Comedian, radio and television presenter Kate Langbroek and husband Peter Allan Lewis have put the St Kilda house where they have celebrated many special family events on the market.
Langbroek is a host on TV’s reality dating program My Mum Your Dad and current affairs show The Project, and has appeared on Have You Been Paying Attention?, Thank God You’re Here, The Panel and Dancing with the Stars.
Alongside fellow comedian Dave Hughes, she presented the long-running Hughesy & Kate FM radio show until her 2019 departure when she, Mr Lewis and their four children temporarily relocated to Bologna, Italy, for two years.
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Langbroek wrote a memoir of their time in Europe titled Ciao Bella! Six Take Italy and now hosts The Buck-Up podcast with comedian Nath Valvo.
Belle Property St Kilda principal John Manning said Langbroek and Mr Lewis had modernised and extended their circa-1855 house, but kept the period facade, within the past 10 years.
The five-bedroom home at 7 Burnett St, named Fenagh Cottage, was originally built for George Watson, a racehorse owner, Melbourne Cup race starter, member of the Victoria Racing Club’s first committee and founder of the Melbourne Hunt Club, a fox-hunting club now based in Pakenham.
Langbroek said their family moved into the house when their daughter was just three weeks old and their eldest son 18 months old.
“We added two more children to the house, and loved it so much we stayed for 16 years,” she said.
Langbroek finished writing her book in the attic which she described as “really private and removed from the rest of the house, it’s like a secret space”.
“With the beautiful afternoon light streaming in, I would be transported for a few hours every day, ‘til I came down for dinner,” she said.
“Also Ciao Bella has gone on to become a bestseller, and is now optioned for a TV series, so I think that room – and house – is also very good luck.”
Fenagh Cottage welcomes visitors with a landscaped front garden and veranda before opening to three bedrooms, a sunken family room and formal living area and dining area with garden views.
In the main living area, there’s a sandstone gas fireplace and vaulted ceilings.
A secret trapdoor set in the dining area’s floor opens up to a large under-house wine cellar.
The kitchen is fitted with an island bench, pendant lighting, soft-close drawers and stainless-steel ASKO and Smeg appliances, while the bathroom has a dual vanity and freestanding claw-footed bath.
“We always loved how the kitchen flowed into the living room and into outside,” Langbroek said.
“It’s a fun, easy flow that somehow makes every social gathering magic.
“The kids would be outside on the trampoline, the adults would be around the kitchen bench.”
Treasured memories of the house include Christmases, birthday parties and end-of-season
sports’ team catch-ups.
“We had my Dad’s 80th here, and a friend brought us some sugar glass (stunt glass) so our eldest son served his grandpa a tray of drinks outside on the granite crazy paving and pretended to trip and they all flew and shattered,” Langbroek said.
“My darling Dad nearly lost his mind; our son and everybody else loved it.”
Double doors from the main bedroom open out to the back yard where there’s a in-built trampoline and rear terrace.
The room is features its own walk-in wardrobe and ensuite.
Elsewhere, there’s a European laundry, hydronic heating, reverse-cycle cooling, intercom entry and off-street parking for two cars.
Mr Manning said Mr Lewis and Langbroek loved St Kilda and have upsized to a new, larger home nearby – although, with a 500sq m block, Fenagh Cottage has quite a substantial landholding in its own right.
He added that the attic could also be used as a fifth bedroom or another living space.
The house will be auctioned with $2.5m-$2.7m price hopes at 12.30pm on September 7.
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