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May 25, 2014 - 33 reading now
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| Lucy Macken |
Lucy Macken
Prestige Property Reporter
Altona likely to join other Sydney mansions to be demolished
LUCY MACKEN As the pile of rubble accumulates on the site of the former Point Piper mansion Craig-y-Mor, the nearby waterfront trophy Altona could become Sydney's next high-end demolition job. |
| recent aerial photograph of Altona at Point Piper taken by Tim Mooney |
As the pile of rubble accumulates on the site of the former Point Piper mansion Craig-y-Mor, the nearby waterfront trophy Altona could become Sydney's next high-end demolition job.
A heritage assessment report compiled for Woollahra Council and set to be submitted to the Urban Planning Committee on Monday recommends against any heritage order for the Victorian Italianate residence, which sold last March for $52 million to a buyer from China.
If Altona was knocked down, it would exceed Sydney's most expensive knock down and rebuild job under way on the non-waterfront Craig-y-Mor mansion, which sold for $32.4 million in 2008 to Zeng Wei, the son of China's former vice-president Zeng Qinghong, and his wife Jiang Mei.
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Rather than keep the imposing residence with its 1960s redesign by architect Leslie Wilkinson, Craig-y-Mor is being flattened to make way for a contemporary mansion designed by architect Stephen Gergely.
Before Craig-y-Mor was demolished it was known for its distinctive bay windows and columns and for being the former home of the consul-general of Japan, late stockbroker Rene Rivkin and the stevedoring company owner Chris Corrigan.
Plans for the new Craig-y-Mor residence were rejected by Woollahra Council but were later approved by the Land and Environment Court.
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The report into the heritage significance of nearby Altona says the original two-storey residence has been extended to three times its footprint, and the only remnants are a parapet, two chimneys and a tower. Woollahra Council is expected to make a decision on June 10.
Sydney is no stranger to the demolition of trophy residences. The waterfront estate Paradis sur Mer was a high-profile knock down and rebuild in 1990, and not only because it was sold for a then record high $19.2 million in the late 1980s by Sir Frank and Lady Susan Renouf.
Built in 1937 for the Radford family, it was knocked down to make way for two houses at the end of the peninsula, one called Paradis sur Mer II, which is owned by Orli Wargon, wife of businessman David Gonski, and the second home called Radford. A third smaller residence has been built on the former slipway on the site, which is for sale for about $15 million. In Watsons Bay, commodities trader Vaughan Blank spent $28.1 million in 2008 to buy the 1928-built Spanish villa, Villa Porto Rosa.
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Within months of that purchase, the home had been levelled and work was under way on Mr Blank's beachfront mansion.
It all comes back to location, according Ken Jacobs, of Christie's International, who sold the property to Mr Blank.
''The best positions are always the first to go and so it is in Sydney where you have these extraordinary vantage points, and buyers who want the position but not necessarily the house that stands on it,'' Mr Jacobs said.
''The reality is that some of these properties, although not all, are highly under-capitalised.''
In Elizabeth Bay, the waterfront mansion Cardigan was sold by the late high-profile divorce lawyer Cedric Symonds for $8.5 million in 1996 to the East Asia Property Group, after it had already been approved for demolition to make way for seven apartments.
Often, Sydney's grand old mansions survive the wrecking ball to be converted into apartments. Two of the best examples are the former family home of Sir Samuel Hordern, Babworth House, in Darling Point, and Kilmory, in Point Piper. Both estates were converted into strata-title offerings in the late 1990s and the early 2000s.
BURWOOD BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE DEVELOPER
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| 18 Wyatt Ave burwood |
A beautiful Federation mansion in Burwood is now under imminent threat of demolition following the lodging of a DA to build eight townhouses on the 1853sqm estate. The six bedroom property, at 18 Wyatt Avenue Burwood sold at auction in April 2012 for $2,950,000 to Mr. Zhou who placed the DA in October 2013.
- The house was once owned by Edward ‘Red Ted’ Theodore, who led an illustrious career as a Union leader, Queensland Premier and Federal Treasurer under the Scullin Labor government during the Great Depression, later making his fortune as a private business partner of Sir Frank Packer setting up gold mines in Fiji and holding the position of Chairman of Directors within Packer’s publishing giant ACP. Theodore has been described as a radical thinker of his time and has been immortalized with both a township in Queensland and a suburb in Canberra named after him.
- The house backs on to the heritage listed Appian Way, and forms part of the fabric of the heritage-rich Burwood area, a landscape local residents fear is being eroded piece by piece if proposals like this are allowed to gain traction. That fabric was tethered a few years ago with the loss of the magnificent Federation mansion Tilba to a unit development – this new case is already drawing comparisons and can be seen as another litmus test of just how determined council are to protect the significant heritage assets of Burwood that happen to fall just outside their rather inadequate conservation zones.
- Worryingly the determination of Burwood Council may not be where it should… The council’s heritage architect has already approved demolition of the property. It is now before councillors for final approval, who have received 39 letters of objection amongst a growing tide of concern by residents who have invested significant amounts of money to live in an area they see as a stronghold of Federation era heritage and a charming suburb of aesthetic beauty in its own right.
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| Former owner Edward 'Red Ted' Theodore. Image State Library of Queensland. |
The Cary Grant-like former owner Edward ‘Red Ted’ Theodore. Image State Library of Queensland.
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| An elegant Federation mansion. Image federation-house.wikispaces.com |
An elegant Federation mansion. Image federation-house.wikispaces.com
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| Rear of 18 Wyatt Ave Burwood. Image federation-house.wikispaces.com |
Rear of 18 Wyatt Ave Burwood. Image federation-house.wikispaces.com
- President of the Burwood Historical Society Jon Breen knows all too well about the imminent danger not only for this house but the suburb in general. “This side of Wyatt Ave has always been seen as a bulwark or protection zone for the internationally significant precinct of Appian Way,” he told Burwood Scene. “Twenty years ago the National Trust proposed a buffer zone around Appian Way to protect this unique and historically important area. Such a buffer zone would have stopped the demolition of a number of historic buildings.”
- On the other side, building company Ausray International appears to see this as a done deal, already advertising the new townhouses on its website under the name ‘Ausray Wyatt Place’, making enlightening claims that “18 Wyatt Ave, Burwood is located in the best street in Burwood, it has best combination of character homes with peaceful leaf and green areas.”
…umm, is that one of the so-called character homes that you just applied to demolish?
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| Ausray International has already advertised the development. Image Ausray. |
Ausray International has already advertised the development complete with plastic people. Ausray.
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| The proposed eight townhouse development. |
The proposed eight townhouse development.
- Inheritance has joined the fight by writing a letter of objection to any intention of approval. Our associate NSW Heritage Network have done the same. What remains to be seen now is whether Burwood Council will side with the concerns of residents they are meant to represent, or side with a new breed of developer-buyers who are more than happy to invest in the area purely to knock down these magnificent treasures in order to turn a quick profit and at the same time destroy the wonderful local heritage these homes represent. Considering 18 Wyatt Avenue sold for $2,050,000 back in July 2002, an average profit of $90,000 a year was made by the previous owner just by holding onto the property, which goes to show you don’t have to demolish to make money out of real estate in Sydney. Just treat it with the respect it deserves.
- Link to Burwood and District Historical Society ‘Changing Scene’ page showing multiple heritage demolitions around the area.
- Main title image federation-house.wikispaces.com
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