Point Piper’s Federation Heritage

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Point Piper is an affluent, residential, yet small harbourside eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, 6 kilometres (4 mi) east of the Sydney central business district, in the Municipality of Woollahra.

It’s all about the view to the West, featuring the Harbour Bridge

Point Piper In the News:

PropertyObserver 20 NOVEMBER 2016

Point Piper’s Altona sails into second place with $60 million sale to Huang family

Point Piper’s Altona sails into second place with $60 million sale to Huang family

Altona, the quietened former Sydney harbourfront party home in Point Piper, has new owners.

• No price disclosure but Altona was offered as likely to fetch $60 million plus, so the sale fell short of the Sydney record set when the casino tycoon James Packer secured $70 million at Vaucluse last year.
• The low-key vendors, the Wang family had bought the prized harbourfront home for $52 million in 2013, so with few only minor renovations have made a handy profit.
• Late this week the Huang family placed a caveat on the property’s title following their purchase. It is understood they live in Hunters Hill.
• Its sale negotiations concluded quickly as there was no requirement for Foreign Investment Review Board approval by the resident Australians.
• The iconic Victorian Italianate home sits on a 2400 sq m holding after a proposed subdivision sale of the vacant $18 million tennis court block did not proceed after neighbourhood objections.

 

Point Piper calls the tune on top Sydney sales

Lucy Macken October 11, 2014
If anyone needed reminding where Australia’s most expensive suburb is they need only look at five sales this year. Every sale above $30 million in 2014 has been in Point Piper, with most of the action centred on just one street.

• Wolseley Road, which has been ranked as one of the world’s most expensive streets, has claimed four of the five top sales this year, totalling $135 million, with buyers drawn in by those iconic, gun-barrel harbour views.
• This week’s sale of about $39 million in Point Piper set a new high for 2014 and an all-round nationwide non-waterfront record, eclipsing the $32.4 million paid in 2008 two doors away by Chinese princeling Zeng Wei and his wife Jiang Mei.

Altona, the Point Piper trophy home hits the market
JONATHAN CHANCELLOR | 23 JUNE 2016

Altona, the Point Piper trophy home hits the market

Two iconic Sydney trophy homes have been listed for sale that now go head to head in a battle for upmarket buyers.

• Altona (above), the oft-called eight bedroom home of conspicuous consumption in Point Piper, has hit the market, along with the seven bedroom Elizabeth Bay harbourside home, Boomerang.
• Both were prior record setting homes, but not this time around as James Packer’s $70 million contemporary Vaucluse sale, after some serious site amalgamations, seems unbreakable for the time being.
• The low-key Wang family have listed Altona, their prized Point Piper harbourfront home last sold at $52 million in 2013 on 2400 sq m.

Cruise ship raises eyebrows – and ire – as it anchors off Point Piper

Anchored in Sydney Harbour … the view from Wunulla Road, Point Piper.

• An ocean liner anchored in the middle of Sydney Harbour is raising eyebrows in the lead up to New Year’s Eve festivities.
• Pictures of the boat started appearing on social media on Monday showing it positioned just off Point Piper – one of the best positions to view the world-famous fireworks.
• But Radiance of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean cruise liner, is simply seeking safe refuge from Cyclone Freda that is lashing the Pacific.
• But smh.com.au reader Sonia King was not impressed with the move. “The position and angle of this ugly eyesore has resulted in maximum obstruction to the views of revellers in parks and harbour locations. The decision was made without any thought whatsoever of the people of Sydney,” she said.
• One of the eastern suburbs’ most famous residents, Malcolm Turnbull, in response to a concerned Twitter follower, tweeted: “I wonder what the state government has charged the cruise ship for the spot?”
• Another tweep labelled the move #unAustralian, while legal-eagle Richard Ackland was one of the first to alert the twittersphere to the boat’s whereabouts, saying: “Huge cruise ship plonked off Point Piper, blocking expensive views. Sounds of swearing waft across the water”.

Point Piper Property News:

• 60 Wunulla Road Point Piper NSW 2027 Restored Edwardian home Edwardian waterfront home of John Piven-Large in Australia’s Most Exclusive Peninsula – The Point Piper peninsula finally has a fresh prestige property listing
• $52 million Altona Altona sale breaks Sydney realty scale
• Sale of the murder-accused Ron Medich’s $45 million-plus home
• Point Piper on the Chinese tourist route for insight into the privileged lives of Communist Party princelings
• Treasures of ‘the Vatican’ – Margie Blok

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Altona sale breaks Sydney realty scale

 

Altona

View of Altona, Point Piper, as seen from the water / Pic: John Grainger (has Federation bones!)

Altona, listed for sale for over $50 million

SIX years after it was first mooted for sale, one of Sydney’s best-known properties – the glamorous harbourfront mansion Altona – has finally been sold, for a reputed record price of $54 million. The new owner is believed to be a Chinese-born businessman from Melbourne.

Chinese property developer to sell Point Piper’s Altona mansion

Jun 22, 2016 Lucy Macken

• Point Piper’s Altona mansion sale dodged foreign investment laws
• The owners of Altona will do anything to get out of the gardening

Foreign-buyer stamp-duty charge unsettles luxury-home market
Chinese property developer Wang Zhijun is selling Australia’s most famous trophy home Altona in Point Piper.
The sudden decision to list the waterfront mansion follows the sale this week of the adjoining block of land that was previously part of the estate for more than $18 million.

