Could this be the house described in Jean Campbell's book "The Babe is Wise"?

Then there was the other entrancing aspect of the locality. If it hadn’t been for the electric trains and trams thundering by at intervals … you might have thought you were living in a sylvan retreat … there were the gardens over the way and the park at the back … and a bridge over the Yarra that brought you to some more gardens, the Botanical.

...

She saw it for the first time cuddling in between two tall old brick houses for all the world like a small fat child toddling out between a couple of maiden aunts. She was certain that it must have been the identical cottage made by the witch to lure Hansel and Gretel.