Mansion June 2021

Mansion INCORPORATING NEWS FROM DOW JONES’ M A NS ION GL OBA L

AUSTRALIA

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- PAGE INTERIORS SECTION

THE PERFECT PACKAGE Adelaide’s secret is out 1

M A NSIONAUST R A L I A .C OM . AU

Issue 44 • June 2021

OFF THE WALL

The art of Florence Broadhurst

RABY BAY

Where shorts and thongs rule

SNOW LUXURY

Chalet design hits new heights

T H E W E E K E N D AUST R A L I A N | O C T OBE R 8 - 9 , 2 0 1 6

Contents

9 L U X U R Y Kingscliff beach beauty, Killingworth homestead, 1890s revamp 1 2 C O V E R S T O R Y The word is out about the pluses of buying in Adelaide 1 6 D O L L Y L E N Z High-end ski chalet owners have no intention of roughing it 1 8 R A B Y B A Y In the luxury canal estate, buyers prefer laid-back living 2 0 U P P E R N O R T H S H O R E The evergreen market has weathered the storm 22 GOLD COAST

A new wave of owner-occupiers is buying into The Strip

2 6 M A N S I O N G L O B A L Prague Baroque, Rothschild duplex, Chelsea factory 3 5 P R E S T I G E M A R K E T U P D A T E Median house prices hit all-time highs 3 9 B A C K P A G E The former home of artist Fred Cress in Sydney’s Annandale 4 2 D E C O R A daughter builds on her mother’s dazzling decorating style 46 INTERIORS

A home refreshed and reimagined for its second owners

5 0 P R O D U C T S The warm tones and tactile appeal of natural materials

5 Grenoble Place, Raby Bay See story page 18

Mansion AUSTRALIA

Editor Lisa Allen Contributing editor Jonathan Chancellor Interiors editor David Meagher Art director Samantha Yates Writers Libby Moffet Luke Slattery Chief subeditor Deirdre Blayney Subeditors Paul Hunter Sandra Killen, Justine Costello Picture editor Christine Westwood

N E X T I S S U E : July 17, 2021

C O V E R Forest Lodge in Stirling, SA. The grand heritage-listed

Adelaide Hills mansion built in the 1890s was recently sold, for only the second time in its 130-year history, for $4.58 million

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Advertising Michael Thompson Tel. 61 2 9288 3630 michael.thompson2@news.com.au Unsolicited manuscripts will not be considered.

Printed by Ovato Print Pty Ltd, 31 Heathcote Road, Moorebank 2170, for the proprietor and publisher, Nationwide News Pty Limited (ACN 008 438 828), of 2 Holt Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010 for insertion in The Weekend Australian on June 12, 2021

Editor’s letter Could the residential real estate market be starting to soften? With the recent Covid-19 outbreak in Victoria, auction numbers are dropping slightly and agents, particularly in Melbourne, are extending the closure dates on their expressions of interest campaigns as winter looms and numbers of high end buyers start to thin.

While there is unprecedented demand for property in regional areas such as the NSW Southern Highlands, as well as for the ski chalets and vacant blocks at Victoria’s Mt Buller, other parts of the market, particularly the CBD and suburbs, are certainly changing.

Apartment developers such as Harry Triguboff, who is building in Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney and the Gold Coast, reveal that although unit sales are steady there’s increasing demand for larger off the plan units.

The multi-billionaire says some of his customers are buying two two-bedroom apartments in the one transaction to amalgamate into a larger apartment and he is responding by building three-bedders.

Constructing one-bedders is a thing of the past for the Meriton founder.

In this issue we have endeavoured to do a broad sweep of Australian real estate, focusing on Sydney’s Annandale, Tamarama, Upper North Shore and Hunters Hill – where Florence Broadhurst wallpaper is still de rigueur. Further north we explore the Gold Coast and Raby Bay. Our US-based luxury real estate agent and writer Dolly Lenz examines the pros and cons of buying in offshore ski fields.

Borders permitting,I will soon head to the land of the long white cloud, specifically Queenstown, and for our inaugural July edition of Mansion Australia I will report back on luxury real estate. I am hearing cashed-up Aussies have been active in New Zealand.

We hope you enjoy this issue.

Lisa Allen Editor

THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN

| JUNE 12-13, 2021

Contents

9 L U X U R Y Kingscliff beach beauty, Killingworth homestead, 1890s revamp 1 2 C O V E R S T O R Y St Kilda Road is undergoing a different type of tree change 1 6 D O L L Y L E N Z High-end ski chalet owners have no intention of roughing it 1 8 R A B Y B A Y In the luxury canal estate, buyers prefer laid-back living 2 0 U P P E R N O R T H S H O R E The evergreen market has weathered the storm 22 GOLD COAST

A new wave of owner-occupiers is buying into The Strip

2 6 M A N S I O N G L O B A L Prague Baroque, Rothschild duplex, Chelsea factory 3 5 P R E S T I G E M A R K E T U P D A T E Median house prices hit all-time highs 3 9 B A C K P A G E The former home of artist Fred Cress in Sydney’s Annandale 4 2 D E C O R A daughter builds on her mother’s dazzling decorating style 46 INTERIORS

A home refreshed and reimagined for its second owners

5 0 P R O D U C T S The warm tones and tactile appeal of natural materials

5 Grenoble Place, Raby Bay See story page 18

Mansion AUSTRALIA

Editor Lisa Allen Contributing editor Jonathan Chancellor Interiors editor David Meagher Art director Samantha Yates Writers Libby Moffet Luke Slattery Chief subeditor Deirdre Blayney Subeditors Paul Hunter Sandra Killen, Justine Costello Picture editor Christine Westwood

N E X T I S S U E : July 17, 2021

1 2 C O V E R The New York loft inspired apartment at 430 St Kilda

Road, sold late last year for $2.83 million, comes with three bedrooms and three bathrooms in a house-sized space

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MANSIONAUSTRALIA.COM.AU

Advertising Michael Thompson Tel. 61 2 9288 3630 michael.thompson2@news.com.au Unsolicited manuscripts will not be considered.

Printed by Ovato Print Pty Ltd, 31 Heathcote Road, Moorebank 2170, for the proprietor and publisher, Nationwide News Pty Limited (ACN 008 438 828), of 2 Holt Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010 for insertion in The Weekend Australian on June 12, 2021

Editor’s letter Could the residential real estate market be starting to soften? With the recent Covid-19 outbreak in Victoria, auction numbers are dropping slightly and agents, particularly in Melbourne, are extending the closure dates on their expressions of interest campaigns as winter looms and numbers of high end buyers start to thin.

While there is unprecedented demand for property in regional areas such as the NSW Southern Highlands, as well as for the ski chalets and vacant blocks at Victoria’s Mt Buller, other parts of the market, particularly the CBD and suburbs, are certainly changing.

Apartment developers such as Harry Triguboff, who is building in Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney and the Gold Coast, reveal that although unit sales are steady there’s increasing demand for larger off the plan units.

The multi-billionaire says some of his customers are buying two two-bedroom apartments in the one transaction to amalgamate into a larger apartment and he is responding by building three-bedders.

Constructing one-bedders is a thing of the past for the Meriton founder.

In this issue we have endeavoured to do a broad sweep of Australian real estate, focusing on Sydney’s Annandale, Tamarama, Upper North Shore and Hunters Hill – where Florence Broadhurst wallpaper is still de rigueur. Further north we explore the Gold Coast and Raby Bay. Our US-based luxury real estate agent and writer Dolly Lenz examines the pros and cons of buying in offshore ski fields.

Borders permitting,I will soon head to the land of the long white cloud, specifically Queenstown, and for our inaugural July edition of Mansion Australia I will report back on luxury real estate. I am hearing cashed-up Aussies have been active in New Zealand.

We hope you enjoy this issue.

Lisa Allen Editor

THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN

| JUNE 12-13, 2021

H AW T HORN E , Q L D

Old and new are popular in Brisbane’s Hawthorne, on and off the river. La Casa, one of Hawthorne’s newest homes, has been sold for $3.15 million. The Scott Street home was the work of Capital Luxury Residences. Interior designer Alissa Birch worked with building design studio Big House Little House to merge contemporary with the area’s heritage.

The home, on a 465sq m vacant lot, has five bedrooms, five bathrooms, three living areas, and a media room. On the river, the latest listing is more traditional, with modern updates.

Last traded for $5.1 million in 2013, the Barton Road riverfront home (pictured) on 895sq m has four bedrooms and four outdoor zones, with an outdoor kitchen, pool and gazebo.

There’s a jetty and pontoon. Ray White Bulimba agent Jonathan Peck has the listing.

MERMAID BEACH, QLD

LILYFIELD, NSW

A renovated 1890s home has sold for $3.8 million in Lilyfield in Sydney’s inner west, which has been recording very strong sales. The six-bedroom home on Grove Street comes with Florence Broadhurst wallpaper and was extended and renovated about decade ago. A heated saltwater pool was added in the gardens on the 430sq m block. The two-level home features a Neff kitchen, separate living zones, an attic retreat and a 1000-bottle wine cellar, as well as gas fireplaces and a fully customised FEG walk-in wardrobe in the master suite. BresicWhitney Balmain agents Adrian Oddi and Taryn Varcoe were asking $3.5 million and secured the higher price before auction. The sale was the highest in the suburb since December, when a modern four-bedroom home quietly sold for $4.8 million.

JUNE 12-13, 2021

| THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN

A prominent crisp white non-beachfront Mermaid Beach abode with dashes of blue has sold for $5.5 million for the first time since its 2010 construction. The home, which sits across two Seashell Avenue blocks totalling 750sq m, was inspired by the Hamptons mansion style, with the addition of some traditional Queenslander features. The three-level residence has casement windows as well as traditional dormer windows, detailed fretwork and VJ panelling. Kollosche Broadbeach agents Eoghan Murphy and Michael Kollosche secured the sale. It’s the second-biggest home sale in Mermaid Beach, on the Gold Coast, so far this year, following the $15.75 million spent by the Computershare billionaire Chris Morris on the millionaires’ row Hedges Avenue. There are three bedrooms upstairs, with the master suite separated from the rest by a floating bridge. A fourth bedroom on the ground floor is set up as a gym, located near the home cinema room. The basement level has a four-car showroom-style garage and a wine cellar. Off the open-plan kitchen, living and dining area is a second indooroutdoor kitchen fitted with a Beefeater barbecue and TV sports bar. That meets the solar-heated, resort-style pool set in lush tropical gardens, which include a lemon tree that yields 300 lemons a season as well as a herb and vegetable patch. Crowning the home is a den dubbed The Lookout that offers 280-degree views of the ocean, Mermaid Beach and the hinterland.

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Luxury

MAIN BEACH, QLD

ALBERT PARK, VIC

A sub-penthouse in the Main Beach tower Axis Apartments has sold for only the second time, taking just 22 days to find its next residents. The three-bedroom, three-bathroom apartment on the 25th level fetched $3.15 million. In 2007 it fetched $3.05 million when sold by the developer, the Willemsen Group, two years after the building was completed. Axis was awarded residential project of the year by the Master Builders Association Gold Coast. The 320sq m apartment with four balconies features two living zones with gas fireplaces, HPM home automation and a Boschfitted kitchen. There’s a master retreat with study, private balcony, walk-in wardrobe and his and hers ensuite. Keys Realty Gold Coast agents Adam and Jim Keys secured the sale, marketing it as “the jewel in the Main Beach crown”. Gerard Willemsen and wife Diane retain an apartment in the complex. The Willemsen Group is a Canberrabased private family company that moved into the Gold Coast in 1999.

