Ascot trophy Windermere breaks suburb record with $13 million plus sale
Windermere, the landmark Ascot, Brisbane home, has sold for over $13 million, breaking the affluent suburb's residential house price record.
The Victorian-style trophy on Sutherland Avenue, one of the oldest in Ascot, was sold to a local developer through Ray White New Farm agents Matt Lancashire and Hamish Bowman.
Lancashire said there was a lot of interest in the estate.
“We had a lot of interest from interstate, plus expat buyers in the UK, Hong Kong and Singapore plus some Australian farmers, especially from country Victoria", Lancashire said.
"The land size alone was very attractive as it’s over an acre of land, one of the largest land parcels in the area."
“We had serious buyers but in fact the winning buyers weren’t actively looking, they were passive buyers as they have a beautiful home themselves but saw this unique property was on the market and jumped at the chance to buy it”.
Windermere was originally built for Ruth Sutherland, the daughter of pastoralist James Sutherland, the street's namesake who acquired a substantial landholding in the 1850s.
Ruth went on to marry solicitor and later pastoralist and politician John Appel and the two were the first occupants of the home.
Believed to have been designed by architect Richard Galley, Windermere has had a whose who of occupants over its 130 year history.
The cattle baron TJ Cottee lived in the home, as did Robert Bentley, the accountant and long-term chairman of Racing Queensland and for 40 years from 1920s, prominent doctor Sir Ellis Murphy and wife Mary owned the home.
The late Ariadne Corp deputy chairman Peter Maloney and wife Janet owned the property in the 80s and 90s, selling for $1.8 million in 1994.
The gated Windermere, set on 4,665 sqm, the largest block on the street, has six bedrooms, four bathrooms, a media room, home office, 1,500 bottle wine cellar and a sauna.
Its centrepiece is the marble provincial inspired kitchen, flanked by grand formal lounge and dining areas. There's further casual lounge and dining spaces.
Lancashire says the newly installed commercial-grade kitchen is arguably the best in Brisbane, maybe even across Queensland.
The deep wrap-around verandahs open to the park-like manicured gardens which feature a central deck with outdoor kitchen and pizza oven, a swimming pool and spa and a tennis court, set amid level lawns.
Windermere was last sold by pub baron Andrew Griffiths and wife Helen to the local Miers family. The $10.2 million sale in 2014 was the highest price paid in Brisbane since 2007.
Sutherland Avenue, a street of just 15 houses with views to the Moreton Bay region, is the most-sought after street in the suburb and homes some of the suburb's most expensive houses.
The big ticket prices really kicked off in 2003 when fashion designer Keri Craig-Lee and her cattle baron husband Trevor, the former Australia Country Choice chairman, spent $6.12 million on the house Sutherland.
Two years ago Glenn Rutherford, the executive vice president of global cargo handling giant Swissport, paid $11 million for the nearby home of Domino's Pizza boss Don Meij, a street and suburb record.
Meij had paid $8,615,000 two years earlier when buying from Maxine Horne, one of Australia's richest female CEO's, and her Fone Zone co-founder ex-husband David McMahon.
Coronis Hamilton agents Andrew Coronis and Patrick Mckinnon quietly sold the six bedroom home on 2,025 sqm. It toppled the former street record, set in 2014 when the 1880's built Windermere sold for $10.2 million.