Point Piper's Altona stands proud amid tabloid media demolition hysterics

The low-key Huang family were hosting guests at Altona, their prized $52 million Point Piper home, yesterday.

It was an outdoor lunch on the alfresco terrace they've installed on the previously neglected tennis court block.

Leeuwin Estate and Penfolds shiraz were available along with the BBQ prawns.

The family and guests had earlier popped down to the harbourfront jetty to take photographs with the trophy home, Altona as the backdrop.Title Tattle was cruising Sunday morning spotting the obviously proud family as they posed and then pointed out the classic features of their iconic Victorian Italianate home to their international guests. 

Possibly they were all oblivious to the silly speculation in the Fairfax Media Sunday tabloid that had suggested Altona was the "next" trophy home set for demolition. "Altona likely to be demolished," said the headline without any subsequent proof.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Title Tattle gathers neighbours have been merely advised to expect bathroom renovations at the Wunulla Road property, not the wrecking ball. 

Indeed the mere absence of the property from the forthcoming 1995 Woollahra Council local environment plan update doesn't make it the next to be bulldozed. There has been no application by the Huang family, just an overdue consideration by council of what homes across the municipality should and should not be included in the updated local environment plan.

Title Tattle suggests the recent demolition of nearby Craig-y-mor, anticipated for five years, ought not have been extrapolated into the reckless weekend report that Altona too faces the same outcome.

However the depiction of reality further faded by mid-morning when the international Daily Mail website managed to completely mangle the earlier Sun Herald report to its worldwide audience.

Source: Daily Mail

It wrote:

"A $54 million waterfront mansion located in an exclusive Sydney suburb is set to become the most expensive Australian property to be knocked down.

"The Altona residence in Point Piper, located just metres back from Sydney Harbour, will smash the current record for a demolition property by more than $20 million if a decision to move the wrecking ball in get's approved next month.

"The fate of the 1960s estate is in the hands of Sydney's Woolhara (sic) Council, which will need to assess whether the benefits of building a more contemporary estate on the site outweighs the current property's heritage listed significance. A heritage assessment report compiled for the council recommends against the knockdown of the Victorian Italianate residence, but the report only lists the original features of the two-storey residence as being a parapet, two chimneys and a tower."

The entire Daily Mail report was wrong, jumping to conclusions based on the misleading intent within the originating Sun Herald article. The Australian Financial Review has also republished the piece under the heading, Sydney mansion Altona faces demolition. 

Last June, after its $52 million sale, Woollahra councillors moved a motion that a report be prepared considering the heritage significance and possible heritage listing of the property at 54-56 Wunulla Road, Point Piper, known as Altona including its curtilage.

It concluded renovations and extensions over the decades meant there was little origin heritage within the estate.

That's a pity, but it hardly warrants the hysterically misleading weekend reports.