It is not just the attention to detail,a modernist-inspired design by New Zealand architecture firm Fearon Hay,nor the vast ornamental garden by Myles Baldwin Landscapes that is expected to raise eyebrows.
Belle Property’s Monique Napper has a guide of more than $40 million for the Robertson property,which at that level would smash all previous Southern Highlands records.
The ultra-contemporary main residence of glass,concrete and steel was first showcased inWallpaper* magazine late last year,and listed on local property portals with no address in a bid to give the vendors some privacy.
There are two main wings to the house,one of which is made up of the main living rooms and bedrooms. A second wing is set behind a concrete door to a study and library lined floor-to-ceiling with books and including various chambers dedicated to Alexander’s collection of things like vintage taxidermy,butterflies,military badges and Bibles.
Beyond the landscaped hillside is a country-style cottage,separate self-contained studio,a gym complex and equestrian facilities that include stables,a horse-riding arena and round yard.
Alexander is a former editor-in-chief of The Sydney Morning Herald andThe Australian Financial Review,but was sacked in 1998 and went on to be the long-time lieutenant of the late media mogulKerry Packer and later his sonJames Packer.
Alexander’s Italian-born wifeAlice bought the 39-hectare property in 2010 for $2.38 million fromLouise Zavattaro.
At the time of the purchase,the Alexanders already owned in Robertson,but sold that property,Possumwood,in 2018 for $2.1 million. In the same year,they sold their harbourfront apartment in Elizabeth Bay’s Del Rio block for $8.5 million.
Alexander resigned from Crown in 2020,a year after damning revelations inThe Sydney MorningHerald,The Age and60 Minutes about the casino’s. At a government inquiry that followed,Alexander denied having knowledge of the extent of the junket issues.
The listing comes amid talk that the couple are moving to Italy.
Live beyond Byron
Time is up on pioneer aviatrixGaby Kennard’s time on the Byron Bay beachfront. A March 14 auction has been set on her three-bedroom garden apartment,given plans to move closer to family in the nearby hinterland.
Kennard,who in 1989 became the,has owned her pad in the beachfront reserve block of nine since 2018,paying $3,525,000 to one of Queensland’s wealthiest women,ADCO Constructions chairwomanJudy Brinsmead.
McGrath’s Will Phillips has a guide of $6 million and a March 14 auction.
Paddington powerhouse
PR powerhouseNikki Andrews sold her Paddington terrace this week ahead of its scheduled auction,ending almost half a century of family ownership.
The Agency’s Ben Collier declined to reveal the sale price,leaving it to a local industry source to say it sold for $7.5 million.
Andrews,the founder and director of NAC Media,owned the Victorian terrace since 2006,but it was bought in 1975 for all of $62,500 by her father,the pioneering psychiatrist Emeritus ProfessorGavin Andrews.
Prominence penthouse
Showbiz veteranNoel Staunton has listed his top-floor apartment in the Prominence building in Zetland with a $1.1 million guide.
The NIDA chairman has owned the two-storey pad only since 2020,paying $972,500 at the time following the sale of his Potts Point home.
Staunton,a former chief of the Sydney Dance Company and executive producer ofBaz Luhrmann’s Bazmark Live,has listed it with Raine&Horne’s Samuel and Jane Schumann.
Bellevue Hill done cheap
Bellevue Hill’s median house price soared to $9.17 million last year thanks to a slew of trophy home sales,which makes the long-held home of theAnderson Stuart family look almost cheap given a guide of $10 million. Almost.
The three-bedroom house last traded in 1961 when bought by the latePeter Anderson Stuart,a brother of philanthropistLady Primrose Potter and grandson of medical pioneerSir Thomas Anderson Stuart.
At the time,so the story goes,Anderson Stuart chose the house because it was within walking distance from Scots College,only for him and his wifeColina to then have two daughtersAlexandra andPrimrose,owner of the Double Bay lingerie store White Ivy.
The house is set on prized Ginahgulla Road,among whose neighbours are businessmanRichard Scheinberg,owner of the $58 million Rona estate,theBaillieu family,andSimon Wright,who this week was appointed to replace Macquarie’s top moneymakerNick O’Kane (no pressure).
McGrath’s Luke Hogan and Georgia Cleary have set a March 2 auction.