Does Taynish's sale signal the wakening of the Bellevue Hill giant?

There was an $8.15 million mid-week sale of Taynish.

Is Bellevue Hill the wakening giant? It went to a local buyer after his opening $7 million bid was met by competitive bidding. Auctioneer Peter Baldwin advised the crowd it was certainly for sale when bidding got to $7.8 million.

The six bedroom unrenovated 18 Victoria Road trophy home was the residence of the Finlay family for the past 48 years.

It sold at a bullish price through Richardson & Wrench Double Bay agents Michael Dunn and James Dunn.

The local News Ltd paper, The Wentworth Courier has speculated it would fetched $7.5 million plus.

The property has harbour views from its prized north aspect.

The trophy home was designed by the architect F. Glynn Gilling on its 967 square metre block

It was sold by the family of the late Mervyn Finlay, a QC and judge.

At the University of Sydney, Finlay earned Blues in rowing and athletics, and later rowed for Australia in the Eights at the 1950 Christchurch Centenary Games, where the crew evolved their own form of haka, based on their initials, to answer the challenge of their New Zealand competitors. 

In 1952 Finlay was rowing sixth in the Australian Eight in the Helsinki Olympic Games. 

Mervyn David Finlay was born on June 17, 1925, the only son of Mervyn Finlay and his wife, Marjorie (nee Kirkwood), and he had a sister, Barbara. 

In 1955, Finlay married Prudence Teece, who was at auction with the children. 

His SMH obituary noted he was a highly regarded barrister. 

He served for 11 years in the Common Law Division of the court, conducting civil and criminal trials and also sitting as a member of the Court of Criminal Appeal. He was respected as a hard-working judge. After retiring from the bench in September 1995, he then undertook more work, including being appointed Inspector of the Police Integrity Commission.