• When publisher and property investor Deke Miskin and his wife Eve sold Altona in 2013 for $52 million it set a housing record for Sydney.
• Wang managed to successfully conceal his ownership of the property for two years after his purchase behind a complex holding structure of shelf companies fronted by an elderly relative in Melbourne, Ding Xiuzhen.
• Wang’s ownership only surfaced last year when Domain exclusively revealed he did not have permanent residency at the time of his purchase, and therefore was unable to buy established housing.

Wang and his wife Guan Hongyan are now permanent residents and have no plans to leave Australia, according to the family spokesman.

• “The family has voluntarily decided to sell the property after reprioritising their investment portfolio, and are continuing to consider a range of business opportunities in Australia. They’ll also be looking for suitable residential property in either Sydney or Melbourne.”
• Rosalind Ho, of Goldfield & Co, declined to give an asking price, opting only to say: “The market will tell us what the price is.”

Read more: Domain.com

54-56 Wunulla Road, Point Piper, NSW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-UB4g-J9rY
Byron Bay-based vendor Deke Miskin last night refused to confirm the sale, but sources claim Mr Miskin has gone close to doubling his 2002 investment on the Point Piper property, with the final sale price put at $54 million, which is a Sydney residential property record.

• The one-time magazine publisher and his swimwear designer wife Eve paid $28.5 million for the Italianate mansion, boathouse and tennis court – plus a neighbouring block – in 2002.
• Agents last night refused to discuss the top-secret deal but sources said it had been bought by company Chaimovich Investments Pty Ltd, whose sole director is Xiuzhen Ding, a 75-year-old resident of Elwood in Melbourne.

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Craig-y-mor sold

Chinese leadership princeling demolishes Point Piper’s Craig-y-Mor mansion Demolition has begun on the Wolseley Road, Point Piper mansion owned by the son of a former vice-president of China. The Herald asked the Sydney lawyer for Zeng Wei,the PointPiper property owner, whether his client was the son of Zeng Qinghong, the former Chinese vice-president.”I believe so,”said the lawyer, John Comino,who was the mayor of Woollahra, after declining several times to reveal the owners’ identity. Craig-y-mor, at No.73 Wolseley Road Point Piper Read more at Property Observer:

Plans to demolish … Craig-y-Mor.

Craig-y-Mor’s planned replacement, designed by architect Stephen Gergely.

The soon-to-be-demolished Craig-y-mor, bought by Chinese couple Zeng Wei and wife Jiang Mei for $32 million in 2008. They plan to replace it with a new, three-storey home.

Point Piper Housing Prices

Point Piper is generally regarded as the most exclusive residential suburb in

Fairwater, New South Head Road, home of Lady Fairfax

Australia. Wolseley Road, Point Piper, is currently ranked the 9th most expensive street in the world, at $20,900 per square metre.

Eight properties of the top 20 prestige properties in Sydney are located in Point Piper.^[1]

• John Symond‘s mansion on Wingadal Place, reportedly cost over $70M to build (excluding land), easily making it Australia’s most expensive, privately owned residential home
• In 2007, Altona (Australia’s second most expensive house) was listed for more than A$50 million.
• Craig-y-Mor is a non-waterfront house on Wolseley Road. Australia’s second most expensive residential property, it sold in 2008 for $32.4 million. It was previously owned by Rene Rivkin, who sold it to businessman Ben Tilley in 2004 for $16.15 million.
  (The Tilleys bought it from stockbroker Rene Rivkin and his wife, Gayle, who bought from the former chief of Patrick stevedores, Chris Corrigan, and his wife, Valerie.)

Altona, a Sydney waterfront landmark, asking $55 million

“Point Piper is home to many prominent Australians including:

• Malcolm Turnbull, former Federal Opposition Leader and Member for Wentworth
• “The Tilleys are moving around the corner to a Wunulla Road house bought for about $13.5 million from Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull. Since 1994, the Turnbulls have lived next door in a waterfront residence bought for $5.4 million.
  In 1999, they secured the neighbouring property as an investment for $7.1 million. More recently they reduced its land size by carving off about 600 sq m of waterfront garden and annexing that portion to the property where they live.”^[2]
• Frank Lowy – The Westfield Group founder and boss”^[3]

 

More News

• “Point Piper continues to offer up some of its best waterfront properties. Despite no sale yet of the $55 million Altona or murder accused Ron Medich’s $45 million-plus home, the Edwardian waterfront home of John Piven-Large has hit the market, offering five bedrooms, a tidal beach and a swimming pool with price expectations of more than $40 million.”^[4]
• Altona’s owner, Deke Miskin, the former teenage magazine publisher, has had numerous nibbles but no sale of the house and its adjacent block of land, which traded in 2002 through a Woollahra agent, Bill Bridges, for a record $28 million. Miskin, who hails from the Cornwall fishing village Mevagissey, and his wife, Eve, are seeking more than $60 million.^[5]
• Altona has been for sale, on and off, for five years, the closest to sale at $56 million when the Lowy family bid was rejected by Deke and Eve Miskin in 2007. Title Tattle well recalls the Lowys first inspected the property just after the actor Russell Crowe looked, but decided it was not right.