A $6.3 million pre-auction result at Albert Park was secured last month, falling just short of Kerferd Road’s $6.475 million record. The home, Valor, designed by Matyas Architects, was unsuccessfully listed in April last year with $6.8-$7.4 million expectations. The price guide was adjusted by new listing agent Simon Gowling, at Greg Hocking Holdsworth, to $5.25-$5.75 million. Gowling emphasised that the five-bedroom, five-bathroom home came with a home office, which he said added 5-10 per cent to a home’s value post-pandemic. The interiors are by Zunica, with natural materials that include stone and timber, blending with expanses of glass.

The house was built by the Filipovic family from Fili Property. It has a rooftop spa overlooking the city, and its four levels incorporate a cinema, exercise studio, and a lift.

It was marketed as suitable for “everyone from families, professional couples, people working from home, and empty nesters looking for the perfect lock and leave”.

KILLINGWORTH, VIC

Orana, a strikingly rustic contemporary homestead at Killingworth near Yea in the Victorian Central Highlands, is for sale. Positioned in a north-facing elevated setting, the home was designed by Ross MacKinnon of MKD, who adopted the vernacular of an Australian high country woolshed in the exterior of galvanised iron, local stone and recycled timber cladding.

The Knorr family, who built the house, describe it as “Grand Designs meets Gourmet Farmer”.

There are views of the Goulburn Valley and the Switzerland Ranges. Elders Melbourne agents Nick Myer and Bruce Elliott say that Orana is one of the most prominent lifestyle holdings in the region. They are seeking around $8 million for the property, which last traded in 2010 for $2.175 million. Offers close on June 17. The 77ha property has about 530m of river frontage and land suited to cattle, prime lamb, wool and equine pursuits.

There’s also 11ha of vineyards and a helipad.

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THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN

| JUNE 12-13, 2021

KINGSCLIFF, NSW

NEWPORT, NSW

A custom-built home with direct access to Kingscliff Beach in northern NSW has been snappily sold for $4.09 million after just 17 days on the market. Designed by Jayson Pate, who has designed a number of homes in the beachside locale, and built in 2015, it sits on the dress circle Cylinders Drive, on the sought-after beach side of the strip. LJ Hooker Kingscliff agents Nick and Carol Witheriff were seeking around $4.25 million and had three written offers after four inspections. The property last sold for $2 million in 2017. Pricing of beachfront reserve homes peaked at $5.2 million in 2008 with the highest recent sale at $3.95 million in April, for a 2013-built home.

This Hamptons-style residence, complete with high ceilings, features concrete-style tiles and whitewashed timber flooring. There are five bedrooms, three with built-in study nooks and the master with its own private east-facing balcony, walk-in wardrobe, ensuite and study. A media room connects to the rear yard, which features a magnesium pool, outdoor shower and covered alfresco patio. The yard has access to Kingscliff Beach.

A Newport home, ready-made as a weekender or holiday let, was recently snapped up in just 10 days. The five-bedroom, 2008-built Bungan Head Road home was offered fully furnished by Josephine Cowling and Kylie Segedin at LJ Hooker Mona Vale, who secured a sale toward the higher end of their $5.2 million to $5.5 million guide. It had been a popular holiday rental over school holidays and long weekends. Traded for $3.8 million just two years ago with no major cosmetic changes, the home, which is about 500m from Bungan Beach, spans four levels.

SUNSHINE BEACH, QLD

A Sunshine Beach home designed by architect Shaun Lockyer has sold for $4 million, setting a record price in the popular locality for a home with no view. Tom Offermann Real Estate selling agent Rebekah Offermann says the buyers admired the naturally silvered ironbark-battened facade and the giant rosewood and glass front door. The 2012-built home features a number of architectural elements, including a Wamberal stacked stone wall. The flooring is slate, burnished concrete, recycled blackbutt and merbau timbers. Another striking feature is the wood-burning fireplace. There are five bedrooms, all located on the second level, and the master has its own living area. The main living space opens to a covered spotted gum timber deck that leads to the swimming pool and alfresco entertaining area, complete with barbecue, custom-built bench seating and a day bed. The location, Ross Crescent, has seen sales up to $5.3 million of properties with ocean views. The home is a 100m walk to the surf and not far from where the local cafe tribe preserves the “barefoot if you like” vibe.

JUNE 12-13, 2021

| THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN

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L Cover story

Longtime record-setting Adelaide agent Jamie Brown believes the impact of Covid-19 heightened appreciation of South Australia’s prestige residential sector, from locals as well as expatriates and interstate buyers. There have been pronounced shifts amid the three popular options for Adelaide buyers – the city, the beach and the hills, with the last two within around 30 minutes of the Torrens River.

Brown, who heads Booth and Booth Real Estate, says Adelaide coped well with the early stages of Covid and, following the lockdowns, the Adelaide prestige market was reignited. “From about October 2020 through to Christmas, the market was exceptionally good,” Brown says, adding that there was also a particularly busy start to the year. “The energy has flowed right through to where we are now.

“I believe Adelaide is now more appreciated due to its ease of inner-cosmopolitan travel, larger average residential land holdings, and hills and beach lifestyle properties only a short drive away and now considered more desirable due to Covid. The interstate activity we have experienced has further underpinned the market.”

Brown puts the present level of interstate buying activity at around 15 per cent of top-end sales. Numbers of interstate buyers have increased threefold in the past 18 months, he says, “with some properties even changing hands without the purchaser physically inspecting, albeit they get family members living here to inspect”.

Realestate.com.au economist Anne Flaherty pinpointed seven suburbs with a median house price at least three times the $515,000 metropolitan median. They were led by Unley Park, with a $2.12 million median, followed by $1.94 million at Leabrook and Fitzroy at $1.77 million. Springfield, St Peters, Toorak Gardens and Medindie made up the seven. “These suburbs are tightly held,” Flaherty says.

Adelaide’s premium suburbs have seen strong price growth in 2021, with Unley Park experiencing 26 per cent year-on-year growth.

“The luxury market roared ahead in 2020, benefiting from a combination of some industries, such as mining and technology, powering ahead despite the pandemic and lower rates of job loss for higher income earners,” Flaherty says. “Adelaide’s prestige market benefited from the pandemic, which drove up demand for larger and higherquality dwellings. The rapid price growth seen across much of Australia has also priced some buyers out of markets such as Sydney and Melbourne.”

But Adelaide’s first $10 million-plus sale, secured recently by the Williams Luxury team John and Stephanie Williams, was to a local buyer. The three-storey Medindie trophy home Elysian took six years to build. With its 1600sq m of internal space, it had strong interest from interstate buyers. The 4020sq m block on Robe Terrace, now with tennis court and pool, cost $4.88 million in 2013 when bought by owner builder Harry Alexander. The house and guesthouse have eight bedrooms and eight bathrooms.

Medindie last held the Adelaide record price when Willyama, a 14-room bluestone mansion, sold for $6.4 million in 2006.

Stephanie Williams says that traditionally local buyers would secure about 95 per cent of prestige opportunities. However, post-Covid, the percentage has loosened.

“There’s been a huge level of inbound interest in South Australia from Queensland, Victoria and NSW, and of course expats who are also returning in their droves,” John Williams says. “The strong desirability of lifestyle and affordability in South Australia are key drivers. SA truly is the 30-minute state – the Adelaide Hills, the International Airport, beautiful beaches and wine districts are all literally 30 minutes away.”

The record $10 million sale bettered the previous record, set last year when Jamie 12

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THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN

| JUNE 12-13, 2021

QUEEN OF THE SOUTH Adelaide’s lifestyle and affordability are no longer a secret with interstate buyers vying for a piece of the action S t o r y b y J ONAT H A N C H A NC E L L OR

Bishops Court, 45 Palmer Place, North Adelaide, was sold by the Anglican Church for more than $7 million

JUNE 12-13, 2021

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From top: 293 Esplanade, Henley Beach; Forest Lodge, 19 Pine Street, Stirling; 10 Ravenswood Lane, Balhannah

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Brown sold the ecclesiastically fashionable Tudor-Gothic style Bishops Court, a landmark 1850s North Adelaide home offloaded by the Anglican Church. The mansion on 5300sq m, complete with gables, arches and shuttered windows, was bought by local businesswoman Mary Kotses, founder and owner of the national homewares and lifestyle brand Wheel & Barrow. It sold for more than $7 million – a little short of the $10 million initially sought when it was listed in February 2020.

Brown’s Bishops Court sale broke his own record of $7 million in 2016 for Ivanhoe in Gilberton, which broke his 2010 record $6.5 million for Stormont in Glenelg.

So far this year there have been two significant sales at Glenelg South, on Adelaide’s coast, where a modern three-bedroom, three-bathroom beachside home, sold in 2007 at $3.25 million, was resold for $4.025 million. There was also a $5.1 million sale on South Esplanade, a five-bedroom, four bathroom 2010-built home with 600sq m of space on its 753sq m allotment with rear access. It was bought by SA trucking tycoon Peter Cochrane, who lived nearby.

Brown notes that there’s been a trend for Adelaideans buying local beach houses just a 20-minute drive from the city, rather than on the south coast (some one hour and 15 minutes away), due to busier lives, with children’s sport and longer working hours.

Last April, amid the partial lockdown, Brown secured the sale of Tiverton, a villa on Henley Beach, for just over $4 million. The expatriate buyers were just the fourth owners of the 293 Esplanade home, built in 1915 and trading for the first time since 1996. The four-bedroom, three-bathroom home has been renovated and extended.

But a $4 million sale at Unley Park confirmed it as one of Adelaide’s most popular suburbs for grand 1920s historic houses. The sale came following a redesign by architects BEACH DC to create a four-bedroom, five-bathroom home on its 1338sq m block with proximity to the popular King William Road’s cosmopolitan cafe, restaurant and fashion precinct. The home sold for $1.78 million in 2014.

There was a quick $4.5 million resale in North Adelaide, where Toop & Toop sold Zephyrside, the 1871 home long associated with the pastoralist William Magarey. It had previously sold at $4.1 million in 2018 and at $3.35 million in 2015.

Walkerville has seen the $2.6 million sale of the 1959 Georgian home built by Adelaide society couple Andrew and Gwen Tennant of the Princess Royal Station.

Homes that are considered prestige in Adelaide are mostly in the inner-city fringe suburbs, from Unley Park right around the city, through to Medindie and Fitzroy, with these homes typically being turn of the century and on larger land holdings. Adelaide now has 31 suburbs in its million-dollar club, according to realestate.com.au.

One of Brown’s most recent listings is shooting for the Unley Park record. There are $6.5 million to $6.75 million expectations for the renovated 1915 Queen Anne residence. The 3845sq m estate includes floodlit synthetic north/south grass court, solar-heated pool and north-facing hangar/sports room. There’s been a handful of sales over $5 million in Unley Park, the record quietly set in 2018 when a 1905 home sold for $5.2 million. “With the local business community being particularly buoyant with investment and infrastructure spending, it’s giving local, interstate and overseas buyers a better sense of financial security looking ahead, which I don’t really think we have experienced to this degree before,” Brown notes. “I have always said Adelaide runs on confidence. Adelaide has been a very independent market as opposed to the eastern seaboard, which tends to run together. Having said that, South Australia is always heartened to hear of healthy property markets interstate. It often gives us confidence to engage more vigorously here, and as prices commensurately rise in Sydney and Melbourne we are seen as a great alternative, and better value for money.”

