Jackie O swaps Paddington pad for valley hideaway
JACKIE O, the top-rating 2Day FM announcer, and her husband Lee Henderson have sold their 1890s Paddington house. The three-level, four-bedroom Victorian terrace that sits on a 210-square-metre block with lock-up parking for two cars had been listed with $3 million hopes for March auction.
The terrace (above) sold just days ago through Martin Maskin at Raine & Horne Double Bay, who had been confident he could secure close to the expectation. The couple have revamped the Elizabeth Street terrace since buying it in 2009 for $2.75 million from Shine producer Jane Scott, whose film credits started rolling in 1972 on the set of The Adventures of Barry McKenzie. Scott, who paid $520,000 in 1989, had it revamped under the guidance of designer Robert Grubb. The couple hasn’t yet been spotted out looking for a replacement Sydney bolthole, with the Hendersons happy in the meantime to maintain a 42-hectare Kangaroo Valley farm that was recently featured on the cover of the must-read Southern Highlands magazine, High Life. The cover story showed off its amazing construction completion since the $825,000 purchase of the block in 2005. Since the birth of Kitty, their first child, Jackie can do most of her broadcasts from the south coast property, allowing her to sleep until shortly before her three-hour shift at 6am.
Fox FM Melbourne breakfast co-host Jo Stanley and her husband Darren McFarlane have sold their Elwood home (below) for $1.26 million.
It had been listed with $1.15 million to $1.25 million hopes. The couple purchased the three-bedroom terrace in 2006 for $752,000, about three years before the arrival of daughter Willow. Near the beach and Elwood village, the semi-detached Edwardian has two living areas and a relatively large side yard. They have upgraded to a four-bedroom plus study Art Deco family home after the sale by Chisholm & Gamon Elwood agents Torsten Kasper and Daen Ziegler. Jo Stanley’s real maiden name is Bailey, which she changed to avoid confusion with fashion expert Jo Silvagni (née Bailey) and hairdresser Joh Bailey.
The Brisbane home of the late sound man Sam Savvas has been listed for August 4 auction. Its columns leave the Acropolis in the shade. The seven bedroom-house (below), which covers 2500 square metres, was built in 2000 after the 4047-square-metre block cost $305,000 in 1999.
It has been listed through Sarah Bushell of Place Estate Agents Bulimba. Stretton, which is 17km south of the CBD, has a $325,000 median price, according to RP Data.
Savvas, who died of a heart attack in May, was behind the Brisbane-headquartered Wow Sight and Sound chain of electronics superstores.
Executive chairman of the Macquarie Radio Network, Russell Tate, and his wife, Carole, have sold their Longueville waterfront mansion for just shy of $5.8 million. The Tates, who are downsizing, bought the three-level Mediterranean-style house in 1998 for $2,775,000. With views over Yacht Bay, the four-bedroom, four-bathroom house was built in 1991 on a 1454-square-metre block, which cost $1.7 million in 1988. The Tates had the Amalfi Place cul-de-sac property listed with Brent Courtney at McGrath Lane Cove with $6.6 million hopes since November 2010.
Chef Steven Snow, who Title Tattle seems to recall gained his following at Chez Gourmet in Darlinghurst in the mid-1980s, and his Portuguese wife, Margarita, have sold their hinterland Byron Bay retreat. Snow opened Fins in 1991 in a quirky old building on the riverbanks of Brunswick Heads on the NSW far north coast, becoming renowned for Brunswick bouillabaisse, his saffron-scented Portuguese-style caldeirada crammed with local bug tails, mussels, scallops, spannercrab and fish. The property, bought back in times when $79,000 got you a hillside acreage, sold just weeks after its scheduled June auction. Seeking more than $1.2 million, First National Byron agent Helen Huntly-Barratt had the listing of the four-hectare property at Possum Creek. Reflecting the ambient north coast lifestyle, the Greg Tollis-designed house (below) was master built by Steve Lucas using the finest grade timbers.
Its chefs kitchen features solid Portuguese marble benches. The positioning of the property on the block ensured it had the best northern aspect, privacy and also an easy stroll to their own swimming hole and waterfall on the creek. The one-hatted restaurant Fins moved in the late 1990s to The Beach Hotel in Byron Bay, but Snow left when the Van Haandel syndicate took possession of the property from John “Strop” Cornell and his wife, Delvene Delaney, in early 2007. His book Byron: Cooking And Eating, with photography by Brett Boardman, was published by Murdoch Books in 2008. Given Fins is now at the Salt Village at Kingscliff, the property had been in the rental pool at $800 a week.
Just down the Pine Mountain Road is Cedar Springs, the imposing Possum Creek holding still listed by Duncan and Sally Mount. The 132-hectare property (below) was bought from actors Paul and Linda Hogan in 2006 for $8.1 million.
Its five-bedroom, Renaissance-style mansion overlooking a rainforest canopy now sits on 47 hectares following a subdivision. It comes with $7.9 million-plus hopes through Nicolette van Wijngaarden at Unique Estates. The property advertising history website, REfindhouseprices.com, suggests it had been listed for 444 days when Title Tattle looked mid-week, compared with the Snow property which sold on its 44th day on the market.
Title Tattle aims to tell you as soon as we know – often before it happens – so the word from Sydney’s eastern surburbs is that estate agents have been making tracks to appraise the former Sydney Harbour home (below) of arts patron Ann Lewis.
It was her home for about 55 years, and will now be listed by her four children, Amanda Zsebik, Tony Lewis, Annalise Scanlan and Daniel Lewis, following her death in May. Gone is her contemporary art collection – having been given to regional galleries in her last act of generosity – including a massive John Olsen painting that hung from her dining room ceiling for 45 years. It’s now, with an estimated $2 million value, at the Newcastle Regional Gallery. Her home town of Moree has been given 65 works by indigenous artists. A Mungindi grazier's daughter, Ann Livingston met building construction magnate John Lewis on the dance floor at Prunier's in Woollahra. Luciano Pavarotti was just one of many dinner guests at Anne Lewis’ three-level villa, which would not look out of place overlooking the Mediterranean.
Speaking of which, and don’t say Title Tattle told you, but apparently currency trader Ivan Ritossa, who once held the record for the highest-priced Sydney harbour-front purchase, has just had friends and family to celebrations for his 50thbirthday at St Jean Cap Ferrat in the south of France. It’s becoming quite the trend of late; investment banker John Wylie had his super-quiet 50th birthday celebrations recently in nearby Monaco. Of course Ritossa has his own Cap Ferrat retreat – L'Aniram du Cap – bought through his Narnia Investments company.
It (above) has views across the so-called bay of billioniares towards Monaco and Italy from its vantage point in the shadow of the palms of Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild. The expatriate Singapore-based global head of foreign exchange for Barclays Capital, and his wife Marina, own the $45 million Sydney residence Coolong, which they bought for a then-record price in 2008. The Vaucluse house with a private beach, currently rented to Lachlan and Sarah Murdoch, dates back to Sir Alexis Albert, from the Boomerang music songbook family, who built on the 4100-square-metre block in 1936.