  What’s affectionately known as the HPM house has been for sale on Wolseley Road for three years or so. It was in 2009 when it was listed with $60 million hopes. Its the six-bedroom waterfront residence of the late Peter and Ruth Simon, who established the electrical switch manufacturers HPM Industries. The Simons bought the property from the late FAI chairman Larry Adler for $12 million in 1996. The vast five-level concrete house stands in the most verdant patch of Wolseley Road, neighbouring Duff Reserve.^[6]

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Elstree, 138 Wolseley Rd Point Piper

(Top: centre left): Elstree, 138 Wolseley Rd Point Piper , sold for $18.5m in 2007, $22m in 2008

138 Wolseley Road is actually two amalgamated allotments (138-140) and is occupied by a dwelling dating from 1912 – a Heritage item known as “Elstree”^[7]

• “A fine and largely intact example of the Federation Arts and Crafts style.
• A single storey rendered masonry cottage in a simplified Federation Arts and Crafts style. The house features a high pitched hipped roof with slate tiles, galvanised iron ridge cappings, and exposed timber eaves. Gutters are painted galvanised iron.
• There is a gable extension to the west. Walls are pebble dash rendered masonry. Gable end has timber panel.
  A high boundary wall and double garage hides most of the house from the street. A heavy timber gate has the name ‘Elstree‘ painted onto it.
• Style: Federation Arts and Crafts External Materials: Pebble dash rendered masonry walls. Roosf have slate tiles, galvanised iron ridge cappings, and exposed timber eaves.”^[8]

Elstree, 138 Wolseley Rd Point Piper , property outlined in red, lower right

Sold three times in four years!
Nov 14, 2007
1. ELSTREE, the hillside 1920s Point Piper residence, has been sold for about $18.5 million to the Channel Seven director Bruce McWilliam, who owns the neighbouring contemporary house on the harbour.

• The sale of the 910-square-metre non-waterfront property, which last changed hands in the 1960s, is the year’s fourth-highest. It also ranks as Sydney’s fourth-highest ever non-waterfront house sale.
• The acquisition, which adds to Mr McWilliam’s 1414-square-metre ultra-modern glass house, continues the trend of harbourside compounds.
• The Rydge entertainment industry family leads the way with six adjoining Point Piper properties totalling 3750 square metres. Capped off by an $8.7 million non-waterfront purchase in 2005, it began in 1960 with a £30,250 purchase by the family patriarch, the late Sir Norman Rydge.
• The land-banking federal Environment Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, owns 2660 square metres comprising two adjoining Point Piper properties, begun with a $5.4 million outlay in 1994 and a $7.1 million purchase in 1999.^[9]

2. Mr McWilliam paid $18.5million for 138 Wolseley Road in November last year (2007), before selling it to Mr Tilley for a $3.5million capital gain and 100 square metres less land (which Mr McWilliam is said to have kept to build a garage).

3. May 2011, ELSTREE sold again:
Settlement took place on the $18 million sale of a property in Wolseley Road, Point Piper. Named Elstree, the circa 1920s residence was sold by Tiffany Tilley, the wife of the businessman Ben Tilley, to the equities fund manager Warwick Johnson. – **Margie Blok^[10]

• The round robin of Point Piper residents continues further north along Wolseley Road at Elstree, a circa-1920s residence that recently sold for $18 million to Japanese-speaking equities fund manager Warwick Johnson and his wife, Anne.
• Elstree was sold by businessman Ben Tilley and his wife, Tiffany, who copped a $4 million loss, having bought the property three years ago for about $22 million from lawyer Bruce McWilliam**. The deal was negotiated by agent Brad Pillinger, whose website boasts the $18 million sale is the highest non-waterfront transaction this year.^[11]

From the Sydney Morning Herald: Ben Tilley

 

Nice little earners … the three houses in Wolseley Road, PointPiper, that Ben Tilley, above, bought and sold at a considerable profit.

More news about the sale of ‘Elstree’:

Alex May April 6, 2008: “BEN TILLEY has every reason to consider Wolseley Road Sydney’s best street. With a median property price of $7,092,000, the coveted Point Piper row has long had millionaires trade property for profits that would leave the average mortgagee reeling. “Mr Tilley, close friend of James Packer, has more reason to smile than most. Since 2001 he has bought three homes in the coveted row, selling two for a total profit of $20million – or about $8200 a day. “His run of good fortune began in 2001 when he bought No.69, Vaynol, for $8million. Fours years later he sold it for $12million. “On the same day he paid $16.15million for Craig-y-mor, at No.73 Wolseley Road – buying it from the now deceased stockbroker Rene Rivkin. Last month he sold it for $32.4 million, setting a new Sydney record. He reaped a tax-free $16.25million in less than four years of ownership. “The same day he sold Craig-y-Mor, he bought (‘Elstree’) No. 138 Wolseley Road for $22million through Christie’s Great Estates agent Brad Pillinger. “Whatever way you look at it, Tilley came out of that deal with change in his pocket,” prestige valuer Simon Feilich of Dyson Austen said. “It is unusual for these high-end properties to be bought and sold on the same day, but that’s what Tilley seems to do.” “Real-estate agents say Mr Tilley’s new home was bought from Channel Seven media executive Bruce McWilliam, who also owns the adjoining waterfront house at No. 9 Wolseley Crescent. Mr McWilliam had paid $18.5million for 138 Wolseley Road in November last year, before selling it to Mr Tilley for a $3.5million capital gain and 100square metres less land (which Mr McWilliam is said to have kept to build a garage). “At this very top end of the market, the way these people do deals on their houses is extremely businesslike,” said L.J. Hooker Double Bay agent Rick Nolasco, who sold Craig-y-mor for the new record price”.[12]