That confidence has been evident in the Adelaide Hills with a big sale at Stirling when The Shay on Milan Terrace sold for more than $4 million through Harris Real Estate agent Arabella Hooper. The five-bedroom 1890s country house sits in gardens by landscaper Virginia Kennett. The Shay is 500m to the centre of Stirling village.

Also in the Hills, Brown recently secured the $4.58 million sale of Forest Lodge in Stirling, the 1890s summer residence commissioned by businessman politician John Bagot in 1890. It was then the summer home of John’s son, architect Walter Bagot, a founding partner in Woods Bagot. Walter, also a keen gardener, inherited the home in 1910. The family fortune came from the Kapunda Copper Mine and they married into the Ayers family, whose wealth came from the Burra Burra Copper Mines.

The heritage-listed home, designed by architect Ernst Bayer, sits in gardens that feature conifers Bagot imported. Charles Lane Poole, forestry adviser for the Commonwealth, concluded in the 1940s that these conifers made up the most complete collection in Australia. Held by the family until 2002, the eight-bedroom, seven-bathroom manor on 6ha and 15km from the city was sold for only the second time in its 130-year history to buyers from Wayville. It first sold for $1.65 million.

“Adelaide’s turn of the century trophy homes have held up exceptionally well historically over the past 30 to 40 years as they are exactly what the top-end market craves, which is a piece of history with substantial botanic garden grounds, tennis court, pool and generous accommodation,” Brown says.

Williams Luxury agent Dee-Anne Hunt, who has been selling real estate in the Adelaide Hills for more than two decades, has noticed the percentage of interested interstate buyers increasing during Covid. But she notes that they have to compete with emboldened local buyers. Hunt calculated around 15 to 20 per cent of her sales have been to interstate or overseas buyers over the past year. “This inquiry has continued to grow, with activity in the market I have not seen in 24 years of selling,” she says. Hunt holds the longstanding Hills record, set in 2015 when $5.5 million was paid for the 34ha Balhannah hobby farm estate, Mornington Rise, with a mansion of rammed earth and Kanmantoo stone construction. Hunt secured the $3.9 million sale in April of Ravensview, a Max Pritchard-designed home on Ravenswood Lane.

THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN

| JUNE 12-13, 2021

m Cover story

Melbourne’s St Kilda Road has long held cachet as a premium location for residential abodes, although these days there’s just a handful of houses showing off the wealth from Victoria’s great land boom.

Luxury apartments are all the go on the boulevard, purchased by empty-nester, highworth individuals typically seeking a lock up and leave abode given their second homes and frequent travel, says veteran Kay & Burton agent Gerald Delany. He says there is a diversity of quality. “The most desirable position is considered to be between The Arts Centre and Melbourne Grammar, so the four most highly regarded buildings are The Melburnian, St James, Royal Domain and The Domain. This is reflected in their value.”

Delany notes that recent times have seen the emergence of high-quality apartments around the Toorak village, and to a lesser extent in South Yarra. “We have also seen high-end apartments constructed in the CBD, such as Collins Arch and on Spring Street,” he says. But he still rates St Kilda Road, and over nearly three decades he has purchased and retained five apartments in the neighbourhood.

Delany’s involvement dates back to the off-plan sales sellout at The Domain in 1993/94, in which 100 apartments were priced from $150,250 for one-bedroom units to $525,000 for three bedrooms.

The anticipated delivery of even more luxury has been interrupted recently, first by ongoing issues of supply and demand in the Melbourne market, and more recently by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The latest apartment complexes mark a reversal of the situation in the 1960s and 1970s, during which the grandest of residential mansions were demolished to make way for offices. Over the past decade, St Kilda Road’s office supply has shrunk by 120,000sq m, with Knight Frank pinpointing 1992 as when it peaked.

In 1993, BP House went residential, with Hudson Conway developer boss Lloyd Williams then taking his time to fit out his still-retained luxury 20th-floor penthouse.

Technically at 1 Albert Street, the 1964 building’s transformation was featured in the 2014 book From BP House to The Domain, by architectural commentator Philip Goad.

It had been one of the first office buildings to play muzak in its lifts.

More offices are set to go, but it’s been a staggered transition. No construction has started as yet at Neue Grand, but Growland is committed to its visionary project and demolition of the office block is set for July. The building will have sky garages in all 18 whole-floor apartments and its glass facade is modelled on a crystal whisky bottle. It’s offering the southern hemisphere’s first high-speed car lift, delivering owners’ prized cars to a glass-fronted garage within their apartment.

Two projects are yet to see construction begin, after the owners of dated complexes at 545 and 596 St Kilda Road banded together to sell their landholding to developers.

For a time, UEM Sunrise proposed developing the former police complex at 412 St Kilda Road as Mayfair, a Zaha Hadid-designed project that had secured the sale of 40 per cent of its proposed 152 apartments. It is still an office block, with Damon Krongold of Kay & Burton Project noting that the market was “confronted” by the “incredibly bold and expensive” building design. “Melbourne may not have been ready for such evocative apartment design,” he says, adding that there had been a slowing of the 12

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THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN

| JUNE 12-13, 2021

A sub-penthouse sold during Melbourne’s stage four lockdown, in The Muse development on St Kilda Road

BACK TO THE FUTURE Reversing the trend of the ’60s and ’70s, Melbourne’s St Kilda Road is morphing back into a luxury residential strip S t o r y b y J ONAT H A N C H A NC E L L OR

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Top: Skyhouse atop the New Charsfield, 478 St Kilda Road Above: Apartment in The Lucient at 430 St Kilda Road Below: The Fawkner Residences at 499 St Kilda Road

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market cycle so the project became “the unfortunate casualty of challenged times”. UEM paid $58 million in 2015 and sold out in 2019 for $108 million.

Four years ago, the Fox trucking family secured a planning permit for a 20-storey tower on St Kilda Road to replace the Linfox corporate offices at 493-495 St Kilda Road with an apartment block of 148. Andrew Fox has yet to proceed, ensuring that the strip remains Australia’s 10th largest office precinct.

The planned Fox development, overlooking Fawkner Park, came about when boutique real estate financier Qualitas and LAS Development Group proceeded with the conversion of an L-shaped 1970s high-rise office building next door. Securing permission to go as high as 71.7m at 499, The Fawkner Residences became a luxury $300 million apartment development. There are height limits to protect views of the Shrine of Remembrance, and many apartments also see the face of Wurundjeri elder William Barak across the Yarra on Swanston Street.

There have been recent resales at Fawkner at a loss, from its first floor to the penthouse. A $410,000 sale offloaded a low-rise one-bedroom apartment, without parking, that had sold off the plan in 2016 for $440,000. The two-storey 1802/499 St Kilda Road penthouse was held by the developer, who offloaded it last July for $4.5 million, but it resold for $3.99 million in March.

Veteran agent Rodney Morley, who has been selling on St Kilda Road for four decades, says he has seen an amazing transformation. “Originally there were basically two prestige high-rise residential buildings, Kingstoun at 461 and Parkside at 481 [designed by Myer Music Bowl architect Barry Patten in 1984],” Morley says. Over the decades, he has secured records in the Royal Domain, Metropolis, Kingstoun and Park Central.

Morley believes the attraction of the street derives from its proximity to parks, shopping precincts, transport and schools.

“Vendors of luxury apartments in many cases don’t sell unless they’re moving into aged care, or interstate for business or in search of a warmer climate,” he says. “St Kilda Road buyers are usually dedicated to that location. Alternatives do exist in South Yarra, East Melbourne and Toorak, but with fewer choices.”

The total volume of off the plan sales on the strip and nearby in the year to April was 500 apartments valued at $418 million, according to CoreLogic’s St Kilda Road Citiscope. There were 118 off the plan apartment sales in the previous year, totalling $87 million. One of those was a record-breaking sale of the subpenthouse in The Muse, the tower proposed by Peter Devitt, managing director of construction company L.U. Simon, on the corner of Toorak Road West. It was listed with $21 million hopes, with the sale secured during stage four lockdown by Co-Lab Residential’s Daniel Cashen.

“The concept has been to provide residents with an unparalleled level of quality, service and amenity,” Cashen says.

“This is now truly resonating with buyers.”

The sub-penthouse sale topped the strip’s former record, held

by Devitt, who paid $15 million for the penthouse crowning The Melburnian in 2010 as a birthday present for his wife, Jo. The price equated to about $32,000 per square metre. The Devitts will keep The Muse’s two-level penthouse, which was briefly marketed as a $45 million opportunity with its own billiard room, wine room, gym, pool and steam room. Construction commences in June.

Sales of established apartments saw 380 vendors securing $275 million in the past year, compared to 457 sales totalling $344 million in the year to April 2020. They included a striking apartment at 430 St Kilda Road. The fifth-floor apartment (pictured on the cover) in The Lucient was sold late last year for $2.83 million, having traded two years before that for $2.335 million.

The 224sq m New York loft inspired apartment has three bedrooms and three bathrooms in a house-sized space. The kitchen has a black glass splashback and feature wall with Calacatta kitchen bench. There are Italian weathered bluestone trim tiles in its 35sq m wintergarden overlooking the 1930s Melbourne Synagogue.

The recent selling agent, Brendan Walker at The Agency, subscribes to the adage that “good real estate always sells, no matter what the market is doing”. He sold the 2008-built apartment during a pandemic lockdown without the buyer setting foot inside. “The buyer was satisfied after a number of detailed live walk-throughs via a curated video call,” he says.

Walker, who has been selling on the strip for seven years, rates The Lucient among the buildings held in highest regard, along with Royal Domain Towers and The Melburnian. He says increased inquiry has come from regional Victoria, with buyers wishing to secure a home near the CBD, while interstate interest has softened recently.

“The prestigious buildings see the percentage of owner occupiers being higher than in secondary buildings that have investor-grade apartments in the mix. While there is a large volume of apartments to choose from in the CBD, the prestigious buildings along St Kilda Road offer other advantages. The proximity to Albert Park Lake, Fawkner Park, public transport, St Kilda and the CBD sways buyers towards an apartment along St Kilda Road rather than in the CBD proper. You are only a short tram ride from the sporting hub of the MCG, Rod Laver Arena and AAMI Park.”

The Lucient’s most recent sale, on the 17th floor, was to a Sandy Bay buyer for $2.5 million – down on its $3 million sale price in 2004 but comparable to the three-bedroom apartment’s initial off the plan sale price of $2,427,250 in 2006.

Current listings include the recently completed Skyhouse atop the New Charsfield, listed with $10 million to $11 million hopes through Marshall White Port Phillip listing agent Nicholas Hoo. The apartment, on the 18th level at 478 St Kilda Road, has 430sq m of internal space plus 410sq m of landscaped gardens designed by Lisa Ellis. The vendors fitted out the interior and garden over the past year, having bought the property for $6.34 million in 2016. Hoo expects strong interest from “locals who are already sold on the lifestyle”.

The $140 million New Charsfield project was a collaboration between designers Rothelowman, Hecker Guthrie and Jack Merlo for the developer EBG Developments, aka the Ever Bright Group, and includes 104 Quest serviced apartments.

The historic Charsfield mansion, designed by Charles Webb in 1889, looks resplendent in all white and is now the residents’ lounge, library and gym. It also has private dining facilities. With its Italianate form, it is the oldest home standing on St Kilda Road.

Webb, who arrived in Melbourne from London in 1849, set up an architecture and surveyor partnership at Brighton with his brother. His commissions included the nearby Melbourne Grammar in the 1850s and Wesley in the 1860s.

