Actor Toni Collette changes her mind over Paddo and buys again in Bronte: Title Tattle
Academy Award-nominated actor Toni Collette, the star of the TV series United States of Tara, and her musician husband, David Galafassi, are set to stay at Bronte ... and not move to Paddington. The couple had decided mid-last year that rather than undertake an expensive Bronte renovation, they’d buy elsewhere. They quickly secured a $6 million Paddington property, but then struggled to find a buyer for their redundant unrenovated hillside house. Their 1885 Bronte weatherboard cottage that cost $4.4 million in mid-2009 was tipped to sell for around $3.5 million through its McGrath Estate Agents listing agent Bethwyn Richards. When the buyer finally came along just before Christmas, it seems the entertainment industry couple decided to do a tidy swap deal.
They bought their buyer’s own house in Bronte, which was topped up by some cash given the price difference. The location and price of their newly acquired Bronte house has not yet emerged, but Title Tattle, disguised as a forgotten umbrella at a recent open for inspection, gleans it was the $5.5 million house that the Turnbull family have sold through Di Jones agents Catherine Dixon and Louise Snowden. Title Tattle loves the gum tree on the very private 1,100-square-metre hillside estate. Meanwhile the double-fronted Paddington purchase – which was bought from Nick and Susie Kelly, the founders and owners of Industrie clothing – seems now set to be relisted once all the intertwined settlement resolution issues are finalised. It had been snapped at an undisclosed price – but understood to be slightly more than $6 million quite early in its October marketing campaign by McGrath agent Ben Collier. Designed by architect Anthony Gill and completed in 2009, the five-bedroom, four-bathroom house on a 360-square-metre block was a record for the southern side of Oxford Street, Paddington. Consisting of two classic Victorian terraces combined into a palatial single residence, the contemporary tri-level family retreat had been reinvented to embrace light flooded indoor/outdoor living. The two terraces cost $2.15 million in 2003 and $1.865 million in 2005.
Collette and Galafassi, parents of baby son Arlo and three-year-old daughter Sage, recently stayed in Bronte but rented the redundant house of media tycoon Lachlan Murdoch and his wife, model Sarah, which remains for sale through Christies International.
Expatriate Tim Throsby, the global head of equity derivatives at J. P.Morgan, has listed his Darling Point apartment. The six-bedroom, four-bathroom apartment is in the 1915 Babworth House (pictured above and below), a grand Arts and Crafts-style mansion that was adapted into apartments 10 years ago. Babworth House was built as the home of retailer Sir Samuel Hordern. Spanning three levels, the apartment includes the original panelled ballroom. It last traded at $8.1 million in 2006 when sold by Phil and Ann-Maree Kerry, and $8 million plus was being sought on its brief 2010 listing.
After a tip-off on its availability from Title Tattle, the then Channel Nine boss Eddie McGuire and his wife, Carla, rented the apartment during their Sydney sojourn. In 2006, learning quickly of the divide between the north shore and eastern suburbs in Sydney, McGuire sought to rent in the east, while working in Willoughby. His neighbours included the late executive chairman of Macquarie Bank, David Clarke, and his wife, Jane, the late longtime Walt Disney product licensee Walter Granger and his wife, Joy, and the director of Argo Investments, Robert Rich, and his wife, Helen. The apartment has been listed through Raine & Horne Double Bay agents Martin Maskin and Michael Pallier. Throsby and his wife, Helen, spent $5.6 million to upgrade their Bilgola retreat to a beachfront property, Cobblestones, in 2010.
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Rock Lee, the Clontarf abode (pictured above) of the former Valad chairman Stephen Day, has been listed for sale. Its LJ Hooker Seaforth agent David Rothschild describes it as an “exquisite” home – one of Sydney's finest. The Monash Crescent property was bought by Day’s wife, Sarah, for $5.65 million in 2005. With beach access, the contemporary residence was designed by architect Jon King featuring a north-west aspect. Accommodation consists of five bedrooms, four mosaic-tiled bathrooms, plus off-street parking for four cars and garaging for two more. There’s a dumbwaiter that services every floor, while a large climate-controlled wine cellar and a custom-designed home office complete the picture. The house features Italian anthracite (limestone) floors and walls, a multi-zoned Sonos sound system, keyless entry, underfloor heating, ducted reverse-cycle air-conditioning, two 5,000-litre rainwater tanks and a sophisticated security system. The couple thought about selling this time last year, but have now launched their marketing campaign, no doubt with suburb price record expectations.
