Food providore pioneer Simon Johnson buys Avalon waterfront home
Food providore pioneer Simon Johnson and his partner, medical diagnostic firm manager David Nichols, have bought back into the Northern Beaches market.
They've traded in Whale Beach for Avalon, settling on a luxury Riverview Road waterfront.
The couple, who split their time between their London home and Sydney, paid $4.1 million for the updated 1950s modernist home on two titles.
Acclaimed modernist architect Arthur Baldwinson designed the home some six decades ago.
The home has been added to, but original features such as the glass atrium kitchen and striking sandstone fireplace have been retained.
Glass was used extensively wrapping the lounge and dining zones, which open to the waterfront deck with views across Pittwater.
At the bottom of the 1070 square metre sloping parcel is a fully self-contained boathouse, jetty, pontoon and private sandy beach.
The sale through LJ Hooker Avalon agent David Watson came with a rare full certificate to title to low water mark.
Johnson and Nichols sold their Iain Halliday-designed Whale Beach weekender after two decades, having paid $1.1 million in 1997.
They sold the luxury Rayner Road home with sauna, steam room and outdoor marble jacuzzi for $7 million.
The four bedroom property was billed as Halliday’s favourite residential design in Vogue.
Simon Johnson began providing food in 1992 from a small warehouse in Pyrmont.
He sold the business in 2011 for a reported $20 million, but stayed on a management contract until last year.
This article was first published in the Saturday Daily Telegraph.