The last mansion to remain a residence, Landene, a Queen Anne home on a 1054sq m block, was bought in 2019 for $8.25 million by Michael and Sally-Anne Hains. It was owned by the Postmaster General’s Department between 1949 and 1992, when it was sold for $800,000. Tea merchant McHenry England, who was also a director of the Shamrock Brewery, and his wife Gertrude built the grand home in 1897.

Among other mansions with non-residential usages is The Willows at 462, a former wedding venue now a tea room, sold by the Aswani family after 23 years’ ownership for $7.26 million to pub baron Mazen Tabet. Built in the late classical boom style, the 987sq m holding previously sold in 1997 for $800,000.

THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN

| JUNE 12-13, 2021

Christie’s International Real Estate now in Melbourne

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Dolly Lenz

Local aspect

WITH JENNY LENZ CASTRAN

John Castran If Covid has been good for regional real estate, it has been even better for Victorian alpine real estate. In my 40 years I have never seen such velocity. For example, the sales at Mt Buller in the past 14 months have been higher than those of the previous 10 years combined. Mt Hotham has been a little more subdued, while sales within the Dinner Plain village have been frenetic. Mt Buller is the only mountain that is developing a significant new product of two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments. A good two-bedroom at Buller is now in the $800,000 to $1.2 million range, a good three-bedroom $1.45 million to $2.1 million, and four-bedroom apartments and freestanding chalets from $3.2 million to $4.5 million. The increase in prices is in the order of 30-40 per cent over the past 13 months. Whitehorse, the recent historic land release by the Grollo Group at Mt Buller, resulted in 11 out of 14 allotments being sold for an average $1.2 million. These 200sq m sites will accommodate a three-bedroom free-standing cabin with parking. Grollo will soon release the Kooroora West development. Off the plan sales are strong at Buller in the Evokes complex. Two recent club lodge sales at Mt Buller included historic Mulligatawny, which sold for $1.18 million.

Winterbrook Ski Lodge was on the market for just two weeks.

SOTHEBY’S INTERNATIONAL QUEENSTOWN, NZ

Matt Finnigan A chalet in the mountain village of Zermatt in the Swiss Alps is the epitome of cool design SNOW VILLAGES

Pinnacle of opulence When considering the world’s top luxury real estate markets, typically the ones that come to mind are cosmopolitan cities or famed beach communities that rank among the premier destinations for the ultra-high net worth (UHNW) set. However, often overlooked as market leaders yet just as luxurious as city and beach communities are the world’s foremost snow villages. With real estate prices in these exclusive towns as high as the nearby peaks, buyers willing to pay for the ultimate ski retreat demand a level of luxury that can exceed anything found off mountain.

Luxury consumers love to take advantage of all four seasons and engage in activities that the change of weather affords. So when the flakes start to fly they migrate en masse to mountain towns across the globe. While they are there to mainly enjoy the ruggedness and rustic nature of these destinations, luxury consumers also want to stay in high style – which presents a unique opportunity to incorporate the natural elements of the surroundings into the design of their properties.

Commonly found architectural components at top ski chalets are soaring ceilings that mimic the open skies and exterior elevation, as well as floor-to-ceiling windows to frame the sweeping views and create a link between indoors and outdoors.

Interior finishes are as luxurious as the architectural details, with consumers going to great lengths to incorporate materials native to the locale. Hand-carved logs and extensive natural stonework are two of the most common elements designers incorporate.

Luxury consumers also want over-the-top amenities in their mountain chalets. After a long day on the slopes it’s hard to beat returning home to rejuvenate and warm up in your personal spa – which is why in-home sauna and steam rooms and indoor/ outdoor heated pools have become required amenities in any true luxury property. For entertainment when it gets too cold outside, 16

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many homes have Hollywood-inspired home theatres, game rooms and even indoor bowling alleys.

As the popularity of skiing and snow sports continues to grow among the UHNW crowd, so will the snow villages that host them.

The setting might be far removed from their primary residence but that doesn’t have to mean sacrificing luxury accommodation. In fact demand will help push the level of luxury to even greater heights.

Dolly Lenz heads up New York-based Dolly Lenz Real Estate and has sold well over $US13 billion worth of luxury US and international homes. Jenny Lenz is managing director of Dolly Lenz Real Estate. dollylenz.com

Inquiry and purchases from Australians continued throughout 2020. We have seen a spike recently as the transTasman bubble has opened. Despite many examples of sightunseen transactions, the fact that buyers can land here, physically visit and “feel” a property, has made a big difference. The pending ski season and open borders have injected fresh confidence across all price points, particularly for those who missed the annual Japan pilgrimage. Recently we have had a lift in higher dollar value inquiry – $10 millionplus – from Australia. Historically we have always banked on Australians buying managed apartments and stand-alone residential property in the centre of town. What we are seeing now is buyers having a mentality like a local. Some are positioning in sunny and less hectic locations further from town but closer to, say, a golf course or a ski field. Newly built, good quality, semi-detached apartments are fetching $NZ10,000 to $12,000 per sq m ($9300-$11,200).

FORBES STYNES REAL ESTATE

Michelle Stynes & Craig Moore The number of sales so far this year in the Snowy Mountains is similar to what was achieved in the whole of 2020. This demonstrates that there is not a particular lack of stock, as is commonly perceived, but lots of cash around. So in line with property markets all over Australia the average price has moved up in the Snowy Mountains by more than 25 per cent.

When listings do become available they are sold very quickly.

This is where the price pressure is coming from. We have not sold a property under $400,000 for a long time. The average sale price this calendar year is $1.9 million, up from $1.05 million in 2019. There are no new developments/chalets available. Accommodation bookings this year are up 58 per cent on previous years, excluding 2020, which was the nastiest year ever. Bookings are sitting at 98 per cent occupancy across all managements. A Thredbo studio in July costs between $475 and $1000 a night, depending on position and parking, and a chalet between $2000 and $8000.

THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN

| JUNE 12-13, 2021

EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

3 LINDSAY AVENUE, DARLING POINT

For all prearranged appointments,

This 6 BDR, 5+ CAR absolute waterfront, approx. 2396m2 estate, with exquisite harbour views, at the very tip of the enviable

please phone or email

Darling Point peninsula, is a rare find. Infinity pool, heated spa & poolside terrace kiss the harbour. Glass-fronted, level living

alison@alisoncoopes.com 0419 433 229

& dining create an awe-inspiring sense of openness. Boat shed, jetty, gym, a slipway, home office, wine cellar & self-contained 1-2 bedroom guest house and separate freestanding gym. Whole floor entertaining suite. Elegant limestone terraces & beautifully manicured lawns. Flawless interiors, world class luxury. All levels serviced by internal lift.

“One of the most significant waterfronts in Australia.”

– Alison Coopes

Eastern Prime Pty Ltd, trading as Agency by Alison Coopes does not warrant the information provided in this advertisement for this property to be correct. We are not licensed valuers and the buyer’s should rely on their own due diligence with regards to recent sales and or advertising promotional material in relation to this property.

Raby Bay S t o r y b y J ONAT H A N C H A NC E L L OR

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Clockwise from far left: 32 Sentinel Court, Raby Bay; 67 Masthead Drive, Raby Bay; 25 Seacrest Court, Raby Bay; Connaught House, 11 Grenoble Place, Raby Bay; 26a Empire Vista, Ormiston; 9 Marram Court, Raby Bay

Bayside beckoning

A luxury canal estate has surged in popularity among wealthy buyers who’d rather sport shorts and thongs than suits and ties

Local agents say that anything on the water is premium at Queensland’s Raby Bay canal locality, within the Moreton Bay region and about 30km east of Brisbane’s CBD. The upmarket estate has just 18 canal-fronting streets and is now on the radar of prestige buyers. It has seen sales as high as $8.5 million when the former home of Savage Garden musician Daniel Jones sold, setting the record for the bayside precinct last year. Settlement is due this month.

The home on 32 Sentinel Court was designed in 2004 for Jones, one of Queensland’s favourite sons, who sold it for $5.8 million in 2006, just before the delayed onset of the Global Financial Crisis.

The sale price went backwards post-GFC, to $4.96 million in 2013. The home underwent a major renovation in 2016 which helped boost its popularity with buyers when contracts were exchanged last August by McGrath Bayside agent Pam Neilson.

The five-bedroom, five-bathroom home sits on 2325sq m, and has a pavilion, a waterfall pool, spa, marina and beachfront views.

The house, with 695sq m internal space, features a study, library, music room and a media room.

Neilson, who has been selling in the area for two decades, says that Raby Bay has seen a boom since Covid hit, driven by local, interstate and overseas buying. She says more than 90 per cent of homes are owner-occupied.

Last month Neilson secured another big money sale on Grenoble Place – of the five-bedroom, waterfront Connaught House, at 11 Grenoble Place, which fetched $4.35 million. The home, which Neilson marketed as a “private sanctuary of comfort and opulence”, sits on 2480sq m with Japanese-style gardens, a floodlit tennis court and umpire gazebo. Waterfront facilities include a 33m quay line and 20m pontoon on the main canal. The property last sold for $3.4 million in 2005 and had been marketed twice in the interim but failed to sell.

Two years ago, the street record was set just a few doors down when a waterfront mansion built in 2008 sold for $4.65 million.

“The lifestyle Raby Bay offers for families, professionals and retirees makes it a very enviable location,” says Neilson, noting there’s a train service to Brisbane’s CBD and the airport is only 35 minutes away.

There has been an increase in buyers in the 35- to 45-year-old age group over the past year. The two main drivers were retirees downsizing or moving in with family, and current occupiers looking to upgrade.

Of the 900 homes, the most sought-after Raby Bay locations are those closer to the bay entrance, according to Mike Henderson, national director of residential at the valuation firm Acumentis. It is not a postcode of its own, technically sitting in either the Ormiston or Cleveland mainland postcodes. Henderson says these streets make for a quick boat ride to enter Moreton Bay. Their homes tend to be north-facing outlooking the water as opposed to others that look across the water to another house.

“Buyers are now looking for the better blocks with the original houses so they can demolish and rebuild,” Henderson says. “Many of the houses were built in the 1990s and improvements add little in the way of value.

“There has been very little press over the past 12 months about

this location, with all the news on Byron Bay, Noosa Heads and the really trendy locations.” Henderson says the starting point at Raby Bay is now $1.5 million, for the least preferred blocks with a narrow quay line. “The main range would be $1.5 million to $3 million, although it’s pushing above $3 million now,” he says.

He notes that traditionally the price range above $3 million had been a difficult one in which to move property. This year has seen seven sales over $2 million, compared with three by the same time last year and one in 2019.

Henderson says that Raby Bay is “definitely influenced by what goes on on the Brisbane riverfront and will generally follow behind any pick-up in market activity in the riverfront”.

“Depending on market conditions, it could be 12 months, but probably not so much this market cycle as everything picked up so quickly,” he says.

The upper-quartile home prices across Ormiston are up around 13 per cent over the past 12 months, according to CoreLogic, boosted by around 5 per cent of sales over the most recent quarter being over $2 million. It’s been the most active three months since late 2018 for the price bracket.

Emil Juresic recently secured a sale on Seacrest Court, Raby Bay, in less than 24 hours for $2.4 million. The owners had purchased it for $1.4 million in 2017 and no renovation had been done, Juresic at NGU Real Estate says.

Former McGrath agent Joseph Lordi, who co-sold the recordsetting $8.25 million house alongside Neilson, says Raby Bay has benefited from the reduced need for the office commute.

