A Queen Anne Mansion in Glebe’s Toxeth Park Estate Lists for $4.5m+

A Queen Anne mansion on Glebe Point Road has listed through Christie’s agents Ken Jacobs and Darren Curtis with $4.5m+ expectations. The home sits on a high point of Glebe Point Road on the edge of the prestigious Toxeth Park Estate. Toxeth Park, the c1831 mansion of George Allen, remained in bucolic isolation for its first 50 years. When Allen’s property was subdivided by his son in the late 1880s, a covenant was placed on new development requiring all homes be built of either stone or brick. The covenant further stipulated that no pubs or drinking establishments be placed on the land. These restrictions encouraged a higher socio-economic class of Sydneysiders to populate Glebe Point than were beginning to settle the neighbouring Balmain Peninsula and other portions of Glebe closer to the University of Sydney campus. The strictly residential nature of the Toxeth Park Estate and Glebe Point continued well into the 20th Century, its prestige buoyed by easy access to the CBD via a tramway running in front of the subject property along Glebe Point Road.

A c1909 map, over a decade after Hartford’s construction, showcases the more prestigious Toxeth Park Estate, with the tram line in red running along Glebe Point Road, terminating before the street falls in elevation to the harbourfront.

By in large, most prominent homes along Glebe Point Road have survived the test of time, albeit with several notable examples of post-war apartment block construction. The usual tale of single family mansion-turned-multi-family-turned-boarding house rings true for many of the homes in this stretch. However, ‘Hartford’ was owned by the Presbyterian Church until - we believe - a sale to private hands occurred in December 1998 for $1.52m. According to publicly available records, the home last traded hands in April 2006 for $3.24m, a record for Glebe at the time. In the last few years, there has been a high precedent of prestige sales set for the Toxeth Park-precinct of Glebe. Well-renovated homes on small blocks have traded for big sums: 40 Toxeth Park Rd (608sqm) for $4.2m in Nov 2011 and 55 Hereford St (680sqm) for $3.8m in Dec 2011). Although Hartford is situated on the busier Glebe Point Road, its massive 1,113sqm allotment affords some level of privacy. 

The interiors of the three-storey, 5-bedroom, 6-bathroom home appear to maintain the same floor plan as at the time of construction. While the home has maintained its character features, a dramatic interior reinvention will need to take place to firmly entrench this home as being one of Sydney’s best. All in though, we have no qualms seeing this home sell well above its $4.5m+ expectations, and it may just set a single family record for the suburb. Few other homes in Glebe are as well qualified.

The listing: Hartford, 244 Glebe Point Road, Glebe

Click below for more images and a FLOOR PLAN!

Read More

One of Hawthorn East’s First Homes - Now Masked as a Queen Anne - Lists for $3.5m+

‘Borak’, a Queen Anne home at 28 Ryeburne Ave in the blue-chip precinct of Hawthorn East near Harcourt Street, has come to the market with $3.5m+ expectations. What distinguishes Borak, however, is its alleged architectural heritage. Listing agents Nick Elmore and Alastair Craig of Jellis Craig Hawthorn assert famed colonial architect Leonard Terry originally designed the home in 1860. Terry is perhaps best known for his 1858-designed Melbourne Club, a National Trust-listed Victorian Italianate icon situated in one of the most desirable CBD locations. The architect also designed Leeper Building, the first of structure on the Trinity College campus.

Leonard Terry’s Melbourne Club design (1858) at 36-50 Collins Street.

The Radical Terrace tried to hunt down any information that would reveal Terry designed a home in Hawthorn East in vain. Although what we do know is that Ryeburne Avenue did not exist until the last years of the 19th century (some 40 years after Terry allegedly designed Borak). So we can only assume that the home Terry designed was situated in the midst of farms and gardens between Harcourt Street and Rathmines Road. It was during the subdividing of Ryeburne Avenue that Borak transformed from a Victorian villa (we presume) to the Queen Anne home that now exists. Every aspect of the home indicates strictly turn-of-the-century styling. Even the “stunning 1850s diningroom [sic]” features nothing particularly “High Victorian” save for a marble fireplace that the Radical Terrace has a hard time believing would have been found in such an off-the-beaten track location at the time of its construction. 

An 1888 map showing quite clearly where Ryeburne Avenue does not exist.

Regardless of a Leonard Terry influence, Borak is situated on a desirable street with a consistent Queen Anne/Federation streetscape and medium-sized blocks that often accomodate pools and lawns. The four-bedroom home features aesthetically pleasing stained glass windows, rear lane access to a garage and pool, and three bathrooms (tragically, no bedrooms have ensuites). The home last traded hands in Oct 2001 for $1.17m. And if the home achieves its $3.5m+ hopes, it will take the crown for the street’s most expensive home. The three highest prices commanded on Ryeburne Avenue have all occurred in the last 18 months: #29 sold for $2.75m in Apr 2012; #33 for $2.12m in Mar 2012; and #21 for $2.0m in May 2011 (note the last two sit on slightly smaller blocks than Borak).

The listing: Borak, 28 Ryeburne Avenue, Hawthorn East

Click below for more images and a very Queen Anne floor plan.

Read More

Edzell House Chops, Wants $8m+ For Yarra Frontage

Last November, it is the Radical Terrace’s understanding that ‘Edzell House’, a landmark 1891 Reed Smart & Tappin designed Queen Anne home at 76 (-86) St Georges Road sold for $11m. During Edzell House’s multi-year marketing campaign, plans for subdivision were flaunted. Most notably, MGS Architecture-designed plans for a riverfront abode with 5-bedrooms and a copper roof were revealed.

Fast forward to today, and up appears a half-acre (1800sqm) block of land (without any council approved plans being advertised) listed through RT Edgar agent David Colbran for $8m+. It’s a big price, indeed. And even though this property scores an uber-prestigious St Georges address (a hyphenated one at that!), comps for this block of land likely sit on the less-salubrious Yarradale Road (where number 15 sold for $6.75m in Jun 2011 and sat on a river-fronting 3,160sqm block of land nearly twice the size of the featured property), Edzell Ave, and the other even, high-numbered homes of St Georges Road. Surprising to some, Yarra River frontage was notably less desirable at the time of subdivision of the great estates in the inter-war years (Edzell House was originally on 70 acres) due to the low-lying and dank location adjacent to the quasi-industrial and smelly Yarra River. Perhaps better comps for this chunk of land lie off Coppin Grove in Hawthorn where some of the larger river front estates remain undivided and sit at a higher elevation (12 Coppin Grove sold for $17m in Jul 2011 and is now looking to chop off 3,000sqm of the original 5,000sqm title for $7m+), #21 for $10.75m in 2002, and three other sales between $5 and $10m in the last five years). All in, the acquirers of 76 St Georges Road are likely very happy with themselves; seeing that if they score their desired asking price, they will - in effect - have purchased the Edzell Mansion for a paltry $3m. 

Check out the old renderings of a possible home at 82-86 St Georges Rd, courtesy of MGS Architects via 76 St Georges Road’s old listing site (that’s surprisingly still live to our good fortune):

The listing: 82-86 St Georges Road, Toorak

Great Primer on Victorian Architecture

I promise my next post will be NSW-focused. But this overview of historic architecture from Heritage Victoria is just too good to pass up. It walks the viewer through the overarching architectural styles common in Melbourne. All styles are also common in Sydney as well (with the exception of far fewer examples of Early-Victorian north of the oval/field dividing line). Did I mention they have floor plans too?!? FLOOR PLANS! 

Click here for the link.