![25/28 Little Cardigan St, Carlton - for herald sun real estate](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1280 720"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
25/28 Little Cardigan St, Carlton, comes with a very unusual ensuite feature: a crawl-in entrance.
An “extremely unique” Melbourne penthouse is offering homebuyers the unusual chance to crawl under a fireplace to get into the bathroom.
The about 20-year-old 25/28 Little Cardigan St, Carlton, home’s double-storey, three-bedroom floorplan comes with unusual, striking decor that the listing agent is calling “way ahead of its time”.
It blends pressed-metal ceilings, adorned with the bright red of crisscrossing fire suppression pipes, with polished concrete floors and an array of feature walls that goes from a tropical mural to ornamental cornices hung like a gallery installation above the dining area.
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A custom kitchen includes slabs of stone so large they had to be craned into the building when it was created, backed by mirrored pillars and glossy, black cabinetry.
Barry Plant Docklands’ Alexander George is selling the home and described the wider decor as “extremely unique”.
“I have never seen anything like it, and I have seen a lot of apartments,” Mr George said.
Then, there’s the bathroom.
Not the upstairs one with the floral motif that’s been mosaic tiled into the walls.
The bathroom has a surprising second entrance, via a tunnel under a fireplace from a living area or home office on the penthouse’s lower level.
The home’s second bathroom is eye-catching in its own way, with mosaic tiles forming a floral pattern from floor to ceiling.
The lower-ground level one that connects a home office, to the main bedroom’s ensuite via a sizeable hole set beneath a fireplace.
Despite it featuring a shower, bath and a lavatory, there is no door between the two spaces.
There does appear to be a curtain rail installed — but there’s nothing hung on it in the listing photos.
Mr George is advising against crawling in, given the potentially high temperatures above.
But even if you walk around to the main entry from the main bedroom, the space is likely to make an impression with thousands of copper-brown tiles, a decorative light fixture and a bathtub set so high above most of the bathroom that its upper rim is above the shower’s door handle.
Polished concrete floors, pressed metal ceilings and kitchen benchtops made from so much stone they had to be craned into the building give the living zone wow factor.
Living areas feature impressive views, and the comforting presence of overhead fire-suppression pipes.
“You can hop in if you are flexible,” Mr George said.
The unusual residence, a combination of two apartments, was originally home to the building’s developer about 20 years ago.
It’s only had a few minor adjustments since then, with the decor still largely the way it was always intended to be.
“It was way ahead of its time,” Mr George said.
The home is just over 200sq m in size, with a further 30sq m in outdoor spaces that offer impressive views.
The home’s bedrooms come with warehouse styling, and plenty of natural light.
The dining room’s feature wall has a gallery-style installation of decorative cornice work.
“The unit and all its fixtures and fittings are incredible, but the other thing that just ‘wowed’ me is the views,” he said.
“It’s beautiful in the day, and at night with the skyline.”
It’s been listed with a $2m-$2.2m price tag, though Mr George said it had been very difficult to gauge values given its rarity.
Expectations are a professional couple or even a young family might buy the unusual residence.
The home has city views on one side, which add to the decor and design.
The vista on the other side takes in the nearby Carlton Exhibition Centre.
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