“Buyers more so now are seeking the luxury lifestyle Raby Bay has to offer as being close to the CBD is becoming less relevant as time goes on,” says Lordi, who recently founded his own agency, Chapter Estates Group. “We find that in the prestige market, buyers are astute entrepreneurs or at the helm of a corporation they work for,” he adds.

Lordi told Brisbane paper The Courier Mail that he eschews expensive suits for a more casual look: chinos and a collared shirt, jacket optional. “I feel that wearing a $3000 suit is a bit over the top,” he says. “When I turn up to a client’s house they are usually wearing shorts and thongs, so there’s no need to be extravagant.”

Lordi recently sold a 2001-built home on Masthead Drive for $2.2 million. The six-bedroom home has a 17m rear waterline.

There was also the sale of a rare Mediterranean-style Marram Court home, which fetched $2.42 million having been marketed for just over a month. He also recently saw a 2015-built Hamptonsstyle home at 26a Empire Vista overlooking the bay go under contract, price undisclosed.

Originally, the Raby Bay development involved Leighton Contractors turning mangrove swamps and mud flats into 75ha of residential canal land, following years of opposition from the residents starting in the late 1960s. It was completed in stages over 15 years. After the development was officially opened in 1984 by the premier, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, initial prices ranged from $69,500 to $98,500.

Some 3.2 million cubic metres of soil were excavated in the creation of the canals and 3.7 million cubic metres used to reclaim land from the sea to create the estate, which was completed in 1991.

Upper North Shore

Top row: 10 Nyora Street, Killara; 34 The Chase Road, Turramurra Bottom row: 10 Nyora Street, 8 Nyora Street, 8 Nyora Street, 34 The Chase Road

J ONAT H A N C H A NC E L L OR

Greatest hits for golden oldies Local buyers are seeking homes with character and history, and plenty of land for their families As with most prestige residential markets across Sydney, the Covid-19 pandemic prompted a brief but memorable pause on the Upper North Shore last year, as listings declined sharply and trophy homes were withdrawn from sale.

But Sydney’s Upper North Shore (UNS) prestige market has performed strongly throughout 2021, with low supply, met with strong demand, resulting in shorter marketing periods.

Pontons’ valuer Andrew Tunbridge notes that many suburb and street record sales were secured over the past year.

“As the pandemic was closing in, and during the worst of it, the volume of prestige sales slowed; however they were still transacting at fair values,” he says. The market then found another gear as demand soared, increasing values markedly.

“We have seen the UNS prestige sector go from strength to strength, with limited stock, high demand and record low interest rates fuelling the market,” HTW valuer Matt Greenland says. The UNS performance was “on par” with prestige markets on the Lower North Shore and the eastern suburbs, he says. “There was no significant price decline … The market essentially went into a holding pattern as both vendors and purchasers waited to see what the economic impact of the pandemic would be.”

The market saw a $6.3 million sale of a prestige Killara property in April last year to an expatriate who had viewed it from Taipei via FaceTime. That confirmed to Greenland that prestige properties could be transacted in the new Covid environment. By 20

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last spring the already significantly improved market saw the sale of a Lindfield home for $11.5 million within three weeks of listing.

While the prestige buyer demographic mix has changed, expatriate buyers have returned in sufficient numbers to offset the previously strong Asian buyers. The offshore Chinese market requiring FIRB approval has disappeared and some buyers have made the decision to return to China. Scott Farquhar at the McConnell Bourn agency calculates around 65 per cent of prestige homes are being sold to local buyers.

“We are seeing more inquiry from expats but there has not been a flurry of them buying swiftly – it’s not the same as it was prior to the GFC back in 2006/2007,” says Farquhar. He describes the market as “very robust”, with his most recent standout transaction being the pre-market sale of a five-bedroom, extended Federation home at 43 Greengate Road, Killara, for well over $7 million (the price was withheld). Farquhar points out that of the 30 most expensive homes sold in Killara, 11 were heritage. “Heritage homes used to have a negative stigma for many buyers. This is now changing as buyers appreciate the character and history.”

Farquhar sold a $7.1 million heritage trophy home in Killara last month. The 1920s Arts and Crafts-style home had been renovated under the guidance of Lindsay Little architects. The five-bedroom residence sits on 1429sq m at 8 Nyora Street, in the Killara High School catchment zone, and last traded for

$3.85 million in 2014. It ranked as Killara’s ninth house sale above $5 million this year, compared with 16 last year and seven in 2019. 10 Nyora has since been listed. While the UNS is known for its leafy streets, cafes, and village atmosphere, Farqhuar says housing there is especially about schooling. “Larger homes in leafy neighbourhoods help the desirability of our area but hands down it’s kids’ schooling that is the main driver for buyers.”

Ray White agent Anna Cavill sold a timeless French Provincial-inspired residence at 34 The Chase Road, Turramurra, for $4.12 million, with the buyer keen on the school catchment.

Lynette Malcolm at Chadwick Real Estate, who kicked off 2021 with the $7.42 million sale of a single-storey refurbished 1960s home in Ku-ring-gai Avenue, Turramurra, to a Hong Kong expat, notes that one of the enduring aspects of the UNS has been its heritage homes, most of them tightly held.

Malcolm and colleague William Zhang are selling 8 Fern Street, Pymble, which, since it was built in 1903, has had three owners. The home has 3838sq m of parklike grounds, a north/ south tennis court and a pool. Malcolm says the most popular homes are on large parcels of land of 3000sq m and above.

“Quite a few owners now want home offices and larger internal floorplans to accommodate spending more time at home,” she says. “They often pay a premium for their heritage uniqueness.” By contrast, young families and Asian buyers make up the strongest representation in the market for new houses.

THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN

| JUNE 12-13, 2021

Brand New Modern Marvel with 200 Degrees of Coastline Views!

A monument to master-crafted modern living and entertaining beckons atop the exclusive Chesterfield Drive precinct with this brand new residence of distinction. Draped against the backdrop of 200 degrees of picture-perfect panoramas, savour views stretching from Bilambil to Casuarina, the Tweed and Coolangatta through to Broadbeach, Surfers Paradise and beyond on this 42.5 acre paradise.

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327 Chesterfield Drive, Bonogin Price: Expression of Interest Scott Keatley 0408 387 330 scott.keatley@qldsir.com

www.queenslandsothebysrealty.com

Gold Coast

Main picture: Soul penthouse, Surfers Paradise.

Bottom row: Soul interior; Beach House at Broadbeach; Dune Main Beach

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The recent $15.25 million auction of the 73rd-floor Soul penthouse has highlighted the Gold Coast’s comeback. Agent Tolemy Stevens of Harcourts Coastal secured the bullish sale of the fourlevel Surfers Paradise apartment, which sold as a concrete shell in 2018 for $6.5 million and then underwent a $7 million fitout.

And while most of the latest fast-tracked apartment projects on the Gold Coast aren’t as towering or expansive as the fourlevel Soul offering, the demand for apartments, both high and low, is at a peak. There has been a noticeable pivot from the Gold Coast being mostly about investors holding short-stay tourist apartments to the current wave of buyers keen for an owneroccupier residential abode, some staying full time and others seeing it as their bolthole for a sizeable part of the year.

The lockdown mayhem in other states helped shine a light on the apartment opportunities on the Gold Coast, with new residential cranes on the skyline including at Luna Apartments at Burleigh Heads, Elan By Mosaic at Coolangatta, Bilinga’s Perspective and Natura, Burleigh Heads.

Knight Frank recently calculated that the Gold Coast accounted for 26 per cent of apartment sales between $3 million and $5 million across the past three years among prime residential sales, followed by Brisbane with 22 per cent and Sydney with 21 per cent. The market boom that has extended into 2021 sees the dominant demographic of local owner-occupiers upsizing or downsizing, but estate agents agree the surge in sales has been helped by southerners. The traditional Christmas trip north has seen many focus on their desire to acquire an apartment.

From the southern tip of the Gold Coast, where the Awaken penthouse sold for $8.15 million, up through the more traditionally popular locations from Surfers Paradise to 22

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The coast is clear

A desire for prestige apartments at the beach is driving demand higher Southport, these southern buyers have shown a keenness for whole-floor apartments. Close observer Steve Hunt notes buyers often sell homes in Sydney and Melbourne for between $2 million and $4 million. “That enables them to buy a one per floor or two per floor luxury apartment on the beachfront,” he says.

Last December’s initial offering set the tone for what was to come in 2021 when Miles Residences, the redevelopment of the Kirra Beach Hotel in Coolangatta, secured 1000 inquiries to Keenan & Co agent Tim Keenan. The apartments in the initial offering sold for an average price of $1.6 million, almost a quarter of them to interstate buyers. KTQ Group is building 118 apartments and now advising that 80 per cent have been sold.

The Rothelowman-designed Dune Main Beach, which consists of 13 apartments across 15 floors, has been marketed by

Andrews Projects as catering for the prestige owner-occupier.

Interstate buyers were strongly present. Some 50 per cent of the apartments, situated at 3513 Main Beach Parade, have sold, with construction already under way with Hutchinson Builders.

Completion is anticipated in late 2022.

Andrews Projects are also marketing Beach House Broadbeach, 12 apartments across 14 floors with a full floor of amenities on the rooftop, including pool, gym, spa, sauna and residents’ lounge. Each beachfront apartment is 262sq m in total and has natural stone finishes, Miele appliances, and view corridors to the ocean and Broadbeach skyline. The first nine apartments sold after less than six weeks on the market. Construction begins this month aiming for a late-2022 completion.

The Beach House Broadbeach at 4 Australia Avenue has been designed by Brisbane-based architects bureau^proberts, with apartments priced from $2.95 million.

Following the sellout of its Chevron Island apartment development The Catalina, developer Marquee Development Partners unveiled its latest project One Cannes, selling some 65 per cent of apartments in 10 days of its April launch with more than $55 million worth of sales. The Plus Architecture-designed tower, which will have 78 two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments, is Marquee’s second on Cannes Avenue. One Cannes will replace a single dwelling on its prestige Nerang River site.

Marquee also has Shoreline, set between Surfers and Broadbeach. There are just two apartments per floor in the tower of 27 apartments. Plus there’s a two-level penthouse. Shoreline sales director Azura Griffen says the apartments are what buyers want when downsizing without sacrificing amenity. They get the facilities of a six-star hotel, Griffen says, in the $80 million project.

THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN

| JUNE 12-13, 2021

The Sails at Garners Beach, SOHO meets oceanfront living With the aesthetics of a SOHO art gallery, The Sails at Garners Beach is an oceanfront residence secluded by tropical rainforest and located in the Butterfly Capital of Australia. Positioned on one acre of landscaped grounds, the 479 sqm hilltop home is steps away from an almost private beach. The Sails at Garners Beach is walk-in ready as a primary home or holiday retreat.

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‘The Sails at Garners Beach’ 50 Holt Road, Garner Beach Price: $2,650,000 Barbara Wolveridge 0418 760 004 barbara.wolveridge@qldsir.com Lynn Malone 0408 772 880 lynn.malone@qldsir.com

www.queenslandsothebysrealty.com

Has the Time Come to Escape the City?

Or create a dream business or family retreat in a world-class resort destination?

These days the Hollywood-esque Byron Bay on the east coast of Australia is the most sought-after global real estate market, and to find the jewel in the crown is a rarity. Once built the approved cafe can host a myriad of functions including multiple disciplinary schools, special occasions, farming workshops, wellness retreats, or as a hipster hangout destined as the “in” place to be...

