1950s Harry Seidler-designed Wahroonga home hits the market

A modest late 1950s Harry Seidler-designed home has hit the market on Sydney’s upper north shore at Wahroonga.

The home was designed for the then journalist, turned spiritualist Barry Long and his wife Betty when the couple, with two children, were in their early 30s.

Long, was the last editor of the Truth and became the first editor of the Sunday Mirror during Ezra Norton’s ownership, and was later press secretary to the leader of the opposition, Robert Askin.

But Barry Long quit Sydney on his spiritual journey, selling the house in 1965 after telling his wife at the breakfast table one Sunday morning he was off to India.

Pictured above Barry Long with his daughter Annette and mother Kathleen.

Alex Mintorn and Dominic Maxwell of McGrath Pymble have suggested the fourth owner will need to pay $1.45 million plus to secure the home at its December 12 auction.

The three-bedroom, two-bathroom, two-level house on a 898 sqm block comes with a striking original internal feature, the sandstone fireplace.

Agent Alex Mintorn described it has having a “magic feel, especially in the evening”.

The sandstone fireplace lends a “magic feel, especially in the evening”.

The cellar and jacuzzi at the now modernised home were introduced since the property last traded at $719,000 in 2005.

There are plans drawn to extend the Morris Avenue home by Harry Seidler & Associates office veteran Greg Holman. Seidler was considered to be one of the leading exponents of modernism’s methodology in Australia before he died in 2006.

He designed more than 180 buildings, including Blues Point Tower in 1961, courting controversy throughout his long career as he regularly challenged planning authorities and the planning system in Sydney.

The property is on a 898 sqm block.

At Warrawee a recent offering, known as the 1957 Exley house which was being offered by the family of its original owners, sold before auction having been listed at around $2 million.

There was a 1995 Balmain waterfront sale for $5.75 million midyear.

A modernist, Harry Seidler-designed property in Dover Heights was sold in June. The Kalowski House fetched $3.46 million with Seidler’s design including pioneering floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors along the full width of the northern facade in the 1958 designed home.

However, Thurlow House at Blakehurst struggles to find a buyer.

It has been described as a Mad Men style home, being virtually unchanged since its 1952 construction.

This article was first published in the Sunday Telegraph.