet, and the sky could be seen through most rooms.

It was sold by Kay & Burton agent Scott Patterson, who on its listing last November hoped to secure $6.5 million plus.

The property was inspired by the works of Filippo Brunelleschi, father of Italian Renaissance architecture in Florence.

It was been sold by Warwick Forge and his wife, Sue, who have been running the biennial Australian Landscape Conference for 10 years in a bid to bring together creative landscape designers from overseas and Australia.