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August 13, 2026 \u2014 11:33am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n When Esther Clerehan, 65, looks around Fenner House, she remembers it as she first saw it more than 60 years ago.<\/p>\n Esther\u2019s father, the acclaimed Melbourne architect and writer Neil Clerehan, designed the heritage-listed modernist brick townhouse in 1964 for the Fenner family, who were retired pastoralists.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know how when you first see a space as a child and then go back as an adult, and it\u2019s so much smaller?\u201d Esther says.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, that\u2019s not what I feel like here. The proportions are generous to grand for a compact house. You do not walk in here and think, \u2018oh, this is a bit small\u2019; you actually get surprised at each room at how generous it is.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, for just the third time, the iconic Fenner House is for sale<\/a>, with an asking price of $5 million to $5.5 million.<\/p>\n In 2016, this compact-yet-generous townhouse in South Yarra\u2019s busy Domain Road was added to Victoria\u2019s heritage register<\/a>, 49 years after Clerehan won the Victorian Institute of Architects\u2019 most outstanding house award for it in 1967. The award is now known as the Victorian Architecture Medal \u2013 the state\u2019s top prize, recently awarded to the St Kilda Pier. <\/p>\n Like its contemporaries, Fenner House is a tribute to mid-century design<\/a>, featuring seamless indoor-outdoor integration; large, north-facing windows; an open-plan internal design that connects the kitchen, dining and living spaces seamlessly; and mid-century design traits such as exposed brick walls, timber ceilings and floor-to-ceiling glass.<\/p>\n Clerehan also designed it around three courtyards \u2013 visible from every room \u2013 and reversed traditional planning, with bathrooms and a walk-in cloakroom lining the front facade. Beyond that are three bedrooms.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you walk in, you straight away see the use of space, but I think the next thing you notice is the light in every room,\u201d Esther says. \u201cDad was obsessed with capturing light. So every room has light, every room has [views of the] garden, and that\u2019s what makes it extraordinary.\u201d<\/p>\n Rory Hyde, an associate professor in architecture at the University of Melbourne, says the house is \u201camazing and completely brutal\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the street, it\u2019s completely uncompromising; it\u2019s low, but it\u2019s very imposing. It\u2019s got a sort of power about it, there are no windows, it\u2019s like, \u2018what is this?\u2019 It looks like a substation or something,\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n Fenner House is also different in that it\u2019s an \u201cinside-out house\u201d, Hyde adds.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cNormally, we think of a house as an object sitting in the plot facing outwards, [but] this is something which takes up the whole plot to boundaries, and then looks inwards into the courtyards,\u201d he says. \u201cAs a result, you end up with more windows, more glass, and all the rooms get north light \u2013 there\u2019s a certain kind of freedom about being organised in that way.\u201d<\/p>\n Along with his much-celebrated work, Clerehan also wrote for The Age\u2019s Small Homes Service<\/a> for many years, designing vast numbers of sample house plans. He also designed The Age Dream Home in 1954 in Surrey Hills (it has since been demolished).<\/p>\n \u201cDad was very much into architecture of all eras and absolutely had an opinion on whether something was worthy or not,\u201d Esther recalls.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we were growing up, he was always busy \u2013 he worked 24\/7. The weekends were looking at houses; the nights were talking to clients on the phone and writing. He loved what he did, and he didn\u2019t consider it work, so he worked all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n Marshall White Stonnington real estate agent Ben Bongiorno says the house, which was listed for sale on August 5, has already had a record number of people through the open on August 8.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a good contingent of people coming through that might not necessarily be buyers, but in saying that, I think already a few people are talking about trying to buy it,\u201d Bongiorno says.<\/p>\n Due to its iconic heritage status and price tag, the property is attracting a wealthy demographic, he says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a botanical precinct buyer,\u201d Bongiorno says, someone looking for a collector\u2019s item. \u201cIt\u2019s buying beautiful history, isn\u2019t it? It won house of the year in 1967, and it is widely regarded as Neil Clerehan\u2019s most important residential work. It\u2019s been an absolute privilege to represent.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Esther](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/34236b5b21a588d9c9e53867638f043874c3ee73.jpeg\")
Esther Clerehan, the daughter of acclaimed Melbourne mid-century architect Neil Clerehan, sits in the study of his most famous home, Fenner House.Ruby Alexander<\/p>\n![\"Fenner](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/a5fd5333e5e64dc47f53657ab4a992ae7e2ba05c.jpeg\")
Fenner House has generous proportions, despite being a small home. Ruby Alexander.<\/p>\n![\"Matthew](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/25c48c91279921c2b904deaa4aa371ffda50396b.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Esther](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3b6d4c5fd9790340db1b3c8e34106b4838239fb9.jpeg\")
Esther Clerehan in the kitchen of her father\u2019s most famous home, the award-winning Fenner House.Ruby Alexander<\/p>\n
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