October 2021

Rather amazing house in Hawthorn for sale thought I’d share – the real estate agents say it was built 1876, but been abandoned ‘a good 10 years’ – clearly after they started renovating.

It’s in Yarra Grove, in that funny area between Hawthorn Station and Leonda that’s only got a couple of ways in, only been through once or twice myself. This property has its own river frontage 😮. They’re quoting $7mill, way too low I think, big block, though perhaps flood controls would limit the buildable area. Very unusual house that’s almost as much window as wall, though obviously there was once a verandah, and it faces the river rather than the street.

Update : it’s called Ravenswood, built for Alexander Tough, a ship’s chandler, and was only protected in 2018 as part of the ‘Rookery’ heritage precinct of the surrounding streets, and the verandah was there until 2017. They’ve also opened up the ground floor windows into doors, explains the unusual amount of glass.

October 2025

It was bought by tv and radio personality Andy Lee, with the idea of renovating, but basically building a second modern house. The process has been documented on his Instagram and I was very surprised to see it progress from ‘needs a lot of work’ to ‘needs to be replaced’ to leaving only the external walls !

I looked but couldn’t see a clear justification for going this far, they even sold off the stairs, but no doubt all much easier this way.

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