‘The Hermitage’, one of Sydney’s Earliest Intact Homes, Lists for $3.5m+
‘The Hermitage’, a home so historic it comes with its own Wikipedia page, will auction with $3.5m+ expectations. The colonial homestead built between 1838-42 sits on a high point in the Denistone/Ryde area and is characteristic of the many homesteads that once dotted hilltops to the northwest of Sydney. The property sits on over an acre and a half of land. However, from what the Radical Terrace can imply, the current owners spent $6.8m purchasing The Hermitage, the neigbhouring c1905 Wollondilly house, and an adjacent vacant parcel totalling several acres and bound by Blaxland Road, Anzac Avenue, and Pennant Avenue. The owners embarked on an extensive renovation of both homes. Wollondilly, after being listed for over a year with expectations just shy of $2m finally sold for $1.49m in June of this year. Now the owners are trying their luck with ‘The Hermitage.’
The Hermitage as it appears today (above) and as found in a c1860 photograph (below), courtesy of Wikipedia.
Although the owners originally estimated the home to sell for $5.5m, their reduced price revisions are far more reasonable. The 7-bedroom, 5-bathroom homestead was extremely well-restored to a simultaneously modern and sympathetic spec. However, the Radical Terrace can’t help but point out the generic and subpar nature of some of the internal fitout, most notably the kitchen and bathrooms. The parcel sits at a high point of land in the suburb with views stretching out the Blue Mountains, and the addition of a pool alongside a billiard’s room and pool house was a nice move to attract luxury home buyers (even if the kitchen fit-out wasn’t). If the home does indeed sell for $3.5m, that sum along with the $1.43m sale of Wollondilly next door will require the owners to sell the remaining 1.5 acre parcel of land for $1.81m, an impossibility if you ask us. Let’s hope the home restoration was a labour of love and not a house flip.
The slightly sad kitchen. :(
A 2006 City of Ryde heritage study of the trees (most of which were planted in the 1950s) shows the entire parcel of land purchased for ~$6.8m. Wollondilly, the c1905 home that recently sold for $1.49m is situated at the northern end of the property (and is pictured below). The parcel of land fronting Blaxland Road remains vacant.
Wayne Vaughan and Teena Vaughan of McGrath Epping have the listing that is to auction later in September.
The listing: ‘The Hermitage’, 1 Pennant Avenue, Denistone
More images can be found below.
