Vestey Kirribilli trophy home on the harbour sells above $10 million
The Vestey home on the harbour at Kirribilli fetched $10.22 million when auctioned yesterday.
There were four bidders for one of the handful of freestanding homes with absolute waterfrontage in the lower north shore suburb.
It sold under the auction hammer after 49 years ownership having last traded at $66,000.
The classic, but tired 1930s estate at 19 Elamang Ave, was knocked down to the bidder with the luck 8 bidding registration card, Michael and Louise Tang, who operate supermarkets in Papua New Guinea.
The couple, who own nearby, were the last to enter the bidding contest, at just over $10 million.
There had been a $7 million opening offer, and with a slow start the bidding flew once car dealer John Newell entered the fray at $7.6 million. Newell had been the last to lodge his bidding registration with what proved to be his unlucky bidding card, 1904.
Announced as on the market at $9.6 million, the 765 sqm property was offered following the death last October of Joyce Strong, née Vestey.
She was the mother of the notorious Michael Telling, who died in 2010, and the grandmother of the 37 year old, Matthew.
She was the daughter of the Hon Leonard Vestey, 1888-1954, the third son of 1st Baron Vestey. The Vestey family became one of the biggest butchery families in the world, built on the merits of cold-storage shipping. William, the first Lord Vestey, and his brother, Edmund set up an integrated business raising and killing their cattle on the cheap land in Australia and Latin America and shipping meat to Britain, where they developed a chain of butcher shops.
Dr Thomas Hugh Strong, her second husband, was with the United Nations food and agricultural organisation.
The property had been listed with a price guide of $9 million to $9.5 million through Belle Property agents Mark Jackson and Matthew Smythe.
The last freestanding home on the Kirribilli strip traded nine years ago when money media personality Paul Clitheroe paid $7.75 million.