This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
MINING billionaire Andrew and Nicola Forrest has been confirmed as the buyer of the historic Le Fanu mansion in Perth’s beachside suburb of Cottesloe, which had sat on the market for three years.
Originally built in 1893, the Le Fanu mansion had undergone a $12 million renovation that is believed to be the most expensive ever in Western Australia by the seller, another mining magnate, Steve Wyatt.
Wyatt had bought the then-rundown property in 2009.
A spokesperson for Forrest confirmed to The West Australian he bought 2 Salvado Street.
“He is committed to returning the home to its original condition and preserving its unique heritage value,” they said.
“The Federation Queen Anne style building was one of the suburb’s first residences when built in the late 1800s.”
On a 1,492 sqm block, Le Fanu is a six-bedroom, six-bathroom house with limestone feature walls, a kitchen with a large marble island bench, floor-to-ceiling arch windows in the lounge room, a first-floor wraparound verandah with beachfront views, as well as a 10-car garage with a marble floor, wine cellar, and internal lift.
Le Fanu was originally known as Banksia for Henry Diggins Holmes, the then-manager of the Western Australian Bank, and his family. It was owned by the Anglican Church for a brief period before it was sold in 1973 to an Esperance farmer intending to use the property as a beach holiday home.
Vivian Yap of Ray White sold the property to Forrest, who along with his wife Nicola already owns two properties in the suburb, including the mansion Tukurua that he picked up seven years ago for $16 million, and the other is an under-construction vacant block.
The Forrests own an extensive portfolio of agribusiness, lifestyle, commercial and development properties. They are currently planning a $35 million boutique hotel for the Spicers building site in the heart of Fremantle, and during the winter bought a 260-hectare south west Western Australia coastal site with plans for a residential, retail and leisure development to be built over 30 years as well as the Carillon City shopping centre in the Perth CBD for $80 million. from Dexus.
Also among their recent acquisitions are the 634,000-hectare Balfour Downs cattle station in Western Australia, bought for more than $32 million, and a string of lifestyle properties on both sides of the country.
