Abadeen Starts Work On $87m East Melbourne Kilburn Mansion

Abadeen has begun construction on Kilburn Mansion, an $87-million luxury residential project on the corner of Simpson and George streets at East Melbourne. The Studio Kennon-designed scheme includes the restoration and reimagining of a Victorian and Edwardian estate with four heritage facades, delivering eight homes within the existing buildings plus a penthouse “set discreetly above them”. Abadeen managing director Andrew Leoncelli said the site combined qualities the developer looked for in a project. “We are highly selective about the sites we pursue, looking for inherent qualities that can underpin an exceptional and enduring project. Kilburn Mansion presented a rare convergence of architectural character, scale and location,” Leoncelli said. Two homes in the original mansion will retain Victorian volumes and detailing, while vaulted ceilings elsewhere will follow existing roof forms. The converted stables and outbuildings along George Street will be laid out and built differently to the homes in the mansion. Studio Kennon director Pete Kennon said the design began with an audit of the existing structures. “We began by mapping the existing volumes, thresholds, light and circulation, then developed each plan from those conditions,” he said. Kennon said the four heritage buildings had been built across different eras and sat at separate levels along the sloping site, requiring the design to protect the significance of each while unifying the collection. “The new form remains recessive, allowing the original facades to retain their individual presence. A consistent material and textural language connects the buildings as a unified residential collection,” he told The Urban Developer . He said Kilburn Mansion, built in 1878, held a significant architectural presence at East Melbourne, with its double-storey arched colonnade and original slate roof presenting the greatest restoration challenge. Both elements would need to be suspended and protected while the basement is built beneath them, before being restored and carried through into the interiors of the new homes. Seven three-bedroom homes will be roughly 200sq m to 280sq m, joined by a two-bedroom home of about 147sq m, with ceilings reaching 4.5m throughout. Above the heritage buildings, an 843sq m penthouse will include 481sq m internally, 193sq m of outdoor space and a five-car garage. Leoncelli told The Urban Developer Abadeen would keep the penthouse for release at a later stage. “We feel the penthouse market is strongest when people can walk through the space and understand the true scale of the opportunity,” he said. “We believe we’ll maximise the value of the penthouse when we can take prospective buyers onto the private rooftop terrace and showcase the incredible panoramic views across the city and East Melbourne, including all of its beautiful heritage chimneys.” ▲ The Studio Kennon designs retain four Victorian and Edwardian facades to form a single luxury collection. Construction has started ahead of a presales campaign for the nine-home development. Homes will be priced from $4.5 million. Early enquiries ahead of the public sales launch, scheduled for the first weekend of September, have been strong, Leoncelli said. He said the mansion’s single-level apartments and St Elizabeth’s Home, a red-brick Edwardian house at 19 Simpson Street, had attracted the most interest, with some enquiries coming from buyers with budgets of up to $10 million. Landscaping by Teena Crawford will draw on East Melbourne’s established garden character. Demolition of non-heritage elements is under way, alongside propping and retention of the heritage components. Kilburn Mansion adds to Abadeen’s Victorian pipeline, roughly two-and-a-half years after the developer entered the state with a seven-apartment Malvern East project . In New South Wales, the developer filed plans earlier this month for Honeysuckle Mosman, shoptop project rising from 5 to 10 storeys comprising 100 homes at 494-516 Military Road. The DKO-designed scheme has an end value of $230 million and is in a suburb where Mosman Council has been contesting the state’s Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy. The developer has also moved on three Inter-War walk-ups at 101-115 Edgecliff Road for a $36-million, six-storey apartment scheme designed by Squillace Architects. The Abadeen portfolio now holds about $1.3 billion under construction and a further $1.5 billion in acquisition and planning across Victoria and New South Wales.

Residential
Leon Della Bosca
Tue 01 Sep 26

Abadeen Starts Work On $87m East Melbourne Kilburn Mansion

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