Woollahra Manse “Headingley” Hits Market; Wants to Break Records

Although we have a fun backlog of properties to feature here, this Woollahra mansion popped up on the market (seemingly out of nowhere! like manna from the Heavens!) and required our immediate attention. In much the same way Altona in Point Piper dictates harbourfront real estate and Kalua in Palm Beach calls the oceanfront shots, Headingley is a quiet benchmark of the Woollahra luxury market. Quietly positioned on a tree-lined Consular Precinct road, the 1883-built home was redesigned in the 1930s by the famed Leslie Wilkinson and sits on a 1738sqm block, one of the largest in this high point of Woollahra. 

As Jonathan Chancellor reports, the home has been in the hands of the Spender family since 1949. About two years back, Russell Crowe investigated the house toying with an $18m purchase price, which would have eclipsed the $16m record set by the Rush Street compound bought by Roseanne Williams. If listing agents Ben Collier and Andrew Hackett of McGrath get their way, this property will bring in $19m+ and set some serious records. 

Upside: Few homes in Sydney have such strong street presence, and the gravel driveway is a rare vestige of Woollahra’s estate-filled past. All in, it’s a landmark house, that’s for sure, and it’s not going anywhere.

Downside: It could use an interior refresh. Like, seriously.

The listing: ‘Headingley’, 11 Wellington Street, Woollahra