Rare Burley Griffin house in Toorak hits the Melbourne market

When Americans Marc and Mary Parlange inspected a 1924 Toorak house in 2017, they knew, Mary says, “that it was super different … intriguing”.

“It had a really good feeling, and it was in our price range. So, we made an offer”.

But when the couple bought the Salter House, they didn’t know it was one of the rarest houses in Australia.

Designed by the master-planners of Canberra, Walter Burley Griffin and his wife Marion Mahoney Griffin, it’s the best surviving example of their patented Knitlock concrete block building system.

Only five of these vertically-jointed houses were ever built. Of the three that survive – including the Griffin’s own beloved Ivanhoe retreat, tiny Pholiota – the Salter House, with three bedrooms and a central courtyard on a 660 square metre block, is the biggest.

An exemplary restoration by the Parlanges in 2018 created a standout property that benchmarks how to care for Melbourne’s precious-built heritage properly.

It needed some structural remediation and comfortable, empathetic modernisation, Mary says. “So, we knew we had to get an architect involved because we didn’t want to create a travesty of the character of the house”.

The job was done by architects Jane Cameron in league with Christopher Hewson. The collaboration not only restored the chevron-detailed windows, tented living spaces and colourations to accord with the Griffins’ intent, they also had landscaper Sam Cox reinstate the native plantings so that Salter House was a headliner in last year’s Melbourne’s Open House celebration.

Monash academic Professor Marc Parlange was recently recruited to become the next president of the University of Rhode Island. That means the couple’s custodianship of the Salter House is very reluctantly concluding, and the residence is back on the market through Marshall White Boroondara, along with a Toorak-type price listing of $4 million-$4.4 million.

Even in Melbourne’s most expensive suburb, that price tag can put buyers in the ballpark of bidding on a fancy five-bedroom mansion or even a block of flats. “It is a big price,” agrees agent Tori McGregor. “But it’s so unique we’re not counting on the typical Toorak buyer.”

She says that several sets of buyers, including local downsizers, have voiced genuine interest within a fortnight of the expression of interest campaign opening. A few from outside the anticipated demographic have been a surprise.

The extended campaign – “because the house is so different” – concludes at 6pm on June 7.

Justin Long from Marshall White says properties with big-name architects attached will always “attract enthusiasts with a particular architectural knowledge and a Walter Burley Griffin is a major pull”.

When, four years back, she was drawn to the residence, Mary Parlange had no idea who Griffin was. “I just knew it wasn’t a bland Toorak house, and it felt to me like it had a soul”.

Since living there and experiencing how the window details and the elevated and private placement of the home at the back of the block “where you look out and just see the green of the trees” can make it feel even less suburban, Mary has done a deep dive into the Griffins’ story and philosophies and understands why she responded to this special house in such a visceral way.

“They were my kind of people. They were very progressive, very non-materialistic and very into nature. The living spaces of the house are so well thought out, and the aesthetic of the place just really affects your soul.”