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JONATHAN CHANCELLOR

Hallowed halls

The listing for sale of Bishop’s Court, a gothic mansion in Adelaide resplendent with ornamental chimneys, gables, gothic arches and shuttered windows, marks the latest disposal of archbishops’ abodes across the capital cities by both the Anglican and Catholic Church.

The landmark North Adelaide mansion (pictured), which has been put on the market by the Anglican Church, was the home of the first Bishop of Adelaide, Bishop Augustus Short, in the 1850s. He purchased a two- acre block within weeks of arriving in South Australia on board the Derwent in 1847, having opted to take the archbishop position in Adelaide instead of in Newcastle, north of Sydney. He had architect Henry Stuckey design the home and its stables. Stuckey died before the project was finished and Edmund Wright, who went on to marry Stuckey’s widow, oversaw its completion.

Short described Bishop’s Court as commanding a “noble view of the valley of the Torrens, the city of Adelaide, and the fine range of Mount Lofty”. It has been little altered since its completion, says Booth & Booth agent Jamie Brown, who notes that the current Adelaide sales record has stood since 2016, when Ivanhoe, a grand 1880s mansion in Gilberton , fetched $7 million.

Both the Anglican and Catholic churches have sold many of their residences in recent times. The most expensive was in Sydney’s Darling Point – an 1840s grand sandstone mansion now the home of Caleb Wang, the teenage son of billionaire Wang Qinghui. The landmark Gothic Revival house was sold for $18 million in 2016 to Wang senior, the president of Bonanza Investment, who debuted on the Forbes Rich List of China in 2014 as a result of his investment in Beijing Telecom. He was born into an ordinary peasant family, eventually becoming a property owner in Shenzhen. In 2019 his net worth on the Huran Rich List was $290 million.

The Darling Point property had been on and off the market for several years, with Craig Pontey at Ray White Double Bay coming up with what proved to be a difficult sale. The picturesque mansion had been with the church since 1910, when it was bought for £6750, and had served as home to eight archbishops. The church had been contemplating selling the property since the 1960s, for various reasons. The 2012 synod heard that some members of the congregation had been “scarred” by their visits there because of its opulence. The cost of maintenance and conservation work had been averaging $368,000 per year.

Sydney’s Bishopscourt, replete with sandstone gothic extravagances, was built for the industrialist Thomas Sutcliffe Mort, who forged an empire on wool, dairy, meat, mining and shipping. The residence –mostly obscured by fig trees on a 6215sq m holding – was designed by architects John Hilly in the 1850s and Edmund Blacket in the 1860s. Mort was a great supporter of the church, giving it the nearby land to build St Marks. The church bought the estate from a land speculator in 1910, 32 years after Mort’s death in 1878 and the departure of his family. The Anglican Church in Newcastle sold Bishopscourt, a sevenbedroom, inner-city mansion, for $5 million to the local Hughes family in 2015.

Bishopscourt in East Melbourne, whose build was delayed by the gold rush, remains in the hands of The Anglican Church. In 1870 it served as the interim Government House for Victoria while the present Government House was being built. Its bluestone exterior and soaring tower are the main survivors from those years, although visitors don’t tend to venture up into the tower during open days.

Tasmania’s Bishopscourt, built on a hillside in Sandy Bay in the 1850s, was sold in 2004 for $1.65 million to Melbourne businessman Herman Rockefeller, who was later murdered. It was then sold for $2.16 million in 2011 and $2.958 in late 2018. It is now the four-star hotel Old Bishops Quarters.

Perth’s Bishopscourt went down a similar commercial route. The three-storey Georgian mansion, which was built in 1859 for the first Anglican Bishop of WA, Mathew Blagden Hale, is now the multi-level restaurant Lamont’s Bishop’s House, a popular wedding venue due to its attractive gardens.

Gasworks, 90 Macaulay Road

This stimulating residence by renowned architects Multiplicity re-defines the concept of ´warehouse conversion´. "It’s really a piece of art and I think this place will appeal to someone who really understands not just architecture, but how difficult it is to transform what was once a heritage building into something that is so fine. The spaces are truly flexible. Whether you´re in the dramatic living room, the study beneath the entry, or the main bathroom which overlooks a famous football oval you get the sense this is very bespoke house where everything’s been considered." (Stephen Crafti). Ingenious, inviting and totally private, this address, moments from the Queen Victoria Market, the development of the Metro tunnel station and the CBD, has featured on ABC TV´s ´Restorations Australia´ and was a finalist in the Habitus Home Of The Year 2019. Sublime.

2 2 1 Private Auction: Tuesday 17th March View: By Appointment Video Journey: vimeo.com/386600113 Contact: Simon Curtain 0405 385 285 Jock Langley 0419 530 008 Office 9864 5300