Leura, Bellevue Hill trophy sold
A record $30 million plus has been paid for Leura, the Bellevue Hill trophy home.
The businessman Ken Allen and his wife, Christine sold at an undisclosed price to an Australian Chinese buyer the day before its scheduled private auction.
The home was listed in August by Michael Finger and Diane Wilson of Ray White Double Bay.
One of Sydney's finest estates, the 1891 Bellevue Hill mansion has just had the six owners through its 125 years.
It was built on the Bellevue Hill ridge line for the Knox family, of the then burgeoning Colonial Sugar Refinery empire.
The Federation Queen Anne style home dates back to the 1890s when built for Tom Knox, managing director of the Dalgety stock and station agency.
It last traded through Michael Finger in 1986 for a then very impressive $7.3 million when sold by the top end home restorer Bill Shipton and Zaro Elizov, who'd engaged building designer, Roderick Learoyd, trained at the Oxford School of Architecture, to assist in its renaissance. Mark Bouris helped in its financing.
The calendar company patriarch Ken Allen and his wife, Christine, have homes in New Zealand and London.
The eight bedroom, eight bathroom heritage home sits on a 4260 sqm block with tennis court and a swimming pool. It does now need renovations which limited some buying interest.
It tops the $28 million suburb record set in 2013 when property developer Bob Ell bought Addenbrooke.
Leura has been the spring of 2015's top listing and now sale. Underbidders were advised they needed to quickly match the pre-auction offer which was not subject to FIRB approval.