Hong Kong Tatler Homes June 2016 - Vladi Private Islands

property fi n d e r

From a Tuscan palazzo to a private island in Florida, Richard Warren picks out a selection of some the world’s dream homes eu r o p e Page 118

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SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

Pittpoint Waters, 103 Florence Street

DOMAINE DE BEL OMBRE, MAURITIUS Villa Jacaranda

The elegant Villa Jacaranda is a detached plantation-style villa at the Villas Valriche community, within the resort and nature reserve of Domaine de Bel Ombre. It is one of many communities recently appearing in Mauritius that have been encouraged by the government, which is seeking to diversify its economy following a slump in its sugar exports. To help attract wealthy overseas buyers to these communities, the government awards automatic residency—and the low taxes that come with that—to anyone who buys a home for more than US$500,000.

When complete, the community will have 288 plantation-style villas (half of which have already been sold) set in 210 hectares of landscaped grounds, on a hillside overlooking the Indian Ocean. Interior design packages are available from the developer. With 4,800sqft of living space, this four-bedroom villa has a sheltered courtyard with a large patio and a 430sqft infinity pool. Residents will have access to the neighbouring five-star hotel’s facilities, including a spa and fitness centre. When they’re not present, homeowners can also add their properties to a rental pool for subletting to holidaymakers.

US$2.5 million

sphereestates.com

The winner of Australia’s House of the Year award in 2011, this contemporary-style house on the eastern foreshore of Scotland Island took its current owner three years to build. With five bedrooms, a billiards room, a study and a gourmet kitchen all opening to wraparound decking, the house is designed to merge the inside and outside worlds. The open-air swimming pool and spa and the large alfresco dining area are connected to the shaded decking, enhancing this free flow.

The interiors also connect to the world outside by floor-toceiling windows that frame expansive views of Pittwater beyond.

Trees and other greenery grow behind the house, while its jetty, pontoon and slipway at the front should appeal to boating enthusiasts. Indeed, anyone who lives here had better like boats, because that is the only way to reach the island from other parts of North Sydney. Residents have a choice of using their own craft, a water taxi or a ferry. Scotland Island’s relative inaccessibility might be one reason it’s been so popular with privacy-seeking celebrities including Cate Blanchett and Jennifer Hawkins.

A$7.7 million savills.com

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA Elaine Gardens

The most expensive Australian property ever released on the international market, Elaine Gardens is a colonial-era estate built for 19th-century high-society figures. As such, it boasts a large ballroom and lawned gardens leading down to the sea’s edge, with views of Sydney Harbour that make it ideal for entertaining.

The property is located in Sydney’s most expensive suburb, Point Piper, which is home to Australia’s prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull. Typically, families were larger in 1863 when the mansion was built—and this is reflected in its seven bedrooms. They hated sunburn in the 19th century but loved the cooling sea breeze, so a canopy-covered loggia and balconies line the rear of the threestorey house.

Large windows ensure the property is bright and breezy inside.

Owned by one family for four generations, Elaine Gardens is likely to be the last great old harbourfront estate offered into private hands, says the sales agent. Situated about 5km from the city centre, the estate comprises 0.5 hectares of land with 43.5 metres of frontage on Seven Shillings Beach; the garden also comes with a lawn tennis court. The estate is available as a whole or in lots.

A$75–80 million christiesrealestate.com

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LONDON, england

Kings Gate, 66-74 Victoria Street One penthouse remains for sale at Kings Gate, the Land Securities development in St James’s that was completed in 2015. Residents of this 15th-floor abode will have expansive views across London from its roof terraces.

The 4,500sqft home has two bedrooms with a gallery upstairs overlooking an open-plan reception area, some of it double-height and with floor-to-ceiling windows that allow light to flood the interiors.

With 100 apartments, Kings Gate has a Jamie’s Italian restaurant on the ground floor and residents will have access to a 24-hour concierge. The building forms part of a wider

regeneration project in St James’s that includes new shops, restaurants, bars, offices and apartments leading up to the Victoria railway station. It aims to turn the area into a new Covent Garden—a place where people will want to spend time, not simply pass through or leave after work, which is the buzzword known as “placemaking” among London developers.

Emboldened by the efforts of Land Securities, other developers are active in the area, with some marketing wags referring to St James’s as the “Royal Quarter” because it sits next door to Buckingham Palace. What the Queen thinks of her new neighbours, nobody knows.

£10

million kingsgatesw1.co.uk

PELOPONNESE, GREECE Aman Villas, Porto Heli

The Greek property market may have been in the proverbial doldrums for a long time now due to the country’s economic troubles, but attempts have been made to revive its holiday homes market. After all, tourism is booming like never before, since the basic ingredients of a good holiday—sun, sea, sand and fresh seafood—remain abundant. So it’s entirely possible someone might fall in love with the place and want a permanent pad there.

With this in mind, developer Dolphin Capital has linked up with luxury hotelier Aman to create The Porto Heli Collection, a resort community with villas, a golf course, hospitality amenities and leisure activities for residents in the southern Greek town for which it is named. Amanzoe, Aman’s classically inspired hilltop retreat overlooking the Aegean, opened in 2012 as the first phase of The Porto Heli Collection.

Aman Villas is the residential part of Amanzoe and is situated on the Peloponnese peninsula, at the highest possible point in the region’s rolling hills, so residents can expect views of the surrounding olive-tree-covered slopes and the sea. Starting in size from 3,200sqft for a two-bedroom abode, 14 homes at Aman Villas have been sold so far; the total number built will depend on demand.

