Yamala, the baronial 1870s English manor at Frankston South, sells
Yamala, the imposing six-bedroom 1870s English manor on a hillside 5,619-square-metre holding at Frankston South, has been sold for $2.9 million.
Its seventh owners intend to use it as their private residence.
The house was best known as the country retreat of Sir John Madden, melbourne barrister, chief justice and lieutenant-governor of Victoria until his death in 1918. Yamala had been originally established by William Woolley after he acquired 104 acres (42 hectares) of land in 1854. Woolley sold not long after he built the smaller four room house to Sir John Madden, whose city house was Cloyne in St Kilda.
The Maddens, who extensively extended the Woolley house, sold the 32-acre property to restaurateur A.J Lucas for £16,100 after Sir John's death.It's complete with many fireplaces, chandeliers, ornate ceilings and a billiard room with original leather finish wall paper and polished wooden ceilings.
The pillars to the entrance of the front doors were undertaken by the famous architect Walter Burley Griffin in a 1929 makeover.
Its bar room was copied in the 1930s from the Savoy Hotel in London.
Its Olivers Hill grounds have pool house and botanical-like gardens with fountains, ornamental shrubs and pathways.
The home has direct beach access – only a short stroll along the sand to the Davey's Bay Yacht Club.
Its first sale in 34 years was through Quentin McEwing through McEwing Partners. It was sold by the Cooper family, who initially listed Yamala in 2009. Mr William Cooper is a retired optometrist bought it in 1978 from the Kauffman carpet manufacturing family. The Kauffman's had bought from the Hunt family who were in the wool business.
