Madame Korner sells longtime Double Bay home

Judit Korner, of the Madame Korner beauty empire, secured a worthy $7.2 million at auction last night for her long-held Double Bay home, having had hopes of more than $6.5 million.

She is the matriarch of the beauty empire, but not the first Madame Korner behind the skin care salons and beauty therapy colleges which have morphed into the online world.

The spacious Bay Street Raffles-esque property has been Korner's home since her 1969 marriage to the late George Korner, who had lived there since 1964 when it was bought for £22,000.

Mrs Korner (nee Botta) was a young Hungarian student beautician at the Madame Korner beauty school in Sydney when she met the company's founder, George.

He as was reportedly a dashing chemist almost 30 years her senior when they married with George aged 51 years.

They together built a beauty empire inspired by George's mother, Johanna Korner, a beautician in Budapest, then Paris, who helped him set up a salon in Sydney in 1951.

The family had been steeped in the beauty business since 1904, fleeing Europe in 1943.

At its peak Madame Korner - the company credited with introducing European skincare, treatments and beauty regimes to Australian women - had numerous salons across Australia.

Michael Dunn and Robynne Arnouts, of Richardson & Wrench Double Bay secured the sale. Auctioneer Peter Baldwin announced it on the market at $6.67 million, and Title Tattle spotted the three subsequent bidders..

The five-bedroom home sits on a level 765 square metres opposite Steyne Park with dual street access.