Villa Donati listed in Richmond Hill
Villa Donati, the circa 1886 Richmond Hill residence designed by architect John Augustus Koch as his private home, has been listed for sale.
Koch had been the mayor of Richmond in 1877.
Gayle Lamb, an academic at Deakin University, has extensively renovated the four-bedroom, four-bathroom Italianate house which comes with a two-storey studio at the rear of the property which she had built.
Expressions of interest closed mid-week on the Church Street offering through Chris Alcock of Kay & Burton who was seeking $2 million-plus buyers.
It operated as a bed and beakfast with Harper's Bazaar saying it was one of Australia's most decadent stays.
"Previously both an (Anglican) archbishop's residence and a massage parlour, (presumably at different times) it exudes style from its European café-esque breakfast room to the ornate marble-and-iron fireplaces in its luxurious bedrooms," the Harpers Bizarre 2010 edition advised.
"Filled with beautiful furniture, artwork and decorative items collected by the owners over many years of travelling, this opulent B&B is clearly a labour of love," Harper's Bazaar noted.
Koch, born in Hamburg in 1845, migrated to Australia with his family in 1855. In 1873 he was appointed as architect to the City of Melbourne and in 1887 he was appointed architect for the City of Richmond. After he married Anna Puttmann, they had a family of six sons and three daughters. His fifth son, Bernard, carried on his practice after he retired in 1913, dieing in Hawthorn in 1928.
His best known buildings are Labassa (originally called Ontario) (1889-1890) in Manor Grove, Caulfield North and Friesia (1887) at 23 Isabella Grove, Hawthorn. Most of his architctural work was in Hawthorn and Richmond.
