Kooyong trophy Grenfell built for The Age's Syme family listed

Grenfell, a Kooyong home with rich publishing history, has hit the market.

It was built in the early 1930s for Hugh Randall Syme, a grandson of David Syme whose family held The Age for decades.

He was a highly decorated bomb detection naval officer in World War II and later became general manager of David Syme & Co.

The Mernda Road arts-and-crafts-style home, (above and below) in Edna Walling-designed gardens, was designed by Godfrey & Spowers.

The home was sold by the Syme family to its current vendors in 2001 for $1.49 milliom.

The four bedroom home is built with timber beamed ceilings, open fireplaces, rustic stonework, tapestry bricks and leadlight windows.

Kay & Burton's Ross Savas and Steven Rode has a guide of between $5.5 million and $6 million.

Meanwhile the site of the former Syme mansion, Rockingham, offloaded in the 1940s has been developed into the Rockingham Townhouses complex.

There is only one of the five Coy Yiontis Architects-designed townhouses left, priced at $3.2 million through Kay & Burton agent Michael Armstrong.

This article was first published in the Weekend Australian.