Privately nestled beneath the plane trees lining the streets of Unley Park, Bob and Barbara Corradini’s exquisite home is situated in one of South Australia’s most prestigious residential areas.

Built in 2004, the extravagant 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom home at 71 Northgate Street, Unley Park was designed by architect Rob Williams, reflecting a classical European aesthetic of timeless elegance and attention to detail.

When deciding how they wanted to design their home, Bob and Barbara were inspired by their trips to Europe where they fell in love with the architecture of Italy.

“You’ll see some smallish windows on the Western side of the house; we took that idea from Lake Como,” Bob says.

“The actual style of the house is something that we pinched out of Rome,” says Bob.

“There is a suburb in Rome called Parioli where they have a lot of two-stone mansions with fine, small bricks.”

Inside the home, inviting interiors are underpinned by timber and marble finishes with fittings and fixtures sourced both nationally and internationally.

“A lot of the trades that were needed weren’t available in Adelaide,” Bob says. “A good friend of mine lives over in Perth, so I flew him here to lay the floor.

“All the marble and the staircase handrail were brought over from Western Australia.”

Set over two levels, the grand formal entertaining space is coupled with an expansive informal living room.

Gorgeous, instant gas fires create a cosy atmosphere in winter, while large windows and French doors allow an open living space during the summer months.

“We travelled to Europe once a year and used to go to all the markets in Paris and collect the various odds and ends and designed the rooms around them,” says Bob.

Bob says his favourite room is the living room and adjacent library that holds his many books about cars, something he is very passionate about, having worked in the industry for almost half a decade.

“I was in the car industry for 47 years selling Ferrari, Maserati and Jaguar,” Bob says.

The Calacatta marble kitchen boasts European and European-inspired appliances, including an Ilve gas cooking station and Miele dishwasher.

Additionally, an extensive connoisseur’s cellar room has racking for approximately 1000 wine bottles.

There are three guest suites with built-in robes, while the primary bedroom boasts a his-and-hers walk-in dressing room and an opulent marble ensuite with jacuzzi, bidet and television.

“Barbara is a seamstress and loves sewing,” Bob says. “We turned one of the bedrooms upstairs into a sewing room and she spends a lot of time up there.”

Outside, a cloistered entertainment loggia and upstairs balcony overlook the synthetic tennis court, edged by a walled garden of formal plantings, water features and plane trees.

“Out of every window you have a beautiful view of trees and shrubs and gardens,” Bob says.

“There are three water features throughout the property and the sound of the water has a very tranquilising effect.”

Automatic irrigation and lighting make the impressive garden easy to maintain, and a tool shed allows space for avid gardeners to store their equipment.

The property lends itself to hosting, with extravagant entertaining spaces both indoors and outdoors, and plenty of suites for guests to stay overnight.

“For my 80^th birthday, we had everybody on the grounds here for a fantastic night,” Bob says.

“We had more than 100 people here and because we are surrounded by trees it is a very private house and we don’t see or bother any of our neighbours.”

Although they love the property, Bob and Barbara are in the process of building a new home where Bob can display his recently restored vintage cars.

“They’re just about ready to be shown off, so I need a showroom where I can put those cars and enjoy my next few years with them,” Bob says.

However, the couple is sad to be leaving behind the expert craftsmanship and impressive design of the Northgate home they have loved so much.

“I just don’t think they build them like this anymore,” says Bob.

The sale is being handled by Sally Cameron of TOOP+TOOP.