Vanda Carson and Kate McClymont July 24, 2009 “WOLSELEY ROAD in Point Piper, one of the top 10 strips of real estate in the world, can also lay claim to more feuds per square metre than most others. “One feud raging through the neighbourhood, which has involved civil actions in the Supreme and Federal Courts, has an alleged Molotov cocktail thrown in for good measure. “On one side of the stoush are the Tilley family – brothers Ben, Adam and Simon. On the other is BRW’s rich-lister Ron Medich and his wife, Odetta. “Also caught up is Ron Medich’s former associate Michael McGurk, who has been charged with firebombing the house at the centre of the dispute, a charge he intends to defend. It all started when Adam Tilley and his wife, Sally-Anne, bought the Medichs’ $12.5 million waterfront pile on Wolseley Road in 2004. Mr Tilley had planned to demolish the home and replace it with a swanky, five-storey boutique apartment building designed by architects Burley Katon Halliday. Unfortunately, the development on the prime harbourfront land, which was in partnership with Mr Medich, was delayed by troubles getting council approval. Then the credit crisis hit. “The problem for Mr Tilley was he had borrowed $17 million from Mr and Mrs Medich. In May last year, just a month before it was due to be repaid, the Medichs reassigned the debt to Mr McGurk. Exactly why this was done remains unclear. “Then in November the home, once owned by the fashion designer Lisa Ho and her ragtrader husband, Phillip Smouha, was firebombed. “Mr Tilley, who runs the finance broker Hunt Pacific Finance, and his family were home at the time, but no one was injured. The Molotov cocktail triggered a small fire on the ground floor, which Mr Tilley put out with the fire brigade. “Mr McGurk, also a property developer, has since been charged with arson over the attack. He denies the charges”.[13] McGurk murdered for making partner look fool in front of wife: court … http://www.smh.com.au › Jul 31, 2012 – Mr McGurk was allegedly costing Mr Medich millions of dollars in ongoing legal disputes over the pair’s soured business dealings…

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View of Sydney arbor scandal in Point Piper By Larissa Cummings, The Daily Telegraph,  May 29, 2008 12:00AM Rocky relationship … George Pamer (left) and Anthony Sahade. Source: The Daily Telegraph IT’S chainsaws at 10 paces on millionaires row as Point Piper residents take aim at each other over fresh claims of illegal tree lopping on exclusive Wolseley Rd. If the scandal of being filmed hurling stones at an arborist clinging to a neighbour’s tree wasn’t enough, car wash king Anthony Sahade faces claims he ordered the illegal lopping of a healthy tree to improve his Harbour view. Car wash king’s outburst caught on tape Mr Sahade, the owner of the Crystal Car Wash chain, yesterday escaped an assault conviction for throwing stones at arborist George Palmer as he pruned publican Peter Ryan’s ailing lilli pilli. Read more… 42A Wolseley Road, Point Piper

Super-rich bring house down http://www.smh.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-25xc4 Date: September 15, 2012 Falling prices mean some of Sydney’s finest mansions have sat on the market, albeit quietly, for years, with vendors stubbornly holding out for their magic price while billionaire buyers hustle for a bargain. That is if you call shaving $5 million off a $60 million asking price a bargain. A buyer is yet to be found for the former property tycoon and accused murderer Ron Medich’s Point Piper mansion, for which he is seeking $40 million. Former headhunter Julia Ross is also holding out for the magic $40 million for her palace just up the hill. Businessman Charles Scarf and his wife, Maria, refused a $50 million offer for their Wentworth Street property in 2007. They are now hoping to get $40 million for the 677 square metre home. ”It’s ruthless out there”: Agent Billy Bridges, who has been slogging it out for two years to sell Sydney’s ultimate trophy home, the Point Piper pile Altona. Bridges says he has two buyers circling, the property developer Bob Ell and an unnamed Australian billionaire. However, on Wednesday the highly guarded asking price that Altona’s owners, Deke and Eve Miskin, were seeking emerged, after rival agent, Coldwell Banker, published the $54.5 million price-tag on its US website. Read more… Friday 1/11/2013: The Point Piper waterfront property, 42A Wolseley Road, Point Piper, at the centre of an outstanding loan dispute between property developer Ron Medich and finance broker Adam Tilley has sold for about $11 million. This is the same property that Michael McGurk was accused of firebombing in 2008, but he was murdered the following year outside his Cremorne home before charges could be laid. The Wolseley Road property was listed off-market for much of this year with an asking price of $16 million, but was relaunched again with an October auction date and hopes of $12.5 million. McGrath’s James Dack declined to comment on the sale, but other sources confirm the sale for close to $11 million.[14]

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Kilmory, 6 Wentworth Street, Point Piper

 

 

Kilmory is located on the northeastern bend of Wentworth Street on the highest part of Point Piper. Because of this elevated position the building and its landscaped grounds can be seen from areas in Vaucluse, Rose Bay and Darling Point.^[15]

Kilmory is the largest site on the Point Piper peninsula and the last of that suburb’s grand estates. The property has exceptional local heritage significance and is listed as a heritage item in Woollahra Local Environmental Plan 1995 (LEP).

“Kilmory”, 6 Wentworth Street, Point Piper was commandeered by the military during WW2 from Sir Alexander MacCormick to establish Eastern Area Headquarters on 15 May 1942.
“Kilmory” was built in 1912 for Sir Alexander MacCormick, who was a surgeon and a member of the Sydney University Medical School. After the war, it became Riverview College and then became a Franciscan Retreat. ^[16]
“A grand though simple house, it uses the harled walls, slate roofs and robust stone chimneys characterstic of architect C.R. Mackintosh (1868-1928) such as the houses Hills House, Helensburgh, Scotland, and the house built for C.F.A. Voysey (1857-1941).
It was known as the Ave Maria Centre, and is the Provincial House of the Roman Catholic Order of the Franciscan Missionaries of ^[17] Mary. seven apartmentsNow it has been converted into just seven highly-individualised apartments within the creatively reinvented “Kilmory” security mansion (c.1913), made for entertaining with scenic Bay and Harbour views..^[18]

• The house occupies a prominent and highly visible position on the site. From parts of Wentworth Street, it presents a striking and dominating form against an uninterrupted skyline. This elevated position also provides the house and the upper landscaped areas with expansive views of Sydney Harbour and the northern foreshore.
• The house is an Arts and Crafts style building designed in 1913 by John William Manson of the architectural firm Manson and Pickering for Dr Alexander MacCormick (later Sir Alexander), an eminent member of Sydney’s medical profession. Construction of the house was undertaken by the leading building firm of Stuart Bros. Co. over the period 1913 to 1914.
• The house and its landscape setting, including sandstone walling, driveway, entry posts and gates, elevated terraces, gardens and prominent trees are highly significant and contributory elements in the Wentworth Street streetscape.^[19]
• Gallery of Unit 3, 6 Wentworth Street, Kilmory, Point Piper.