Radio personality Barry Bissell, who hosted Take 40 Australia for 20 years, is selling his ground floor Prahran apartment (pictured above). The debonair and a snazzy dresser who was the voice of FOX FM for 20 years has lived at the 1928 apartment for 12 years and is seeking larger premises. The two-bedroom gracious apartment has kauri pine floors and central heating, and it is close to trams, trains and schools. Kay & Burton’s Scott Patterson and Chris Alcock have the listing, and expectations are for an $800,000-plus sale.
Marilynne Paspaley has listed Rillworth (pictured above), the 1910 Darling Point residence, through McGrath agent Ben Collier. With grand interiors, the five-bedroom house comes with harbour views from its 690-square-metre New Beach Road block. It last traded 21 years at $1.75 million in 1990. Offers are due March 16. Pinctada Cable Beach Spa Resort, the flagship of Paspaley’s hospitality group, has been honoured with back-to-back gold accolades at the Western Australian Tourism Awards.
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It was in 1996 when a pretty, double-fronted Victorian then unrenovated eight-room Caroline Street, South Yarra brick-and-timber house (pictured above) last sold. Its selling agent Philippe Batters was just about to knock the hammer down the house when a woman stopped the auction to ask the highest $645,000 bidder, “Are you going to develop it? We are neighbours, and we want to know". The answer was duly given and now the lovely time capsule has returned to the market with its Peter Carmichael redesign by the Liberman family for all to inspect. The light-filled house, with open-plan living and dining areas and adjacent outdoor entertaining spaces, comes with many modern features including Scandinavian myrtle floors and hydronic heating. Offers are due on the house, which sits on an 895-square-metre block, by February 28 through Darren Lewenberg and Gowan Stubbings at Kay & Burton.
The modern home behind its Victorian façade was briefly listed last July through Justin Long at Marshall White with $4 million-plus hopes, which were revised to $3.75 million plus. Set on an 1840 subdivision, the lot first sold in 1854 for £200. The 1870s the brick additions to the earlier cottage were made for grocer George Walker, who’d purchased the property for £600 in 1870. It’s believed Walker also added the Italianate front wing with its polychromatic brick and twin bay windows.
At Point Piper in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, they are getting serious now about marketing the home of recruitment queen Julia Ross (pictured above). The hillside Wolseley Road offering was discreetly put on the market late last year, but now is having a big campaign. The trophy residence has $40 million-plus hopes through Ken Jacobs of Christie's Great Estates and LJ Hooker Double Bay's Bill Malouf. Villa del Mare, the limestone palazzo sits on a 1,508-square-metre block. Its stonework was installed by Chris Norris when built in the late 1990s by the developer Nati Stoliar to a design by architect Chris Tsioulos of CMT Architects. Title Tattle would suggest it’s almost certain to sell to Chinese buyers.
The Londish family have listed Roseburn (pictured above), the 1901 Warrawee residence set on 3,700 square metres. The six-bedroom residence was designed by the renowned Federation architect Howard Joseland for George Gillespie, of the Gillespie flour-milling family. Standing behind tall wrought-iron gates, Roseburn was named after the Gillespie family home in Edinburgh, Scotland. In the expansive grounds surrounding the house are a tennis court and swimming pool. In 1992, the 21-room mansion was bought for $3.15 million by Ian Londish, son of the property developer Sid Londish. Londish bought it from Bill Keighran, the former Freedom Furniture director and wife Lynette, who’d bought it from then Pioneer Concrete boss Rod Price for $2.8 million in early 1992. It comes with soaring entry foyer, grand entertaining areas including formal lounge and dining rooms with marble fireplaces, and high french doors opening to a deep covered terrace. The grounds also come with rolling lawns and spa with cabana. It’s been listed by Don MacLennan at Richardson & Wrench Lindfield in conjunction with Tracey McDonald at Chadwick Real Estate. It last sold in 1992 at $3.15 million.
Menno van Uden, the presumably very busy head of risk and corporate credit at the Royal Bank of Scotland, has spent $3.1 million in Kirribilli. The property last sold at $2.05 million in 2001. It was listed through LJH Hooker agent Emma Brown in June last year with $3,425,000 hopes. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, founded in 1727, has been in Australia since 1974.