This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
PROPERTY industry veteran Greg Paramor is selling his historic mansion on Sydney’s north shore, which could potentially fetch up to $50 million.
The Lavender Bay mansion, Idlemere is one of the most prestigious homes on the lower north shore’s waterfront and it has its fair share of iconic history.
Located at 11 Bayview St, Lavender Bay, the sales campaign is running via an expression of interest campaign through award-winning agent Alison Coopes with a price set between $45 and $50 million.
The mansion has been around for over 140 years however it has been modernised by means of collaboration between renowned architects Clive Lucas Stapleton and Partners and Tim Allison.
The property holds 1418sqm of land, approx. 31m wide waterfrontage, private beach, boatshed, jetty, and separate self-contained boathouse/ guest residence. The house features 4/5 bedrooms plus office, 4.5 bathrooms, a large laundry and wet room, 100 case wine cellar, generous double garaging, private lift and abundant storage areas.
The history of the property is something to behold. It was built around 1880 for the chairman of the Rowing Association, Edwin Maximilian Dietrich, and sold in 1897 to prominent banker Sir Thomas Dibbs.
Heritage records states that the downstairs section of the house was rented out to Australian cricketing legend Sir Donald Bradman in the early 1930s by Alexander Allan.
In the 1980s there was a great amount of upheaval at the news that there were rumblings to demolish the building to replace it with apartments. Retired politician Bob Carr who was environment minister of the Wran government at the time, intervened and saved it with preservation orders.
Idlemere has been home to Kerry and Greg Paramor, the former CEO of Mirvac who sits on the boards of Charter Hall and Sydney Swans, for the past 20 years. They bought the property in late 2001 for $7.25 million.
The property industry veteran sold his James Fielding Group to Mirvac 18 years ago for almost half a billion dollars, and went onto take the helm of the Mirvac. After retiring from Mirvac in 2008, Paramor launched Equity Real Estate Partners and in 2011 successfully wrestled control of Folkestone from Bell Potter, Bill Bowness and the Pratt family in a highly publicised stoush.
He spent seven years transforming the $10 million property minnow into a powerhouse player, and in 2008 sold the business to Charter Hall for $205 million.
Expressions of Interest end on December 6th with real estate agents hopeful that more trophy-home owners will test the market with such a luxurious home for sale.