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‘Notrella’ at 142 Wolseley Road Point Piper

Sold for $13.8Million, Oct 2006^[20]

‘Notrella’ at 142 Wolseley Road Point Piper

A fine and largely intact example of the Federation Queen Anne style. The property forms part of the original grant to John Piper in 1820.
Constructed: 1904.
Two storey red face brick house in the Federation Queen Anne style. House site on a rocky outcrop overlooking the bay, bounded to the north by Woleley Crescent.

• Roof is a series of gables, with terra cotta tiles and ridge cappings, timber fascias, exposed timber rafters and painted timber lining to eaves. Gable ends have timber shingles, or brick and pebble dash rendered masonry infill construction. Single rendered masonry chimneys with red face brick tops and galvanised iron vents.
• Generally timber double hung windows, with segmental arched heads and sills in a darker brick. Windows have timber jalousies. A single storey verandah to the front (south) has similar tiles, gable over doorway has timber fascia and shingles to end. There is a wide string course of darker brick at first floor level.
• A single storey portico to the western side has balcony above, brick and rough cut stone string courses, and arched sides. Arches are of darker brick. A pair of multi-paned timber doors lead to balcony above. Doors have arched head and fan light above. Original gable to the north has similar brick and pebble dash rendered masonry infill construction.

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‘Danmark’ 16-18 Wolseley Road, Point Piper, NSW

At top centre: ‘Danmark’ 16-18 Wolseley Road, Point Piper, NSW

Street entrance to ‘Danmark’ 16-18 Wolseley Road, Point Piper, NSW

Built ca.1907 as a waterfront Edwardian mansion, Danmark was converted in the 1930’s to accommodate 14 spectacular apartments, retaining its private access to Seven Shillings Beach and the gardens above.

• The site forms part of the original grant to John Piper in 1820. The property passed to William Charles Cooper in 1898, briefly to Catherine Kitt in 1902, and to John Paul in 1903. The house was constructed for John Paul in c.1907 and named Danmark after his homeland.
  A well conceived blend of classic character and modern innovation, with 4m pressed metal ceilings, an art nouveau fireplaces, stainless steel kitchen, deco bathrooms, and living and dining rooms open to a side courtyard.
• Rendered masonry house on a steeply sloping site away from the road towards the harbour. Street frontage is two storeys. Steeply pitched gable hipped roof, with glazed terra cotta tiles and ridge cappings and colorbond drainage system. Timber fascias and eaves.
• Three storey gable extension to the south has timber lined eaves supported by decorative timber brackets above rendered string course. Gable end above main entrance has timber and rendered masonry infill construction.

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Fairwater, New South Head Road, Point Piper

See also: Architect John Horbury Hunt
A powerful yet restrained composition in brick and timber, large complex, manages to successfully modulate its scale so that it appears disarmingly domestic.

• Buildings and grounds are amongst the last of the great suburban estates remaining intact.
• Grounds provide an important scenic addition to the shoreline of Seven Shillings Beach.
• Estate is historically important, having been connected with the Whites of Cranbrook and the Fairfax family, who still retain ownership.
• Medieval and Queen Anne inspired.

Fairwater located at 560 New South Head Rd, Point Piper

Fairwater is a large domestic residence constructed in 1882 with additions made in c.1901 and 1910, with former stable (c.1900s) and garage (1930), situated on a large suburban allotment fronting Port Jackson with garden landscaping.

• The residence is a double storey structure of brick construction with a timber-framed roof originally constructed in 1882 with additions c.1901, and in particular from 1910s.
  The exterior appearance is characterised by the use of a brick, which is pale yellow in colour. The roof is covered in slate tiles. Additions made c.1910/11 often include the use of sandstone (i.e. in the verandah and carriage porch) which is very reddish in colour.
• Pale yellow brick, stuccoed internally, slate roof. Windows are either one pane double hung or diamond patterned lead light casements, most with louvred shutters. Original building was sympathetically altered and extended in 1910, with Tudor style half timbered gables, bays of small Tudor windows surrounded by timber panelling and balconies. Also added large room, bedrooms above, porte cochere, wide verandah. Whole effect Medieval and Queen Anne inspired Picturesque.
• Fairwater is of historical significance in consideration of its long association with the Australian publishing family company founded by John Fairfax in 1841, whose descendants have lived in the house since c.1901 to the present. It is also historically significant for it association with the Joseph family of merchants who built the house in 1882, and the architect they employed to build it – John Horbury Hunt. (Clive Lucas, Stapleton & Partners Pty Ltd, 1999).
  

  Fairwater, viewed from the Harbour.

Lady Mary Fairfax dies aged 95

18/09/2017:Australian philanthropist and socialite Lady Fairfax has died peacefully (last Sunday) at her family home ‘Fairwater’ in Point Piper.

