Oybin, the Italianate Annandale villa sold

Oybin, an 1880s Annandale mansion, sold at competitive weekend auction for $3.12 million.

Its sits on Johnston Street's historic Ridge Development, which commands sweeping views of the city and the harbour.

Built in the Classical Revival style, the home fell into disrepair but it has been extensively restored over recent decades.

Surrounded by 120-year-old palms, it was listed with $3 million price guidance by the BresicWhitney agent Matthew Carvalho.

There was an opening bid of $2.925 million after a $2.9 million vendor bid began proceedings at the onsite auction beneath planes flying through the cloudy sky.

The enduring existence of Oybin is due entirely to locals who rallied to form the Annandale Association and save local historic homes from 1970s unit developers.

They were just in time as high-rise unit blocks sits on two sides.

It last sold at a suburb price record of $2.1 million in 2007 when the Italianate villa was sold by Dr Dwight Dowda and psychologist Francesco Lo Pizzo.

It had previously traded at $580,000 in 1995 when sold by renovators, Paul and Yvonne Maule. 

Vendor Norma Perry researched the architect C.H.E Blackmann. The mansion was designed by, and built for, Charles Blackmann who quit Australia, so it was researched, with a local barmaid and money embezzled from his partnership with architect John Sulman. 

She published a racy tale of fraud and exile, but records his substantial contribution to architecture in Australia, along with a story of German migration, mining, family life in Victorian times and the consequences of his desertion and flight to California.

This article was first published in the Sunday Telegraph.