Fingertip Living For Laptop-literate Jet-setter
The Age
Wednesday November 22, 1995
Christopher de Fraga finds plenty of buttons to push in a multi-million-dollar home.
COMPUTER-controlled houses are still relatively rare, but the owners of the new Georgian-style house at 5 Towers Road, Toorak, will experience push-button living at state-of-the- art levels.
Should they find themselves icebound in New York and learn of a dry spell in Melbourne, they can link their laptop computer to the telephone and switch on the house's sprinkler system or open the curtains, alter the setting on the house's climate control or tell the lights to turn on or off at chosen times.
The high-walled house set on about 2135 square metres of land in a quiet corner of Toorak is wired for complete control and ease of living and is expected to sell for the highest price in Toorak this year.
There are touch-sensitive control pads dotted about the house allowing access to the intricate security, curtain, lighting, heating and air-conditioning systems.
A house with such a level of computerisation must have an entertainment or theatre room to replace the theatrettes once popular in houses in the area. Here, the theatre room has a single button that unfurls the screen from the ceiling and closes the curtains. There are two large sound-equipment trolleys wired into the multi-speaker setup for surround sound.
The trolleys are behind the timber-trimmed bar area of the theatre room, which also has an open fireplace and a view north through french doors to the sandstone terrace at the rear of the house and the north-south tennis court below. Stairs alongside the theatre room and the study lead down to the office and gymnasium room and the sauna and bathroom.
Alongside the tennis court and separated by netting on a wire rather than the usual chainwire fencing, there is a tiled and heated swimming pool whose curved end incorporates a waterfall rather than the usual skimmer system. There are formal lawns between the sandstone around the pool to provide a cooler area in summer.
The pool and court are both set with high rear walls, and down some steps, below the sandstone, there is an outside entertaining terrace that runs across the back of the house.
The family meals and family living rooms, as well as the theatre room have french doors to the terrace.
Between these family meals and living areas the granite bench kitchen has two dishwashers, an electric, gas, wok, and deep-frying Gaggenau modular stove segments sitting alongside the double eye-level ovens and microwave. The refrigerator nearby is similar in size and appearance to those found in larger supermarkets.
There is a laundry downstairs with a deep trough and a modern single swivel tap: it looks more like a butler's pantry than a laundry. The floor in the laundry is finished in the same highly polished parquet flooring used in the grand entrance hall and the family rooms and kitchen.
The entrance hall, with its double Imperite-finished navy front doors, has imposing double-curving staircases that lead to the upstairs bedrooms. Between the back of the entrance hall and the family living area there are two Imperite-finished sliding doors with small-paned, bevelled glazing that allows a view through the french doors to the terrace of the pool and tennis court.
The timber-panelled study, with an open fireplace, has built- in bookcases and storage either side of the fireplace and it is wired with connection points for computer access.
Upstairs, the main bedroom with french doors to its north- west-facing private terrace, has a walk-in wardrobe off which open His and Hers en suite bathrooms, one having a deep spa bath and the other a party-sized shower all marble-trimmed and with electrically heated towel rails.
The second and third bedrooms share a marble-trimmed family bathroom while the fourth and fifth bedrooms have their own en suite bathrooms. Between the fourth and fifth bedrooms there is an upstairs living area, and the fifth bedroom at the front of the house has an open fireplace and floor-to- ceiling curtains in a bay window.
A door from the gymnasium leads to the garage under the house a vast 10-car space with hot and cold taps and big drains for car washing and a polished and painted concrete floor. There are also two plant and storage rooms tucked in corners under the house.
The house's computer system recognises the owner's cars from transponders mounted under them. There is no need to fumble for the push-button remote as the owner's cars move down the street towards the house because the front gates will automatically open and, after them, the garage. The garage opens to the side of the house so that no one looking through the open gates would know what cars, if any, were in the garage.
The huge double gates there are two pairs with a semi- circular drive and white gravel for cars to park over in the front courtyard have a high-gloss finish and over the locked front gate, there is a television security camera and a security telephone system.
The house is to be sold by tender to Kay and Burton (9820 1111) of 226 Toorak Road, South Yarra, with tenders closing on 1 December.
© 1995 The Age
Share This