Margie Blok July 14, 2012
The Bay Streey, Double Bay, house that the Pockley family has put up for sale for the first time since the 1940s.
This week's trophy listing is the Pockley family's harbourside estate on the beachfront at Double Bay.
For sale for the first time since the 1940s, the property occupies 1091 square metres of level land at the cul-de-sac end of Bay Street near Steyne Park, the Double Bay ferry wharf and the Australian 18 Footers League clubhouse.
Within the grounds is a private boatshed (the only boatshed on the beachfront) and a two-storey residence with five bedrooms, three bathrooms and a large living room with french doors opening to a north-facing verandah overlooking the bay.
In 1939, Dr Francis John Antill Pockley and his English-born wife, Diana, returned to live in Australia after they met at Guy's Hospital in London, where they both worked. Initially the couple rented the Double Bay residence, and later they bought it.
After her husband's death in 1991, Diana remained at the Double Bay house until last year when she died, aged 98.
The Pockleys' children have listed the property for sale by expressions of interest through selling agent Michael Dunn of Richardson & Wrench Double Bay.
Recent sales on the beachfront at Double Bay include a Castra Place residence (on a 525-square-metre block) bought for $10.35 million in February last year by Peter Lowy (a son of shopping centre magnate Frank Lowy), and a townhouse that businessman David Dunworth purchased for $9.35 million in September 2010.The Dunworth townhouse is next door to the Pockley property.
Also in Double Bay, Teralla has been sold following its expressions-of-interest marketing campaign through Laing+Simmons Double Bay agent Bart Doff.
The Cooper Street residence was sold by the receivers and managers of a company associated with embattled Gold Coast merchant banker Mark McIvor, who used the grand four-bedroom Victorian residence when he visited Sydney.
In 746 square metres of level landscaped grounds with a saltwater pool, the house was extensively (and expensively) renovated and redesigned for modern living after McIvor's company, MM Capital Pty Ltd, bought the property from the Facey family for $4.7 million in November 2005.
Four years earlier, the Faceys bought Teralla from Professor Ron Penny for $2.83 million.
Doff was endeavouring to sell Teralla for more than it sold for in 2005 but, due to confidentiality agreements, its recent selling price is not known.
Last weekend at Berrima in the southern highlands, the Bell Gallery failed to sell at its mortgagee-in-possession auction.
Three parties registered to bid for the property, which last traded for $2.85 million in 2007 when Meredith Stokes bought it from artist Peter Hickey and his wife, Lesley.
When the auction started, the auctioneer tried to extract a bid in the high $1 millions, but even when his request for opening bids went backwards to $1.5 million, no bids were forthcoming, and the property was passed in.
The selling agent, Michael Maloney of Richardson & Wrench Bowral, received a lower offer from a prospective purchaser after the auction.
A landmark building complex in the historic town, the Bell Gallery was built during the late 1990s by artist and art curator Roberta Bell.
Designed by architect Ron Gilling to complement Berrima's town buildings dating to its 1830s colonial days, it comprises the art gallery and a two-storey residence.
In Woollahra, a landmark circa-1900 residential and commercial building at the corner of Moncur and John streets is set for auction on August 18 through LJ Hooker Mona Vale agent Ross Ewington.
Expected to sell for about $3 million, the property is jointly owned by Ewington and his wife, Victoria Murray. For three decades, Murray operated a highly successful tile business in the building's ground floor commercial space.
The couple lived in the three-bedroom apartment upstairs. The property last traded for $112,000 in 1978, when it was sold by Grant Roberts, an antiques dealer.
In 2004, Murray changed her tile business name from Country Floors to Aeria, which she sold four years later. But the couple continued to live in the three-bedroom apartment, which they renovated 15 years ago.
Aeria, under the new owner, recently went into voluntary liquidation. With a large private courtyard and double lock-up garage, the 247-square-metre property is being sold with vacant possession. The building could be converted to one grand residence.
A penthouse at The Parbury, a Mirvac-built residential building on Pottinger Street at Walsh Bay, is set for auction on August 4, with price expectations of more than $3.5 million, through Morton & Morton agent Ettiene West.
The contract of sale shows a company holding the first mortgage on the penthouse is the vendor. The property last traded for $3.7 million in March 2006, when it was bought by Leanne Avery.
Spanning two levels and 338 square metres, the three-bedroom penthouse has a living area with fireplace, a dining area, family room and huge wraparound entertainment terrace with north-easterly harbour views, including of the Harbour Bridge.
In the Sutherland Shire, the waterfront home of the Schreiber family is for sale through a principal of Beattie Moore Property, Michael Beattie. Named Rossmore, the Yowie Bay property is expected to sell for about $3 million.
The circa-1930s four-bedroom residence is set on 1280 square metres in Kalang Lane. The property last traded for $780,000 in 1995 when it was bought by a former director of Manchester Unity Australia, Kevin Schreiber, who is a former Sutherland mayor.