• Lady (Mary) Fairfax was a grand hostess inside her equally grand harbourside pile Fairwater,
• Greeting guests one by one as they filed past the huge bronze Auguste Rodin sculpture of a muscled Adonis which stood in the entry foyer under the stained glass windows, her guests had to pass the impressive mantle piece and grand piano to make their way to Lady Fairfax.
• Crammed with photos of Lady Fairfax posing with the likes of everyone from Kirk Douglas and Imelda Marcos to Pope John Paul II and Ronald Reagan, her guests were suitably in awe by the time they came face-to-face with the diminutive yet sharp-witted woman who was holding court.
  

  Lady Fairfax hosted the actor Kirk Douglas at Fairwater in 1980. Photo: Keith Byron

  Fairwater has “seen better days, (but) the enormous Federation house and its tiny owner were still impressive, both revealing their true glory when a butler ushered us into the grand ballroom for an opera recital.^[21]

  Fairwater, designed by architect John Horbury Hunt, pictured in 1920. Photo: Fairfax Media

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66 Wolseley Road Point Piper NSW

The building was constructed sometime after 1915 is significant as a large, prominent, two storey residential building in the Federation Arts and Crafts style. The building has retained its original scale and form on the exterior even though it has had a number of additions and has been modified for use as flats.

• Michael Suttor designed apartment 2b which is an elegant apartment with views
• Spacious entertainer’s terrace and shared lawn area.
• Apartment 3 has 3 bedrooms 2 with built-ins, huge master with ensuite and views; 2nd bathroom; Spacious lounge and separate dining opening to deck; Granite/Gaggenau kitchen; Internal laundry; Polished timber floors; High ceilings; R/c air con and lock-up garage.

• Two storey painted brick building located on a sloping site was designed in the Federation Arts and Crafts style..
• Northern wall has red face brick with a hip, with two gables to the front.
• Terra cotta tiles and ridge cappings, timber fascias to gable ends, and timber lining to eaves.
• Gable end has timber fascia, and timber and pebble dash rendered masonry construction.
• There is a two storey verandah to the front (east), ground level has been enclosed with modern glazing and painted plasterboard. Timber posts, balustrade, floor boards and lining to first floor. A timber stair to the northern end leads up to first floor level.

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2 Buckhurst Avenue Point Piper NSW

A Grand Residence Reinterpreted for 21st Century Family Requirements, the grand circa 1922 origins are seamlessly combined with deluxe modern essentials and bonus harbour cameos.

• There are 5 principal bedrooms and 3.5 elegant bathrooms,
• master retreat with sitting area, sunny balcony, walk in wardrobe and oversize ensuite.
• An impressive choice of relaxing and entertaining areas include splendid entrance foyer, family/TV room, separate study or games room,
• sunroom, formal dining room, open plan informal living/dining with
• family kitchen (walk in pantry/wine cellar, marble island, stainless steel benchtop, 2 Miele dishwashers, 6-burner gas stove/double oven, extensive storage),
  
• plus additional top floor playroom/teenage retreat or extra bedroom if required.
• Accompanying the grand proportions and high ceilings are leadlights, 4 fireplaces, impressive joinery, herringbone parquetry/polished timber floors, abundant built ins, leadlights, plantation shutters, internal laundry (opening to drying court), ducted air conditioning, surround sound, attic store, copper gutters/downpipes, security system and remote double garage.

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23 Wunulla Road Point Piper

“The spirit of a holiday retreat pervades the home and is particularly prevalent in the garden where an infinity edge pool, sleek timber decking and a chic Balinese inspired cabana with bathroom and viewing platform all combine to stunning effect.

• Inside is just as inviting with warm earthy tones, spacious living rooms and luxurious finishes.
• There are 4 bedrooms, study, 5 bathrooms,
• separate nanny quarters, powder room,
• CaesarStone/Euro kitchen with casual dining,
• media/TV room, elegant lounge &
• dining with fireplace, ducted reverse cycle air conditioning,
• full security, internal access from double garage.”

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60 Wunulla Road Point Piper

 

Point Piper clocks another $30 million sale

Date October 24, 2014 – 4:00PM

Lucy Macken

Lucy Macken
Domain Prestige Reporter
View more articles from Lucy Macken

Point Piper has clocked up yet another waterfront trophy home sale, the sixth this year to sell for $30 million or more.
The Edwardian-era mansion of liquor baron John Piven-Large sold on Friday, bringing the suburb’s sales tally to some $200 million worth of prime real estate sales within five months.

• The six-bedroom residence with a tidal beach was first up for sale early last year with hopes of $40 million.

 

$30 million: 60 Wunulla Road Point Piper NSW

Click for more photos
After being listed with a few agents, the campaign was handed to Pillinger’s Brad Pillinger in August, with a more realistic guide of $30 million-plus.

• Mr Pillinger refused to comment on the sale, but a source confirmed the sale for about $30 million.
• An offer of $28 million is rumoured to have been made in late July but was rejected.

The mansion last traded as a duplex in 1991, when Mr Piven-Large paid $2.2 million for one property and $1.3 million for the other.

• Redesigned into one residence since then, it was listed following Mr Piven-Large’s $15 million purchase of the Potts Point penthouse of billionaire property developer Bob Ell.

Mr Piven-Large is known to have made much of his fortune when he sold a 45.7 per cent stake in Cellarmasters to Foster’s Brewing Group in 1997 in a deal worth $160 million.

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2013: The Edwardian waterfront home of John Piven-Large has hit the market, offering five bedrooms, a tidal beach and a swimming pool with price expectations of more than $40 million^[22] The home was first called Ni-No-Nan after its 1912 construction, a name that has thankfully been lost in time. Historically, the home is significant as one of only a small handful of the original constructions on the peninsula.^[23]

Restored Edwardian home in Australia’s Most Exclusive Peninsula

A meticulous two-year architectural renovation has restored this magnificent waterfront residence to its original Edwardian glory. Including a 30m private tidal beach, the majestic home enjoys a rare position remarkably close to the water, includes a separate apartment and enjoys panoramic harbour district views including the Harbour Bridge
.

