Miner Stephen Turner mooted Rockwall House, Potts Point trophy home buyer
The sale of the Potts Point Georgian villa Rockwall House appears a little less mysterious, with word from the neighbourhood that an Elizabeth Bay mining tycoon is its buyer.
It sold for an undisclosed $10.2 million last month, the suburb's third-highest house price.
The biggest clue came when the contents of the 1830s-era house were recently auctioned through Mossgreen Auctions.
Title Tattle noticed the keenest bidding came from mining industry magnate, Stephen Turner, a non-executive director of Iluka Resources Limited, the world’s largest producer of zircon, and his wife, Phi Phi, aka FiFi.
Stephen and Phi Phi Turner at the Rockwall House, Potts Point contents auction
Stephen Turner has delivered resource projects in Australia, Southern Africa, Fiji, New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands.
He headed International Ferro Metals Limited for seven year, which produces over 3% of global ferrochrome supply. He's non-executive chairman of Vantage Goldfields Limited, an Australian gold company operating in South Africa. The charter accountant was a founding director of the Australian subsidiary of PSG Investment Bank, then South Africa’s fifth largest investment bank.
The property developer Mirvac, who built the adjacent Rockwall apartment complex, had its restoration overseen by heritage architect Howard Tanner.
The heritage-listed villa designed by architect John Verge last traded in 1999 when bought it for $2 million.
Relisted last December through Peter Blacket of Blacket & Glasgow, it was offloaded by antique enthusiast Lilian Barclay-Rollason, the partner of solicitor John Rollason, who first sought to secure its sale in 2011 with $13 million hopes.
The couple married at the house on April 26 in 2008, though the title remained in her name only.
John Cameron Rollason was for a number of years a partner at Gadens and then a contractor consultant to Lane & Lane from 1996.