Point Piper harbourfront with Chinese pagoda boathouse listed without any big bang

Point Piper harbourfront with Chinese pagoda boathouse listed without any big bang
Jonathan ChancellorDecember 7, 2020

Akuna, the Point Piper harbour front with historic Chinese boat shed, has been listed for sale.

It is offered for the first time offered in 20 years.

It has quietly slipped onto the market by Karen Daly, the successful author of the Fats & Figures range of books, and wife of Warren Daly, the big band performer.

The couple paid $7.75 million in 1997.

The Wolseley Road house was designed by Richard Christian and Walter Barda for retailing businessman John David, with interiors by Michael Love and Thomas Hamel.

Point Piper harbourfront with Chinese pagoda boathouse listed without any big bang

There is inclinator access from the street garaging.

It is being offered with a French Riviera style three bedroom garden apartment in the Danmark, which has failed to find a buyer in recent weeks.

Set on Seven Shillings Beach, it comes with a Pagoda boathouse, a rare Chinese-style timber boatshed, one of only two on Sydney Harbour influenced by the late Victorian fashion for the East and oriental design.

Point Piper harbourfront with Chinese pagoda boathouse listed without any big bang

The boatshed was part of the property once owned by W. G. "Knockout" Smith, a millionaire industrialist and horse owner-breeder whose mansion Danmark was at the top of the ridge, but Knockout preferred to spend most of his time in his one-room shed, allegedly because he couldn't stand his wife.

The founder of the glassmaking giant Australian Consolidated Industries was noted for having a glass of champagne for breakfast, on doctor's orders, and swimming daily, summer and winter, in the harbour. Smith made a reputation selling upper Hunter horses to Hollywood bigwigs including the movie mogul, Louis Mayer, of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

The horse Shannon left Smith's stable after being bought in 1947 for $54,600, an then Australian record. Smith raced him briefly before selling him for $62,500 to US owners who when racing him as a  seven-year-old - won the San Francisco County Handicap, in a time of 1m:55.6s for the nine-and-a-half furlongs (1,900m) which was 0.2s faster than the record established by US legend Sea Biscuit in 1936.

Apparently Knockout Smith he was easy to spot swimming because of his bather's cap. It last sold when the spritely John David secured $7.75 million in 1997 when bought by Daly's wife, Karen Alice Peerless.

No price guidance is offered by Sotheby's on realestate.com.au, but around $50 million could be expected.

 

 

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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