81 South Road
Brighton

81 & 83 South Road Brighton - Sold by Ben Vieth

A historic Brighton mansion offered for the first time in close to four decades, 'Kiora' soared to new heights when it was built in 1890, bringing unprecedented extravagance to Brighton and Australian architecture. The elegant home features exquisite Australiana Edwardian features and plasterwork, and houses Melbourne's largest-known skylight in a private home, which sits above the enormous octagonal hall. The sprawling 1345sqm (approx.) property was once a private school in the early 20th century, and has been home to aristocrats, boarders, school children and families across more than 130 years.

Now it can be yours, with grand-scale family spaciousness, extraordinary craftsmanship, and a tower where the bay views are incredible. Located midway between the beach, St Leonard's College and Haileybury, this Victorian Boom-era mansion is spectacular on so many levels. The light-filled interior spans out from a triple-height octagonal void adorned with ornate archways, a cast-iron balcony, tessellated key-tiled floor, and exquisite timber panelling and plasterwork. It's a fine introduction to a landmark home, featuring five large living and dining rooms, six bedrooms and a study, a wing of original staff quarters with potential to update, and a library. Kiora would have been the perfect beachside entertainer in its heyday, with space for dozens of guests to gather in the grand gallery, billiards room, and oversized dining room with an original butler's pantry and ornate fireplace.

The house has undergone extensive improvements whilst retaining the vision of the original owner, architect John Russell Brown. Three bathrooms are updated, there's European appliances in the spacious kitchen, hydronic heating, and remote-control driveway gates. All this sits alongside the grandeur of high-ceilinged rooms with intricate plasterwork cornices, handpainted windows depicting coastal and country scenes, open fireplaces, box bay windows, and Baltic pine floors. Verandas on two levels wrap around the Hawthorn brick exterior, and the north-facing garden has summer shade from a peppercorn tree, flowering perennials, and access to the double garage,