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‘Tooraloo Estate’ 81 Myocum Rd, Ewingsdale, Byron Bay Price: Contact Agent Dominique Williams 0437 140 479 dominique.williams@qldsir.com

www.queenslandsothebysrealty.com

Fingal Head icon A world-class oceanfront home Start with 1,518sqm of oceanfront land buffered by native bush leading to two worldfamous surf beaches directly accessible and steps away. Next, add a modern trilevel six-bedroom plus study family home oozing with outstanding quality, multiple living areas indoors and out with a resort-style swimming pool that invites fun and entertaining. Top it off with uninterrupted views up a spectacular coastline. Put it all together then say hello to 34-36 Queen Street, Fingal Head.

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34-36 Queen St, Fingal Head Price: Contact Agent Dominique Williams 0437 140 479 dominique.williams@qldsir.com Paul Arthur 0466 776 700 paul.arthur@qldsir.com

www.queenslandsothebysrealty.com

Manhattan duplex

Chelsea factory A small pocket of central London that was home to England’s first porcelain factory almost 300 years ago is now the site of a boutique residential development that includes a newly listed £9 million ($16 million) townhouse.

The eclectic home in Chelsea, nestled between the famous King’s Road – the cradle of some of London’s most iconic fashion movements – and the River Thames, has hit the market with listing agencies Knight Frank and JLL. The development on the former Chelsea Porcelain Factory site comprises four apartments and two townhouses, with one townhouse already selling off the plan, according to the project’s developer, Martin’s Properties.

Known as Sprimont House, after Nicholas Sprimont, the first director of the factory, the remaining townhouse “is a modern interpretation of a traditional Chelsea townhouse flooded with natural light, space and inclusion of luxuries”, .

The townhouse, which spans four floors, has interiors designed by the London-based firm Andrew Martin. It has four bedrooms, an elevator, and a kitchen, dining and living room wrapped around an interior courtyard.

Plus there’s an “eclectic” basement floor that serves as a vibrant entertainment space.

The four full-floor apartments that are also within the development each have two bedrooms, bespoke fitted kitchens and wide-plank wood floors.

The plot was the site of the Chelsea Porcelain Factory from 1745 until the 1780s.

LIZ LUCKING

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MANSIONAUSTRALIA.COM.AU

A 17-room Manhattan duplex owned by a member of the wealthy Rothschild family was listed for $US20 million ($26 million) in May. Located at River House on East 52nd Street, one of New York’s most well-known co-op buildings, the six-bedroom, seven-bathroom residence is spread over the 18th and 19th floors and has views of the East River and the New York City skyline.

The seller is Lynn Forester de Rothschild, the wife of billionaire financier and descendant of one of the most famous European banking dynasties, Sir Evelyn de Rothschild. She is the chief executive of E.L. Rothschild, a family investment company.

The duplex has been on and off the market since early 2019, when it was listed for $22.5 million.

The price was dropped to $17.5 million, but it did not sell. Ms Forester de Rothschild, 66, has owned the property for about 20 years. She hired the California-based designer Michael Smith, who redecorated the Obama White House, to create the interiors.

The co-op boasts close to 50 windows, many looking out on the East River. High ceilings, wood floors and decorative moulding can also be found throughout the unit, which features a great room, a library, a chef’s kitchen, a formal dining room, office space, sun room with south-facing terraces and a garden room. Upstairs, the primary bedroom suite features a sitting room and dual bathrooms and dressing rooms. There’s also a second kitchen.

The River Club, a health club with squash and tennis courts, pool, gym and bar and dining area, is on the lower levels.

V.L. HENDRICKSON

Baroque villa in Prague This charming Baroque villa was built in 1602 by the renowned Bavarian architect Christoph Dientzenhofer, known for his work on the nearby St Nicholas Church and Brevnov Monastery and is for sale for €8 million ($12.5 million).

It was originally built as a private home, but also served at various times as the gateway to the Lazar Gardens and as a blacksmith’s forge, and underwent several late-Baroque and neo-classical modifications, according to listing agent Jan Mraz.

The house was again renovated in the 1950s, 2013 and 2018.

Emphasis was placed on carefully refurbishing historical elements, while transforming it into a stately family villa.

Known as Hellichova Villa, it presents a unique residential opportunity in Prague’s Old Town.

“You have your own spacious garden and four parking spaces, which is uncommon for a historic property in such good condition,” Mraz says.

The villa has four bedrooms spread over three storeys, solid oak floors and marble bathroom tiles, as well as a fully equipped kitchen with Gaggenau appliances and a granite countertop.

There is also a characterful wine cellar with exposed stone walls and a wine bar at the basement level, and a secondfloor terrace.

Hellichova Villa is located in the heart of the picturesque Lesser Town, or Mala Strana, quarter of Prague, just a few steps from Kampa and the Certovka branch of the Vltava River.

JONELLE MANNION

THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN

| JUNE 12-13, 2021

Artist’s Impression. *Price correct as at 04.06.21

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CHEVRON ONE RESIDENCES MINUTES MINUTES FROM FROM THE THE BEACH BEACH BUT BUT AA WORLD WORLD AWAY AWAY

Step Stepinside insidethe thedecadent decadentopen-plan open-planlobby lobbywhere whereaaconcierge concierge welcomes welcomesyou youhome; home;walk walkthrough throughtotothe thesun-drenched sun-drenchedpool pool deck deckororrelax relaxininthe thepeaceful peacefulyoga yogaand andsculpture sculpturegarden garden–– you youhave havearrived arrivedatatChevron ChevronOne OneResidences, Residences,where whereyou youare are minutes minutesfrom fromthe thebeach beachbut butaaworld worldaway. away.

Located Locatedon onChevron ChevronIsland, Island,the thenewest newestluxury luxuryresidential residential development developmenton onthe theGold GoldCoast, Coast,due duetotobe becompleted completedmid-2023, mid-2023, will willbecome becomean aniconic iconicaddress addresselevating elevatingresort-style resort-styleliving livingtotoaa new newpinnacle. pinnacle.Offering Offeringtwo, two,three threeand andfour-bedroom four-bedroomapartments, apartments, sub-penthouse sub-penthouseand and1700sqm 1700sqmpenthouse, penthouse,the thedevelopment development by byBensons BensonsProperty PropertyGroup Groupintroduces introducesaaway wayofofliving livingthat thatisis

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BENSONS PROPERTY GROUP ADVERTISING FEATURE

and luxury. And ducted airconditioning will provide comfort all year.

The apartments on this exclusive island residence are so prized, the group chairman and founder of Bensons Property Group has retained three full floors for himself and his family, giving this development the ultimate seal of approval.

But the apartments are just one element of the attractive five-star lifestyle package at Chevron One. The unique development features an exclusive escape for residences with the Club One resort-style amenities creating a peaceful oasis that is just minutes from bustling Surfers Paradise.

Spanning close to 2000sqm, you will be greeted by the 24-hour concierge on the ground floor before walking through to the stylish indoor lounge and dining area that can be used for entertaining. Beyond this, you will find the pool lounge which opens out onto a sundeck surrounding the large outdoor pool. Enjoy a drink in the sun while you read the latest bestseller or chill out listening to your favourite podcast – the exclusive resort-like space is sure to create a constant holiday state of mind.

On the other side of the pool is the yoga and sculpture garden, a private little oasis where you can find some peace as you meditate, stretch, do some yoga and welcome the day ahead.

On level one, you will find a state-of-the-art gym and sauna.

Also on this level is an indoor lap pool, perfect for incorporating lap training into your exercise regime. And a second sundeck can be found on this level providing multiple spaces to relax and enjoy the sunshine the Gold Coast is so famous for.

All of this exists just minutes from the vibrant streets of busy Surfers Paradise, a mecca for tourists who come for the world - famous beaches, shopping, restaurants and entertainment.

A bridge just minutes from Chevron One will put you in the heart of Surfers Paradise, close to the beaches and connected to the city via the Gold Coast Light Rail. Stage three of this transport hub will see eight new stations added extending the line from Broadbeach to Burleigh Heads and then onto Gold Coast Airport and Coolangatta.

At the other end of Chevron Island is the Green Bridge, a pedestrian and cycle path completed in 2020 connecting

island residents to a vibrant and growing arts community based around the Home of the Arts (HOTA). This cultural precinct will feature artistic programs, markets, festivals, cinemas and family recreation.

Apartments at Chevron One Residences will range from 132sqm to 1700sqm and will be priced from $705,000 to $12 million. Display suites are located at 42 Stanhill Drive, Surfers Paradise and 96 Toorak Rd, South Yarra in Melbourne.

To find out more call 0418 766 997 CHEVRONONE.COM.AU

911/280 Albert Street, East Melbourne

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$9,000,000 - $9,900,000 Directly opposite Fitzroy Gardens this stunning 348sqm approx sub penthouse offers world class luxury and lifestyle with spectacular views over Fitzroy Gardens to the CBD. Globally sourced interiors with multiple living areas, 36m park frontage on the 186sqm approx entertaining terrace, fully appointed butler’s pantry/second kitchen, 4 car garage, unparalleled resident amenities with the best of Melbourne’s culture, sport and dining at your doorstep.

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“Golf’s Golden Triangle” As land in treasured sea-side locations becomes rarer by the minute, then imagine a quiet court in Barwon Heads, with a walk way onto the golf course & just minutes from the village – cafes, restaurants, a great pub, safe swimming along the Barwon River or the challenge of some of the best surf breaks along the famous 13th Beach.

“Barwon Heads continues to thrive with sale prices exceeding expectations every year and the availability of properties decreasing .

This pocket of the golf club precinct is the most sought after location and recent exceptional sales including 2-4 Stephens Parade support this”, says local agent Peter Molloy of RT Edgar. www.rtedgar.com

The opportunity at Humble Street offers so many options.

An existing 3 bedroom home and bungalow occupies lots 2 & 3, & lot 4 is vacant.

The lots are available individually or an astute purchaser may take the opportunity to use an existing concept for 3 new stunning houses designed by architect Russell Barrett.

“Each residence is 4 bedrooms & designed for indoor / outdoor living maximising the northern orientation. Each has a 2 car garage and room for a pool in a beautiful protected garden setting” says Barrett.

View to club house & 13th beach

www.russellbarrett.com.au

For further details & copy of the concept contact Peter Molloy of RT Edgar on +61 417 558 205.

Barwon Heads - Riverfront

Barwon Heads - 7th Hole & Clubhouse

Lots 2, 3, Fore!

Adjoining Famous Barwon Heads Golf Course.

Lots 2, 3 & 4 | 8-12 Humble Street, Barwon Heads

~ Unlimited potential – there’s an existing home on Lots 2/3 – or there’s a scheme for 3 knock-out new homes – or start again & build the Beach (golf) home of a lifetime (STCA). ~ And there’s nothing “humble” about the location! – direct access to the course, 250m to centre of the village, the surf & the river mouth.

Sea change anyone?

For Sale by Expressions Of Interest Peter Molloy 0417 558 205 peterm@rtedgarbellarine.com.au

Candace Smith 0437 333 349 candaces@rtedgarbellarine.com.au

NICK JOHNSTONE

your personal agent

1/42 Carpenter Street, Brighton VILLA STELLA – Private and Prestigious Residence in Prime Position.

