Waimea House Sandy Bay Tasmania

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Waimea House, a Federation Arts and Crafts-style residence in Sandy Bay, Tasmania, has been sold for a record $8.5 million in a late 2011 deal that has stunned the island’s estate agents. The sale to Greg Woolley sets a Tasmanian residential record for a second time in nine months,

Waimea House, a Federation Arts and Crafts-style residence

Occupying one of the finest positions in Hobart, Waimea House is a Federation Arts and Crafts mansion set on 9726 square metres, with a pool, tennis court, and a smaller second residence with Art Deco influences, a vacant block in Waimea Ave and four vacant blocks in Quamby Ave. The recent sale is understood to have been the same property portfolio.

Located in prestigious Sandy Bay, the landmark property has magnificent harbour and Derwent River views.
Many regard the landmark property as occupying the finest position in Hobart, with harbour views and complete privacy.

Read more: by Jonathan Chancellor Thursday, 12 January 2012

Ornate ceiling and bay window nook

Waimea House had only been sold nine months earlier in 2011 for a record $6.06 million. Its latest buyer is the low-key investment banker Greg Woolley from Point Piper, Sydney, who lives at exclusive Point Piper, Sydney, in a house bought for $10.55 million in 2005.

• He was born in Hobart in 1973 and is understood to have admired the home since childhood.
• Mr Woolley is a former Macquarie Bank banker and a long-time adviser to the Lieberman family of Melbourne.
• He is believed to have considered buying the property when it was on the market at the time Mr Dawson-Damer and his wife bought it.
• Mr Woolley is believed to have approached the couple directly and a deal was reached without an agent.

Original fireplace and leadlight windows

Waimea was sold by prominent Hobart family, the Nettlefolds, who then sold $1 million-plus of its contents through Mossgreen Auctions.

• The property had previously been in the Nettlefold family ownership for 70 years until sold in early 2011.
• The prominent Hobart family had consolidated a four-block amalgamation over the past 70 years.
• The late Len Nettelfold, a successful businessman and Australian amateur golf champion, was the son of Tasmanian Motors founder Robert Nettlefold. The family had the General Motors dealership on the island, which was subject to a 1982 takeover bid by then young entrepreneur Christopher Skase, who made a reputed $1.5 million plus from his brief foray.

Investment financier Greg Woolley, is a former Macquarie banker and a long-time adviser to Melbourne’s billionaire Liberman family.

• Woolley owns two residences interstate: a beachfront house at Noosa and a mansion in Hobart. Born in the Apple Isle, Woolley set a Tasmanian residential price record in 2011 when he bought Waimea House for $8 million from former Sydneysiders Piers Dawson-Damer and his wife, Kim.
• The couple had bought the trophy Sandy Bay property about a year earlier from the prominent Nettlefold family, who’d owned it since 1948.
• Woolley was a founder of Global Aviation Asset Management with the late David Coe. In August 2011, when this aviation leasing company was sold, Woolley was reported to have collected about $42.5 million.

The Sandy Bay property was marketed as Hobart’s most prestigious and distinguished residential estate:
“This landmark property occupies the finest position in Hobart with stunning harbour views, complete privacy and surrounding land with an overall area of 9,726 square metres or thereabouts,” the brochure says.

Art Nouveau inspired wallpaper and furnishings

Tiled sunroom and conservatory

Garden with stunning view

View of Sandy Bay Tasmania

Lawn with a view