Iconic Domain Road, South Yarra listing shines in $3,195,000 million sale

The former observatory South Yarra home of Professor Georg von Nuemayer - a noted astronomer and polar explorer - has been sold.

The landmark South Yarra home fetched $3,195,000, with just the two bidders.

Located on a corner block, the 203 square metre four bedroom home has several living areas plus terrace courtyard and double garage.

The 119 Domain Road, South Yarra property was sold by Kay & Burton agents Gowan Stubbings and Emma Bloom, who had expected between $2.75 million and $3 million.

It has last traded for about $1 million in 1998.

Title Tattle recalls $2.5 million was achieved two along in 2009 when the Georgian-style townhouse of property entrepreneur Will Deague sold. It had cost $1.7 million when 123 Domain Road was bought in 2004, opposite the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Von Nuemayer, who lived between 1826 and 1909, was the director of the Flagstaff Observatory, and former member, councillor, Vice President and honorary life member of the Royal Society of Victoria.

There now sits a plaque on the property commemorating the significance of the home set on the Hope Street corner, formerly known as Montpelier Terrace/Place. 

After he arrived in Melbourne in January 1857, he secured government funding for an interim observatory, with the instruments provided by the King of Bavaria, at what is now Flagstaff Gardens. The Botanic Gardens observatory opened in 1862.

Von Neumayer undertook major astronomical work from the basement in the Domain Road property during his residency in the 1860s.

Historic sketches of the pendulum room where the work was conducted (such as the one below) appear in then contemporaneous publications. 

Source: Royal Society of Victoria