This elevated ground floor residence offers three bedrooms, two bathrooms, powder room and large study that opens out to a sunlight courtyard. Presenting a unique indoor/ outdoor living experience, spacious open-plan entertaining with fireplace and an expansive entertainers terrace complete with a fixed gas supply for a BBQ. The kitchen is beautifully appointed with porcelain benches, extended veneer joinery and Miele appliances including electric and steam oven, induction hot plates and a stunning floor to ceiling glass walled wine cellar. Further features include oak timber flooring, individually zoned cooling/heating to all rooms and areas, basement parking for two cars and private in-house lift for direct secure access to the apartment. Utterly unique, ‘Villa Stella’ is a high quality development by a known and experienced builder ensuring every detail, from the great design to the luxurious finishes, is exceptional. Inspect today!

nickjohnstone.com.au

AUCTION

AGENTS

Saturday 26 June at 11.00am unless sold prior

Nick Johnstone 0414 276 871

248 Esplanade, Brighton

|

Joe Doyle

0435 937 864

96-98 Station Street, Sandringham

p. 9553 8300

kayburton.com.au

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ALLURE BEACH HOUSE RESIDENCE 1 Northcliffe Terrace, Surfers Paradise QLD 4217 PRIVATE BEACHFRONT | ONE OF A KIND Simply the best, this breathtaking beachfront home is like no other.

Private and secure this 4 bedroom ensuite plus study/media residence with your own private pool, spa and beachfront garden is a must to inspect.

Superbly appointed with highest quality finishes throughout, this 555m2 luxury full floor penthouse styled beach house apartment will take your breath away.

Genuine vendor has given instructions to sell this amazing one of a kind property on or prior to closing of the EOI.

Inspect: By Private Appointment Expressions of Interest closing: 8 July 2021 5pm (unless sold prior) Russell Rollington 0412 898 129 Bob Rollington 0411 427 311 Rob Rollington 0400 780 339

55 55 GARFIELD GARFIELD DRIVE, DRIVE, PADDINGTON PADDINGTON

Proudly Proudly positioned positioned on on the the highest highest and and

adorned adorned with with striking striking period period features features

most most prestigious prestigious street street in in Paddington Paddington

and and showcasing showcasing elegant elegant formal formal zones zones this this

and and spanning spanning over over 700m 700m of of east east facing facing

beautiful beautiful home home encompasses encompasses expansive expansive

'ROCKINGHAM' 'ROCKINGHAM' A A TRULY TRULY UNIQUE UNIQUE OFFERING OFFERING

excellence, excellence, ‘Rockingham’ ‘Rockingham’ retains retains all all the the

open open plan plan living living and and generous generous bedroom bedroom

grandeur grandeur and and charm charm of of its its period period 1930’s 1930’s

accommodation. accommodation. Sliding Sliding doors doors open open out out

build build enhanced enhanced by by aa superb superb architectural architectural

to to the the vast vast balcony, balcony, overlooking overlooking aa superb superb

extension extension and and all all the the necessities necessities for for luxury luxury

pool pool with with manicured manicured gardens gardens and and aa front front

family family living. living. Grandly Grandly proportioned, proportioned, interiors interiors

row row position position that that can can never never be be built built out. out.

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Stately Stately 1930’s 1930’s masterpiece masterpiece located located on on aa blue blue chip chip site site

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Coveted Coveted Brisbane Brisbane address address with with two two street street frontages frontages

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Paddington Paddington landmark landmark enjoying enjoying an an unsurpassed unsurpassed vista vista with with 180 180 degree degree views views encompassing encompassing Moreton Moreton Bay Bay and and the the Border Border Ranges Ranges

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Contemporary Contemporary gourmet gourmet kitchen kitchen with with an an abundance abundance of of cabinetry cabinetry is is set set with with expansive expansive stone stone benches, benches, high-end high-end Miele Miele appliances appliances including including aa steam steam oven oven and and warming warming drawer, drawer, aa gas gas stove-top stove-top and and breakfast breakfast bar bar with with incredible incredible views views of of Brisbane Brisbane City City and and beyond. beyond.

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FOR FOR SALE SALE INSPECTION INSPECTION BY

BY APPOINTMENT APPOINTMENT Sharon Sharon Campbell Campbell 0419 0419 785 785 854 854 Stephanie Stephanie Campbell Campbell 0419 0419 140 140 923 923 enclavepropertygroup.com.au enclavepropertygroup.com.au

Space to Flourish - 1,619m2 12 Blaikie St, Hendra QLD

For Sale

Rachael Spinks 0411 10 10 15 rachael@spinksco.com.au www.spinksco.com.au

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This freshly renovated, rendered brick home of grand proportions flows the way a family lives and opens to a tennis court, a pool, level lawns, and a putting green. In a quiet, no-through street close to good schools, the easy-care property is a wonder of exceptional indoor-outdoor spaces and savvy low maintenance.

• • • • • • • • • •

Easy-care tennis court property on level 1,619m2 close to good schools Freshly renovated, rendered brick home in quiet, no-through street Exceptional indoor-outdoor spaces Ducted air conditioning throughout New tennis court surface with LED dimmable lights New saltwater pool filter system, new 3-hole putting green Fully irrigated garden with Wi-Fi system 5 minute drive approx. to Ascot State School, Eagle Junction State School, St Agatha’s Walk to trains, buses, private school buses 8.5kms approx. to city

Prestige Market Update KAREN DELLOW

Above: 52 Seaview Terrace, Sunshine Beach, Qld Left and below: 4 Palm Valley Drive, Byron Bay, NSW

All-time highs Regional beach locales set to join suburbs with $3m medians The luxury market went from strength to strength in 2020 as the number of suburbs with median prices over $3 million doubled. So far, 2021 has delivered higher demand for property than ever before and record-breaking sales across the country are continuing to drive up rates of growth.

If these conditions continue, the number of $3 million-plus suburbs could easily double again. There are presently 47 suburbs with a median house price of more than $3 million, and based on growth rates over the past 12 months we could see that number rise to 90 in the next year. Many are in regional areas.

The median house price in Byron Bay, NSW, Sunshine Beach in Queensland and Portsea in Victoria significantly increased during 2020, as restrictions on travel, especially overseas travel, coupled with low interest rates, resulted in increasing demand for some of our most expensive regional suburbs. If these continue to grow at the rate they have in the past 12 months they will join the $3 million club by this time next year.

Byron Bay’s median house price now sits at $2.65 million, an increase of 87 per cent in the past 12 months. At this pace, the median could skyrocket to nearly $5 million in the next year.

Sunshine Beach, near Noosa, has increased in popularity over JUNE 12-13, 2021

| THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN

the past five years, driving up the median price by 40 per cent in the past 12 months, and could reach $3.5 million by this time next year. Portsea, the luxury weekend retreat for Melburnians, has seen the median price increase by 24 per cent in the past 12 months, although over the past five years it has increased by 52 per cent. The median price at present is $2.66 million.

It is not just regional beach towns that are set to reach record medians in the next 12 months. The blue-chip Sydney suburbs of Balgowlah, Fairlight and Freshwater could all reach $3 million soon, along with others on the Northern Beaches.

In Victoria, Malvern and Deepdene are close to reaching the $3 million mark. Malvern is already at $2.86 million and it would only take a 12 per cent year-on-year increase to push it over.

In Perth, Dalkeith is not far off reaching $3 million. It has a median of $2.75 million, which is more than six times the Perth median, making it the city’s most expensive suburb. Dalkeith’s biggest sale on realestate.com.au this year was 30 Jutland Parade, which sold for $4.3 million.

Outside of Melbourne and Sydney $3 million suburbs are rare, but that’s not to say there are not premium suburbs in other cities with beautiful houses, albeit at a much lower price.

St Peters and Toorak Gardens in Adelaide have medians that are nearly five times the capital’s median, and both are primed to exceed $2 million in the next 12 months. The most expensive sale this year in Toorak Gardens was 16 Sprod Avenue, at $1.78 million, in what is considered one of the area’s best streets. In St Peters, this year’s highest sale was $1.75 million, for 43 Crown Street.

Data from realestate.com.au shows that demand for properties, especially in luxury suburbs, is still high and many experts are predicting double-digit price rises in 2021. I expect that many more suburbs will reach new price growth highs in the coming months.

A return to overseas travel is likely to calm demand for luxury

holiday homes, but it will take time for travel conditions to return to pre-Covid days. Money saved from overseas holidays is likely to be invested in housing, so high demand coupled with low rates should continue to drive house price growth in premium areas for at least the next 12 months.

Karen Dellow is an analyst with realestate.com.au

Outlook for future growth Suburb

Current median

Forecast median in 12 months

% year on year price growth

Byron Bay, NSW

$ 2,650,000

$ 4,945,423

87%

Sunshine Beach, QLD

$ 2,500,000

$ 3,511,236

40%

Portsea, VIC

$ 2,660,000

$ 3,290,977

24%

Dalkeith, WA

$ 2,750,000

$ 3,252,688

18%

North Curl Curl, NSW

$ 2,750,000

$ 3,245,708

18%

Freshwater, NSW

$ 2,825,000

$ 3,217,994

14% 12%

Malvern, VIC

$ 2,860,000

$ 3,195,156

Deepdene, VIC

$ 2,975,000

$ 3,120,813

5%

Balgowlah, NSW

$ 2,620,000

$ 3,050,844

16%

Fairlight, NSW

$ 2,630,000

$ 3,038,859

16%

St Peters, SA

$ 1,610,500

$ 2,054,424

28%

Toorak Gardens, SA

$ 1,600,000

$ 2,007,843

25%

Source: realestate.com.au

MANSIONAUSTRALIA.COM.AU

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Annandale, NSW J ONAT H A N C H A NC E L L OR

Warehouse living

Brush with fame There has always been a strong synergy between artists and their warehouse studios, and sometimes that lingers on through subsequent ownerships.

This was exemplified by an Annandale industrial warehouse conversion, best known as the studio, then the Sydney home of the late Archibald Prize-winning artist Fred Cress.

The restyled 1910 space was recently offered to the market by the Qantas Group executive Andrew Parker. Ray White Taylor and Partners agent Walter Burfitt-Williams had an initial guide of $5.5 million for the two-floor warehouse and sold it after raising that to $6.5 million. The 305sq m holding has 463sq m of internal space with polished concrete floors and exposed brick walls. It last sold in 2018 for $4.276 million, when Cress’s son, producer of The Block television show Julian Cress, moved to Melbourne.

Fred Cress died from prostate cancer at the age of 71 in 2009.

His son inherited the Johnston Lane brass factory, which had also been a bus depot and billiard-table factory, before undertaking the initial extensive renovation. The result won a 2015 Master Builders Association excellence award.

After Parker bought the property he envisaged hanging a large Cress painting in the living area and had art adviser Jenny Hillman source it. Its called The Cave, as Fred often said the cave was his castle. The purchasing commission revived memories for Hillman of many great lunches at the warehouse with Cress’s JUNE 12-13, 2021

| THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN

inner circle. The artist had bought the then “dark and dingy” factory with a resident colony of rats in 1986 for $115,000. “As a way of entertainment, I used to position myself with little bits of wood and throw them at the rats,” Cress once recalled.

His studio, sans rats, became his home when his 24-year marriage ended in 1989. Cress’s artworks and those of his photographer partner of 19 years, Victoria Fernandez, enlivened the white walls.

“I had been looking for quite a while to buy a factory, a warehouse, but I wanted one that was almost square. I didn’t want a long, thin thing – it’s better to work in a square place,” he told arts writer Fiona Gillies a year before his death.

On the street level was Cress’s studio filled with his latest works, as well as an office and storage area that was kept dark and dry with dehumidifiers to protect the artworks. The upstairs mezzanine level consisted of a bedroom, kitchen, living area and garden courtyard that gave the place a New York loft feel. The artist’s previous Sydney studio had been a room in Chinatown.