€3 million sothebysrealty.co.uk

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FLORENCE, ITALY Villa Michele

LONDON, ENGLAND Queen’s Gate Place

This is the first house in London to be renovated, interior designed and furnished

by Armani Casa. Suitably enough for a home styled by the domestic interiors wing of the Italian fashion house, this Grade II-listed property in Kensington dates back to 1860 and was built in the Italianate style. Many of its original features—such as the cornicing, a stone staircase and metal balustrades—have been restored and integrated into the redesign of the interiors.

On the ground floor, a bespoke kitchen

by Armani Dada (the brand’s kitchen systems collaboration with Molteni) runs off the breakfast room, library and dining room, while an

additional sitting room can be found on the first floor, where there is also a drawing room, a study and a cinema room.

The master bedroom suite is located on the second floor, with five further bedrooms on the third and fourth floors and in the basement. A lift also runs up to the fourth floor. The designers have installed some extras that might make the original Victorian owners of the house extremely jealous—namely the spa facilities (complete with Jacuzzi, steam room and gym)—plus a wine storage room and a library, although they might well have had versions of those last two amenities back in the day. Outside is a roof terrace with mahogany decking.

£35

million savills.com

€14.3 million aylesford.com

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Thanks to the talent of Renaissance architects and the great riches of their clients, beautiful palaces are scattered across Tuscany like confetti on the dancefloor at a wedding. Villa Michele was built by the Medici family—the centuries-long rulers of Florence and Europe’s most famous bankers. Their love of art is reflected in the frescoes and the abundance of other artwork and decorative ornamentation in the palazzo, which is unusual in that it has a clock tower above its front entrance. Three kilometres from central Florence, the palace is situated within its own private park and has two reception rooms, eight bedrooms and eight bathrooms within its 20,000sqft interior.

During a restoration in 2001, a gym and other contemporary amenities were added to the 17th-century residence. The Medicis knew how to throw a party and the lower ground floor of the palace, with its vaulted ceiling and cobbled floors, makes a great place for rustic dinners and entertaining; wine cellars are to the rear. Within its 12 hectares of grounds are three further residences (all restored) and landscaped gardens, arable land, olive groves, parkland, a swimming pool and a tree-lined avenue leading up to the villa—perfect for making that grand entrance.

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TUSCANY, ITALY Pienza

Here’s a rare find: a 12th-century farmhouse with many of its original features intact, including massive fireplaces, beamed ceilings and cobbled floors. When this house was built, China was in the Song Dynasty and at war with Manchuria, while Europeans were launching crusades to the Holy Land.

A home for enjoying la dolce vita, this 14-bedroom Tuscan farmhouse is 12 kilometres from the medieval city of Pienza (a Unesco World Heritage site) in Val d’Orcia. Featuring four reception rooms, it would also make a great place for entertaining. In addition to the garden, which can be illuminated at night, there is a swimming pool, an outside dining area, a loggia with expansive countryside views and a home cinema.

The house can be divided into four sets of interconnected apartments for separate use when guests come to stay; there’s also an additional guest apartment in the secondary accommodation. Yet another advantage of having self-contained apartments is that some or all of them can be rented out during the summer high season.

Another type of good life can be enjoyed at this property too: the getting-close-to-nature kind, because it has cypresses, fig trees and rose bushes growing on its 1.4 hectares of grounds, as well as 60 olive trees that provide an opportunity for enterprising owners to make their own olive oil.

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CÔTE D’AZUR, FRANCE

Allée du Parc Springland

€4.45 million knightfrank.com

hong kong tatler homes . summer 2016

Here’s a question we don’t get to ask every day: Fancy living in a garage? Now’s your chance.

An artfully designed apartment not too far from the old port in Cannes has come up for sale in a building that had been used as a garage since the 1940s. Converting buildings from one use to another can often lead to quirky, fascinating spaces—and this abode is no exception, with the owner successfully carving out a threebedroom home from the irregular, 7,500sqft property. In a nod to its previous incarnation, the owner has kept the “Le Garage” sign in the front entrance hall and polished it up a bit.

hong kong tatler homes . summer 2016

Through the large, sloping entrance hall (where cars once drove in), the property opens up into an expansive ground-floor artist’s studio and reception room. There’s also an additional living room with a library, and a dining area with a semi-professional open-plan kitchen and bar. Internal glazed walls that separate some rooms allow light to filter through the expansive interiors. There’s a separate laundry room. The third floor has a third living room with a fireplace.

Each bedroom has an en-suite, and there are two studio apartments for guests and staff.

Outside, there’s also a south-facing terrace.

€2.99

million knightfrank.com

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US$5

million vladi-private-islands.de

FLORIDA, US

Keewaydin Island US Vice-President Joe Biden has taken time out to relax on this private island owned by his brother, James Biden Jr, and his sister-in-law, Sara.

Now up for sale because the owners want a place closer to their primary residence further north, Keewaydin Island is a two-hectare tropical retreat perched just off the mainland and only about 10 kilometres from downtown Naples.

Across the water on the mainland is 80 hectares of nature reserve. In keeping with its rustic surroundings, the renovated five-bedroom main residence is built on stilts; it features slate floors, wood panelling, vaulted ceilings, and plenty of windows with views of the sea and the island’s greenery. Within its 4,000sqft of interiors is a “crow’s nest” master suite, with a raised bed that has 360-degree views of the island and beyond.

Entertaining spaces on the island include a waterside bar and beachside patio. Living on this island won’t mean you have to endure a Robinson Crusoe-style existence, though, because Keewaydin is powered by solar energy, while its classic Florida-style roof is coated with Nasa-developed paint to keep the temperature down. It also has its own well and desalination plant. High-speed internet connection via satellite allows constant monitoring of nature and other visitors—as well as access to the Sonos hi-fi sound system and HDTV.

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