• five beds, five baths, secure double garage

• Grand rooms, traditional library/den
• Conservatory plus a recreation room
• Gourmet kitchen and caterers pantry
• Manicured gardens with swimming pool
• Sun drenched terraces and courtyards
• In the sweep of a premier cul-de-sac

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Inside Malcolm Turnbull’s Point Piper mansion

Lucy Macken

Date February 6, 2015
Lucy Macken
Domain Prestige Reporter

• 46 Wunulla Rd, Point Piper NSW 2027

Agents say the Turnbulls’ Point Piper home is in a similar price range to its waterfront neighbour Altona, which sold recently for $52 million.

Photo: Michele Mossop

• If Malcolm Turnbull does become Australia’s next prime minister he will be trading down big time if he moves to the Lodge, given the sort of digs he is used to calling home.
• Like so many Australians, one of the wealthiest members of federal parliament has much of his money tied up in the family home, which in his case is a vast waterfront estate in Point Piper on a scale and grandeur similar to the nearby mansion Altona which sold for $52 million.
• Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull have proved to be savvy real estate investors.

The Turnbulls sold the neighbouring house, pictured left, for $13.5 million, in 2011.

Photo: Edwina Pickles

• The former Goldman Sachs co-chairman bought what was then a beachfront residence known as Le Gai Soleil in 1994 for $5,425,000, selling their Paddington home Alster House the following year for a then suburb record of $2 million.
• The Point Piper beachfront home was sold by the late socialite Klara Saunders, wife of the late Westfield Holdings director John Saunders, who in turn had bought the property from Alan Bond in 1979 for $900,000.
• The Turnbulls commissioned a renovation by architect Michael Suttor shortly after they bought it, promptly dropping the Le Gai Soleil name. They then purchased the adjoining property Gwandalan for $7.1 million in 1999.

Malcolm Turnbull in the driveway of his house in 2009 when he was opposition leader.

Photo: Anthony Johnson
It was a clever purchase next door because that enabled them to carve some 600 square metres off that title to expand his waterfrontage. The remaining property was then redeveloped into a duplex and sold off in 2011 for $13.6 million to Ben and Tiffany Tilley.

• Agents familiar with the Point Piper market say the Turnbull home is in a similar price range to its waterfront neighbour. “It has all the same, key attributes as Altona in terms of size, quality of home, view and waterfrontage,” said Michael Dunn, of Richardson & Wrench Double Bay, who sold the adjoining property to the Turnbulls.
• Bill Malouf, of LJ Hooker Double Bay, said internally the Turnbull’s home was a much better house than Altona. “It’s an outstanding residence and one of the best in that position.”

Malcolm Turnbull and family. Source: Malcolmturnbull.com.au

Photo: Nicole Frost
The Mediterranean-style home was built in the 1930s and has retained many of its ornate features, such as arched roof tiles, arched doorways and windows and juliet balconies, all set behind elaborate wrought-iron gates.

• Set on 1940 square metres, it also has a swimming pool, boatshed and private jetty.
• It is a far cry from The Lodge, in Canberra, where the $6.4 million worth of renovations by Prime Minister Tony Abbott have been delayed. Works to repair the slate roof, remove asbestos, upgrade security features and replace electrical wiring and climate systems were due to be complete last year but are now set to be finished later this year.
• The other option for the Turnbulls is Kirribilli House, the two-storey, waterfront sandstone mansion that is the prime minister’s official Sydney base.

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Tech executive David Shein buys Point Piper mansion

158 Wolseley Road, POINT PIPER NSW 2027Domain.com May 17, 2016
Lucy Macken
Technology entrepreneur David Shein and his wife Colleen have found a new home following the recent sale of their two Vaucluse waterfront properties for $60 million.

The Page family home on Wolseley Road, Point Piper, has sold for about $21 million.

 

• Last month the Sheins joined with two of their Vaucluse neighbours to sell their properties combined for just shy of $80 million to Russian-born co-founder of Menulog Leon Kamenev.

158 Wolseley Road, POINT PIPER NSW 2027 7 Beds – 6 Baths – 6 Parking Once-in-a-lifetime 1,000sqm (approx.) Harbourfront Estate “Gazing north east over Felix Bay’s boat filled waters with views to Shark Island and across to Manly; this gracious 1890s residence represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire a magnificent harbour property of unlimited future promise.” The couple finalised negotiations to buy the Point Piper beachfront home of the Page family over the weekend for about $21 million.

One of the last remaining original homes in this highly prized suburb Held within the same family for nearly 70 years A level 1,000sqm (approx.) street-to-waterfront landholding Just under 12m beach frontage and direct private access to Lady Martin Beach Currently configured as two separate three bedroom residences plus studio apartment Beautifully retained period details and smart modern updates

 

The waterfront property was bought by technology entrepreneur David Shein and his wife Colleen.

The Page family home was listed last July with initial $28 million hopes with another agent before Bill Malouf, of LJ Hooker Double Bay, and Ken Jacobs, of Christie’s International, took over the listing last September with more subdued expectations.

• Neither agent would reveal the sale price nor buyer details, but Mr Jacobs confirmed the property had sold.
• The Lady Martins Beach property has been owned by the Page family since 1960 when the late legal luminary Brian Page, of Freehill Hollingdale and Page (now Freehills) bought it for £20,600 for his three sons Michael, Charles and Roderick.

The house on Wolseley Road, Point Piper.

