Thunderstruck: Six prestige Perth sales that snuck through when we weren't looking
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Marsala House, the fabulous 1970s Brutalist Iwan Iwanov-designed Dianella, Perth house that is the youngest property to be enshrined on the Western Australian heritage list, sold just two days after the Property Observer spotlight in April. The vendors Mark Etherton and Christopher Beer bought the then deteriorating house in 2005 for $725,000 and embarked on a massive restoration project. The result quickly re-established Marsala House as one of Iwanov’s most idiosyncratic explorations of Australia’s late 20th-century Brutalist style, a movement that includes iconic Canberra buildings including the High Court of Australia and the Australian National Gallery. And so it sold for $2.2 million to the PR queen Melissa Lekias and partner, Jamie Mills. Built in 1976 for the Marsala family, the project pushed the boundaries of concrete block contemporary design, while the inside was heavily influenced by Las Vegas overstatement. It had been listed through Paul Tonich of Altitude Real Estate with $2 million-plus hopes. It first sold for $490,000 in 1992.
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Anuket at Mosman Park in Perth has been sold in a partially gutted state for $11 million. It last sold in 2008 when property developer Luke Saraceni bought it from mining speculator David Rigoll, the former early-1990s Colonial Resources managing director, through the agent William Porteous for $16 million. It had previously also traded at $16 million in 2007 when offloaded by Firepower director Tim Johnston, who had bought it from property developer Warren Anderson. The house was built for the Burswood Casino developer Dallas Dempster to a design by architect Louise St John Kennedy.
The house was gutted and ready to be finished to one's own standard. Set on a 1,425-square-metre block, it comes with five bedrooms, six bathrooms and four living areas. The Chidley Way property comes with a huge lap pool overlooking the Swan River Expressions of interest were sought in March 2012, with the sale secured in November through Linda Sullivan at Space Real Estate Cottesloe to the McGeorge clan.
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The grand and glorious Farnley Towers at Mount Lawley sold for $3,025,000 mid-year. It's a 1913 home with dual signature fish-scaled towers, extensive wrap-around verandas, exquisite stained glass, wrought iron and distinctive fretwork. All in the Art Nouveau style from the front gate throughout. It was bought by a couple at ecologia Environment.
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The Japanese fan-style house, a landmark tri-level residence at Attadale, sold for $2.85 million, having been listed through Sam Fazio at Harcourts Realty Plus Hamilton Hill. It comes with amazing Marri timber spiral staircase. The dining area has a custom made terrazzo table and lazy Susan. There's also 2.7-metre deep swimming pool with an 18-metre long curved infinity edge finish featuring three port hole windows that capture the guest room downstairs. There's a six seater state-of-the-art therapeutic jacuzzi, a sauna and outdoor cocktail bar and entertaining area. For a while the vendors tried to rent the Doongalla Road property at $2,500 a week.
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There were growing whispers that Denby Macgregor, the only daughter of late Multiplex founder John Roberts, was abandoning plans to build on the $30 million superblock in Mosman Park ever since the local paper suggested Macgregor was looking at a heritage home in Cottesloe. Subsequently fetching $8.85 million in September, the Forrest Street, Cottesloe, house with a tennis court on its 1,772-square-metre holding (pictured above) was sold by Angela Nasuti, who bought it in 2006 for $4.8 million. Overlooking Sea View Golf Course, the home was built in 1924 for solicitor Joseph Barsden. Macgregor has now listed her recently renovated Mosman Park house on a 1,639-square-metre block through William Porteous Properties International in conjunction with Mack Hall Real Estate. It's a non-riverfront portion of the five-block site consolidation, which cost more than $30 million in 2009 and covered about 5,500 square metres.
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Saved from the bulldozer 12 years ago and sensitively restored, the classic mid-1960s Modernist home with light-filled spaces and internal glass walls made it the perfect setting for the 2004 movie Thunderstruck, featuring Stephen Curry and Sam Worthington. It's had a major renovation since the film about five devoted AC/DC fans who made a pact to bury their best friend next to Bon Scott in Fremantle Cemetery. Listing agent Tim Tyler at Tyler & Sons promoted what was an architect’s own three-bedroom, split-level home as having a solar passive design with a north-facing entertaining area and garden on its 769-square-metre block. Its most recent asking price before going under contract was $1.5 million, having been listed at $1.75 million.
