1. Idiosyncratic Henry Budden-Designed Hunters Hill Home Lists for $4.5m

    ‘Kurrowah’, a Henry Budden-designed home at 74 Alexandra Street in Hunters HIll came on the market yesterday for the first time in 30 years with a $4.5m ask. At first, it seems like an intimidating price for a home that lacks water frontage and only can stake claim to obstructed water views. The interiors are nothing to write home about (save for an original and unique barrel vault ceiling in the dining room) and the pictures are entirely unimpressive. Weirdly, listing agent Matthew Ward of Ward Partners fails to mention the most important trait this home carries: Henry Budden. Budden was a prolific architect of public and institutional buildings in early-20th Century Sydney yet only designed a small smattering of residences, making Kurrowah all the more unique. The architect began his practice around the turn of the century and designed the featured home in 1903 (not 1901, as is indicated on the listing). At that time, his asymmetric plan was straight up revolutionary. According to the 1982 Hunters Hill Trust Journal (don’t ask us how we found this): 

    “About 1903 Budden designed Kurrowah, the residence of Stephen H. Weedon, 74 Alexarrdra Street. Here his enthusiasm for asymmetry is pronounced, in the broken roof lines and multitude of angles; this is connected with his imaginative use of site. The house was reported and illustrated in the journal of the New South Wales lnstitute of Architects “Mr. Weedon’s house shows clever treqtment of a rather difficult  problem in plonning, the building  being so orranged that the best rooms command the best views” (Art and Architecture, 2  [1905], 192-94).  Today we can see Budden’s radical style if we compare Kurrowah with the Victorian houses opposite, 55 and 57 Alexandra Street, which seem quite conservative by comparison.”

    Budden situated the home to capture northern light and impressive harbour views, views now obstructed by mature trees and recent development. The style of the home merges Craftsman (a style not then commonplace anywhere outside Southern California) and Queen Anne influences and shuns many iconic Federation-style features (ie. red brick exterior, tile roofing) then popular. Budden’s best known designs are likely his Art Deco stylings of the David Jones building in the CBD (1927) and Railway House on York St (1936) also in the CBD.

    If the home does achieve its $4.5m ask, it will be in good company on Alexandra Street. #68 sold for $4.2m in 2008; #84, $4.5m in Sep 2011; #82, $5.09m in May 2005; and #79, $6.5m in Oct 2003. And none of those are waterfront. 


    David Jones building, 1927 (above); Railway House, 1936 (below)

    Click below for more images of Kurrowah and listing information.

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  2. Radical Roundup: New & Notable This Week

    SA

    • ALDGATE  ‘Windcombe’, a true-to-form Palladian-style home in the Adelaide Hills is listed for $1.695m. Sold as a parcel of land in 2000 for $250k, the home that now stands was built soon thereafter and modeled after the 18th C Bath, England manor home of the same name. The home was shopped around on the market back in 2008, but it’s unclear to the Radical Terrace if it successfully sold in that marketing campaign. Despite the home’s new construction, the floor plan is almost creepily 18th century in its efficiency and lay out. Dale Gray of Brock Harcourts Ouwens Casserly has the listing: 105 Milan Terrace, Aldgate.

    NSW

    • KILLARA Yet another sub-$5mil property in the Polo Belt. This time it’s 22 Rosebery Road, just off Killara’s desirable Springdale Road and it’s listed for $4.5m through Barbara Gunther of McGrath Upper North Shore. The home sits on a half-acre, features a pool, plays a bit of tennis tetris, and has some vaguely authentic Federation architecture. The listing: 22 Rosebery Road, Killara

    • NEWTOWN  Jack Bao of Loyal Property City has quite an investment opportunity for you. An 11-bedroom brothel on King Street in Newtown can be yours for $2.3m+. Not only does every bedroom have an ensuite, but there are 3 extra toilets, 3 “discrete greeting areas” and, of course, laundry facilities. Check out the listing here. 
    • HUNTERS HILL Tragedy strikes hard in Hunters Hill. Accordingly, listing agents for 23 Bonnefin Road have taken a drastic approach: outlining the specific replacement cost for the home. Leon Chan and Anthony Scelzi of Leaders Estate Agents break down 17 cost items that total $500k. One thing the agents aren’t an open book about: the most recent sale price. Although they claim it sold for “around $3m” in 2007, it actually sold for $2.794m, the exact amount they are now seeking; dramatically less than the $3.5m+ they were hunting for when the waterfront renovation project first listed nearly two years ago. 23 Bonnefin Road, Hunters Hill
    • NEUTRAL BAY Listed over a week ago, a harbourfront home (complete with swimming pool!) at 17 Baden Rd in Neutral Bay listed with a $7.5m asking price through Knox Family Real Estate (who may or may not be the actual owners of the house themselves?). The home hasn’t sold since the early 90s, and by the look of the interiors hadn’t been renovated for several decades prior. 17 Baden Road ‘Kurraba Point’ Neutral Bay

    VIC

    • TOORAK A 6-bedroom 1930s manor home on Toorak’s desirable Huntingfield Road listed this week with $7.5m+ expectations through RT Edgar Toorak agents Simon Hicks and Jeremy Fox. The home last sold for $4m in May 2005 and appears to have undergone a recent renovation. Huntingfield’s desirability lies in its well-maintained architectural consistency; virtually all homes on the road are of similar large size and were built in the inter-war years. The featured home, 17 Huntingfield Road, sits on a 1/4 acre block of land and comes with a swimming pool and its own eponymous website. 

  3. Pool House of the Day

    ‘Bellamy’, an 1880s doublewide (double-fronted) Victorian in Hunters Hill was listed. While the house itself is quite beautiful and understated, we’ve taken an instant liking to the pool house. Nice work, someone.

    The home last sold for $875k in 1999. Now, in 2012, it can be all yours for $2.5m+. 

    Tracey Dixon and Lee Dowdall of McGrath Hunters Hill have the listing.