Cress, who was born in Poona, India, was educated in England and arrived in Melbourne in 1962. He typically spent six months in Annandale and six months in France, where he had a 16thcentury barn in south Burgundy, near Cluny.

He believed the location in which he painted had an impact on his work. “Living in Sydney, I tend to try to paint faster. Living

there I paint slower,” he said. “The subject matter doesn’t change but it’s more considered.” There were lean times as he moved from abstract to figurative painting but he managed to live off his art for 35 years. He ditched carpentry in his 30s after attracting praise from Kym Bonython in the mid-1970s.

Cress made many astute real estate decisions, including when he and his then artist wife, Anne Judell, came to Sydney from Melbourne with their two sons in the mid-1970s and paid $49,500 to buy in McMahons Point. “It was considered the arse-end of the harbour,” Cress recalled, adding that it did have a vibrant artistic community. The two-storey terrace was sold after the divorce to media couple Andrew Denton and Jennifer Byrne for $800,000.

Cress once noted that when he first moved from Melbourne (his mother lived in Carnegie) to Sydney, some considered him a traitor. “I could have moved anywhere but Sydney,” he said. “If I’d moved to London it would have been OK, but not Sydney. I moved the same year [playwright] David Williamson moved to Sydney. It was mentioned in the papers.”

But Sydney suited him better than “clubby” Melbourne, he said. “If you don’t want to be bothered it’s a great place to be not bothered in. Out of sight, out of mind is how Sydney is. In Melbourne they show enormous concern. The flip side of enormous concern is very nosy people who seem to know everything you do.”

MANSIONAUSTRALIA.COM.AU

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MANSIONAUSTRALIA.COM.AU

THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN

| JUNE 12-13, 2021

Mansion

LEGACY OF FLAIR

Building on a family treasure

SECOND SKIN

Reimagining a home for the present

NATURAL REMEDY Drawing on nature for design cues

JUNE 12-13, 2021

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MANSIONAUSTRALIA.COM.AU

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Hunters Hill S to r y by L I BBY MOF F E T P h o to g r a phy by N I K K I S HORT

Off the wall

Flamboyant wallpaper, bold tiles and family treasures are hallmarks of this beautiful heritage home that has been in the same family for more than 50 years

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THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN

| JUNE 12-13, 2021

Sasha Bennett in the dining room of her Hunters Hill home, with its sandstone exterior, gold Broadhurst wallpaper in the hallway, and original features in the lounge room and master bedroom

Sasha Bennett was only a young girl when her mother covered the entrance hall of their Hunters Hill home in an elaborate gold 1970s Florence Broadhurst wallpaper, but she was immediately a fan.

“I have always loved that wallpaper, it was always my favourite,” Bennett says.

Almost 50 years later, the treasured wallpaper remains in place, still creating a striking welcome to the gracious sandstone family home that Bennett has lovingly refurbished with opulent new wallpapers and fabrics.

Her passion is a tribute to one of Hunters Hill’s earliest houses, originally owned by French migrant and property developer Jules Joubert, who built the Alexandra Street home in 1863.

The enterprising Jules and his brother Didier subdivided much of the northern Sydney waterfront suburb and created many of the sandstone villas that characterise Hunters Hill today. Jules was also the area’s first council chairman and established the ferry service, which still operates from the end of Bennett’s street.

When Bennett’s parents, Margaret and Peter Talacko, bought Joubert’s home in 1968 her mother was fascinated by its past, collecting historic images of the property that now line a sandstone wall in the living area.

A keen decorator, Bennett’s mother made her mark on the JUNE 12-13, 2021

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two-storey house, introducing elaborate wallpapers and creating a ’70s wood veneer kitchen with internal lattice arches that was featured in a home magazine.

She also filled the heritage property’s generous rooms with artworks and antiques that are now family heirlooms.

Bennett, a pharmacist and one of three siblings, shared her mother’s affection for the family home.

She held her wedding reception in its established gardens, and returned to live there with her GP husband Nick and their three children when her mother decided to move to a smaller house in 1999.

As her children grew up, Bennett embarked on her own refurbishment of the four-bedroom, three-bathroom property, with her quest for new hall tiles leading to interior decorator Mark Inceoglu of Bourkeshire Interiors, who assisted in the home’s revamp.

It was Inceoglu who suggested the smart Karoistanbul tiles from Turkey that now cover the entranceway floor. He also introduced a gold grasscloth Thibaut wallpaper and gilt mirror above the staircase in the home’s hallway to complement the existing Broadhurst print.

A reshuffle of some of the family treasures means visitors to the home are now welcomed by one of Bennett’s mother’s impressive purchases – a large 1895 Galleria Lapini marble sculpture of a reclining woman, which rests on a wooden console in the golden glow of the entrance hall.

To the left of the entrance, the parquetry floor of the home’s formal state room has been repolished and the walls covered in a dramatic silver peacock wallpaper from Cole & Son. The room’s antique chairs are now upholstered in lavish fabrics, including a Designers Guild floral pattern featuring deep pinks that capture the tones of the Margaret Coen and Alesandro Ljubicic artworks in the room.

Passionate about colour, Bennett says she loves the combination of silver and maroon, laughingly adding that she’s also “rather keen on green”. That enthusiasm is evident in the master bedroom, where the walls are covered in a soft green Schumacher Chinois Palais wallpaper depicting exotic birds and cherry blossom trees.

Arched entrances to the room’s wardrobe area created in the ’70s are now surrounded by a muted grey grasscloth wallpaper, and a charming portrait of Bennett as a child, painted by her mother, hangs in the room’s entrance.

In the adjacent bedroom, fuchsia-toned wallpaper and fabrics from Designers Guild make a bold statement.

But it’s the downstairs formal dining room where the use of wallpaper is particularly eye-catching, with the panelled ceiling of the walnut-lined room now covered in an exquisite white and blue Taj Trellis Schumacher print.

It’s an addition that is all the more arresting because the wallpaper’s pattern has been transposed into a deep blue rug, custom made by Cadrys for the room.

In the nearby main bathroom the home’s original features take centre stage. Its sandstone is exposed to form a statement wall in the shower, complemented by custom-designed terrazzo floor tiles. An oversized mirror from the grand room now sits above the bathroom vanity.

Bennett says her favourite spot in the renovated home is the suntrap at the end of the new galley kitchen.

It’s a cosy setting beside an internal sandstone wall, overlooking the home’s blue-tiled swimming pool and the greenery of the garden – the site of many happy family occasions over the decades.

While her mother passed away before the revamp began, Bennett says she thinks she would have loved the refurbished rooms and their wallpapers – “I am so lucky to have a house able to carry the colours and designs from all the wallpapers,” she says.

As for the future of her mother’s Broadhurst wallpaper, Bennett is adamant she will always try to preserve it.

“I would get it copied if I had to,” she says.

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I PERSONAL SPACE

Making a home ‘just right’ is the aim of interior designers who tailor their ideas to suit individual personalities S to r y by LU KE SL AT T E RY P h o to g r a phy by A N S ON S M A RT

Interior designer Alexandra Donohoe Church would rather that married couples, on reaching a relatively unburdened age, seek to remodel the look and feel of their domestic lives rather than their entire lives. “It’s a lot more affordable,” she adds with a laugh. “And much more fun.”

Her clients at Corner House, a sinuous four-storey dwelling on a rise with views overlooking Tamarama Beach and a grand sweep of the Pacific Ocean, fall into this category. The building, designed by Sydney architect Alex Porebski, is stepped back from the street, poised above a private courtyard, and moulded around an L-shaped corner bend. It’s a playful medley of glass, stone, curved white Mediterranean-style render and vertical timber battens. The hero is the upper living area, where kitchen and dining room flow onto a large covered terrace to create a sensation of boundless space. The backyard captures and distils the view from the front in the form of a discrete rectangular pool.

Donohoe Church designed all of the interiors and decoration of the original Porebski-designed home in 2015 and she was recently asked by the new owners, when the building changed hands, to refresh and reimagine the interior.

The building was already well known to her, but she had to get to know the new owners. “Same bones, same spaces, different personalities,” she says. “It was a privilege to work for quite different people in different circumstances, with different tastes in life and art. Like trying on different outfits.”

It’s not the first time, she adds, that she’s been brought on by the original architects to recreate the interiors for second owners a few years apart. “We really enjoy that reinvention process, particularly as we want all our projects to reflect our clients and their personalities – two projects should never look the same. This Tamarama project was a really juicy one in that regard.”

As the founder and managing director of Sydney-based interior design practice Decus tells it, the Tamarama clients didn’t only relocate to a new house when they shifted to this breezy beachside suburb from a “more traditional home” in which they’d raised their children, and seen their children raise children – they changed their approach to life. “It was a really big shift in their lives,” she says. “A 46

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| JUNE 12-13, 2021

The exterior of Corner House, left.

The interior of the stylish beach house is layered in terms of colours and textures, but also mood and tone

JUNE 12-13, 2021

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The monochrome interior of Corner House, Tamarama, is sleek, sophisticated and dramatic

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reinvention. They were moving on from one phase to another. It’s as if they said to themselves, ‘This can be anything we want it to be.’ They’re fit, active, always doing the coastal walk, swimming laps. They’ve flourished in this different context.”

The new owners were happy with the form and structure of the building, and wanted only minimal interior intervention. But they wanted a change of mood.

The result is a material palette that is less beige and blonde, more monochrome – at once sleek and dramatic. Some of the new bathroom walls are clad in shimmering liquorice-coloured tiles. The elegant hand basin has a classical white formality and the whole space is beautifully lit.

Japanese black timber boards feature in the upper-floor bedrooms. In fact black and grey threads through the kitchen tables and cupboards and the minimalist wainscotting around the fireplace, adding depth and gravity and intrigue.

In his essay In Praise of Shadows – a book much loved by architects and designers – Japanese author Junichiro Tanizaki wrote: “Were it not for shadows, there would be no beauty…We find beauty not in the thing itself but in the patterns of shadows, the light and the darkness …” The new interior of Corner House seems to note this human need for a sensitive balance of shadow and light.

Says Donohoe Church: “We didn’t want it to feel like a conventional beach house. We wanted it to feel more – apologies if it’s a cheesy word – sophisticated.

And a little more striking. Importantly, it’s not all light. It’s nice to have feelings of compression – of cosiness, seclusion – alternating with openness, rather than just focusing on big open spaces and big panes of glass everywhere. It’s possible to create some intimacy and some depth in an interior by purposefully creating darkness and moodiness through choice of materials.”

Thanks to the size of the house and the generational span of the permanent occupants and their guests, who include children and grandchildren, the darker notes are merely the backbone for a great variety of textures, tones and colours.

Donohoe Church speaks of the need for layers, depth and subtlety: “With a house in that location, it could have all been white on white on white on white – and maybe some blue.”

She was never going to be happy with that, and nor were her clients. A carpet in a room with a stunning landscape is pomegranate; elsewhere there is timber, stone, glossy ceramic and matt ceramic. Downstairs, on the pool level, the colours are vibrant; on the upper level, where the eye is drawn to the ocean view, they are more restrained. Ultimately, it was a question of judgement – of unique spaces.

“For us it’s important that the interior feels layered in terms of colours and textures, but also mood and tone, says Donohoe Church. “So that it should at all times feel personal and, well, just so. Just right.”

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Early Settler Carson leather armchair in brown, $1999 earlysettler.com.au Folk Ladder shelving

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