Grand Coburg mansionette Kalimna, with French mansard roof, listed with $2 million hopes

Kalimna, the grand 1881 Coburg mansionette, has been listed for sale.

The Italianate house with richness of details comes with a distinctive tower with a French mansard roof. Set on The Grove, the house was built for Montague Dare, who set about developing an ambitious estate with the promise of tennis court and pavillion and bowling rink.

It’s one of a pair, the other neighbouring maisonette being known as Koorali. 

Title Tattle recollects Dare was especially keen on giving the then Shire of Coburg a hurry along to get the drainage and lighting in the strip then known as Moreland Grove. His estate demonstrates the speculative development associated with the land boom in Coburg just prior to the 1890s depression. The estate was halted by the depression. The pair is one of three proposed and two actually built, according to heritage websites.

The house was designed by Thomas Crouch, who began practising as an architect in Tasmania, but came to Melbourne for the 1850s gold rush.  Crouch was a founding member and secretary of the Victorian Institute of Architects and served as mayor of St Kilda in 1870-71.

Kalimna was later occupied by the Clare Grammar School. It had been divided into flats which were consolidated into a single dwelling in 1979. It hasnt been on the market for two decades or so. Additions were made in 1987, and the house underwent renovation in 1998. There’s dichromatic brickwork, lacework, a hand-carved staircase leading to five bedrooms. Offers close April 4 with Hocking Stuart agent John Sheldrick giving a $2 million price guide.