Anambah House sells to Wayne Cooper GM
Anambah House, the 1889 residence on 29 hectares of prime Maitland grazing land with Hunter River frontage, has been sold for $1.75 million to Jann Zappacosta, the general manager of Wayne Cooper clothing, and her husband, Maurizio.
It was listed for sale at $1.79 million through Rhonda Nyquist of PRDnationwide Hunter Valley.
The Berry family has owned the property for three decades. It was built for grazier John Mackay, whose family also owned Redleaf House in Woollahra, now Woollahra Council Chambers.
Visitors through the years have included Dame Nellie Melba in 1908; she sang Home Sweet Home on the staircase. Two governor-generals, the Earl of Dudley and the Earl of Gowrie, visited over the years; and radio entertainers Roy "Mo" Rene and Jack Davey stayed in the 1950s when Anambah was the home of Hal Lashwood, one of the greats of Australian radio.
It was the setting for the film Country Life, starring Greta Scacchi and Sam Neill, in 1994.
The two-storey Victorian-era mansion retains all the original features, including its cedar joinery, 10 marble fireplaces, and servants' bell-pushes. Its cedar staircase has two large stained-glass windows on the first landing. It has pressed metal ceilings in upstairs bedrooms, a slate roof, sandstock bricks and original cast-iron lace veranda rails.
There is a separate billiard room built in 1906, along with stable and servants quarters. Its gated grounds have several Bunyah pines and a 1993 tennis pavilion.