Now configured as two dwellings, lawyer Michael Page, of Page Partners, and his wife Maria have downstairs, and jeweller Charles Page is upstairs.

• The Sheins are tipped to undertake some work on their beachfront home, which was always pitched as a renovator’s delight for the Point Piper buyer.
• Mr Shein is a former Fairfax Media board member and was the founder and former managing director of Dimension Data Australia before he became non-executive chairman of Montech Holdings.

The Sheins’ purchase price in Point Piper almost matches the combined $21.9 million the couple spent in 2000 and again in 2010 buying their adjoining waterfront properties in Vaucluse.

Read more:

• http://www.domain.com.au/news/tech-executive-david-shein-buys-point-piper-mansion-and-is-still-40-million-in-front-20160517-gow26c/
• http://www.domain.com.au/news/the-ripple-effect-from-the-charttopping-80-million-sale-in-vaucluse-20160804-gql4cj/
• The listing– Sold by private treaty 04 May 2016

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‘Elaine’ rumoured to have sold for a new price record

 

• OCTOBER 16, 2014 9:55AM

The John B Fairfax mansion, Elaine at 550 New South Head Rd, Point Piper.

Sydney’s real estate rumour mill has been in overdrive this week with talk that Australia’s priciest home has sold, but the record-breaking price is yet to be revealed. Elaine, a vast estate at 550 New South Head Rd, Point Piper, which has been in the Fairfax family for four generations, was listed earlier this year with a price estimate of “about” $100 million.

Aerial view of ‘Elaine’, the waterfront mansion belonging to businessman John B Fairfax.

Source: News Limited
The current price record for a residential home in Australia was set last year when Altona, also in Point Piper, fetched $52 million.

• The Fairfax compound is three times bigger than Altona at 6980q m of rare waterfront land.
• Several prestige Sydney agents, from both sides of the bridge, have told Property Confidential that a sale has already taken place.
• Ken Jacobs, of Christie’s International Real Estate, the exclusive agent behind the prestige sale is currently in Europe on business, leading to speculation that the buyer could be from overseas.
• A spokesperson for Christie’s would not confirm a sale had taken place.
  

  Elaine, a grand estate owned by the Fairfax family is rumoured to have sold for a record

While the $100 million price tag was widely reported when Elaine hit the market in January, Mr Jacobs told The Daily Telegraph there was “no actual price”.

• “I can say that it has no actual price point, in fact even the owners have not put a price on it,” Mr Jacobs said at the time.
• “There are no comparable properties, so that makes it difficult to gauge a price,” he said.
• “Elaine is three times the size of the nearby Point Piper home Altona, which sold for $52 million last year,” Mr Jacobs said.
• “Nothing like this come has onto the market before and the anticipation it has created is extraordinary.
• “But I can say that it will be a new Sydney record.”

Elaine has been owned by John B Fairfax for a number of decades.

In the Fairfax family for more than a century, the historic waterfront property is one of the last original harbour-front holdings to be offered for private sale.

• Built in 1863, Elaine was bought by the wealthy media family in 1891 and has been home to four generations of Fairfaxes.
• In 1989 the current owner, John B. Fairfax bought a large portion of the estate for $3 million from his father, Sir Vincent Fairfax.
• Despite the large land parcel and whopping triple-digit price tag, Elaine is not as well-known as the neighbouring estate of Fairwater, home to Lady Mary Fairfax.

The Fairfax family been Elaine, in Point Piper for a number of decades.

 

• The grand seven-bedroom Victorian mansion, also features seven-bathrooms, a ballroom, stables and a grass tennis court.
• Not listed on the State Heritage Register or with the National Trust, there is a possibility to change, upgrade or renovate the property.
• The land is over six separate titles and is zoned Residential 2B, which means additional homes could be built on the site, or even apartments.

The multimillion-dollar view from the balcony at Elaine in Point Piper.

The multimillion-dollar view from the balcony at Elaine in Point Piper. Source: Supplied
the home was first called Ni-No-Nan after its 1912 construction, a name that has thankfully been lost in time. Historically, the home is significant as one of only a small handful of the original constructions on the peninsula.

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1. ^ http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/04/26/1019441305501.html
2. ^ http://news.domain.com.au/domain/real-estate-news/treasures-of-the-vatican-20110610-1fvgh.html
3. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Piper,_New_South_Wales
4. ^ http://www.smh.com.au/domain/packers-hoping-redeveloped-garage-will-fetch-22m-plus-20130118-2cyxl.html
5. ^ http://news.domain.com.au/domain/real-estate-news/a-tale-of-two-peninsulas-20101210-18sfh.html
6. ^ http://www.propertyobserver.com.au/news/john-piven-large-seeks-to-push-through-point-piper-prestige-property-sales-paralysis/2012110857713
7. ^ Woollahra Municipal Council Application Assessment Panel, Sept 23 2008
8. ^ http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=2710169
9. ^ http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/11/13/1194766675241.html
10. ^ http://news.domain.com.au/domain/real-estate-news/treasures-of-the-vatican-20110610-1fvgh.html
11. ^ http://www.renovationplanning.com.au/stories/Millionaires_Road-0000000219.html
12. ^ http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/how-one-man-makes-8200-a-day-by-living-in-sydneys-best-street/2008/04/05/1207249535935.html
13. ^ http://www.smh.com.au/national/point-piper-dispute-leads-to-17m-lawsuit-20090723-duxb.html
14. ^ http://smh.com.au/domain/real-estate-news/ron-medich-house-sells-for-11-million-20131101-2wpx3.html
15. ^ Kilmory Development Control Plan December 2002 Woollahra Council NSW