228 Napier Street, Fitzroy VIC 3065

What we love about this home:

We first fell in love with the photos of the tuck-pointed double fronted Hawthorn brick façade, but it was the high ceilings and abundant natural light that really captivated us when we first set foot in the house. There is natural light all year round – on the darkest winter days there’s no need to have the lights on – so rare for a Fitzroy cottage.

The extra width offered by the double fronted house has been fully utilised to create a unique and flexible floorplan. We had the internal bi-fold doors to the third bedroom open most of the time to create the tremendous feeling of space, but the room can be quickly and easily sealed off into a quiet area or guest bedroom.

In the warmer months, we’d fully open the bi-fold doors to create a fantastic indoor/outdoor entertainment space.

Other special features we enjoyed included:

• the 120+ year old period features that have been preserved in the front of the house
• proper car access off Napier Place, with the courtyard able to accommodate a large family car and Napier Place host to some great games of street cricket and footy
• the polished concrete floors which are so easy to keep clean and stay cool during summer
• the fully usable ensuite, another terrace rarity
• the readily accessible, huge storage area in the roof, it’s like another room up there
• the home networking and CBUS system, with most lights being dimmable and capacity to automate the house
• the no maintenance design, which means you can lock it up for a month, go away and not worry about a thing

What we love about Fitzroy:

We moved here 10 years ago from the ‘burbs and it was an amazing change to suddenly have everything at our doorstep. We parked the car permanently and started walking everywhere. The Napier Hotel up the street has the best meals of any pub in Fitzroy. It’s perfect for a drink outside of an evening during summer, or by the fire in winter. Woolworths is a 2 minute walk, as are the trams on Smith and Brunswick Streets. There’s a park across the road, a playground around the corner, and numerous gardens all within walking distance. Between the back street pubs and cafes, restaurants and bars of Smith and Gertrude Streets and shopping on Brunswick Street, there really is no need to leave Fitzroy! But if you do, it’s only a 15 minute walk to the edge of the city, the MCG and the gardens. If you do need to get the car out, the Eastern and Monash Freeways are both less than 5 minutes away.

Napier Street is unexpectedly quiet traffic wise as it’s blocked off from both ends. There’s always permit parking available when guests drop by and it’s pretty amazing to walk outside and see the Town Hall amongst the streetscape. Bikes populate the street during peak hour and we’ve spent many relaxing evenings having a cold beer on the verandah as the sun sets in the west, watching the world go by.

Why we are selling:

One simple reason – our dream house came up for sale around the corner and we had to buy it!