Benchmark … Waimea House has twice broken Tasmania’s residential record.
Waimea House, a trophy Hobart residence that made headlines last year when it sold for $6.06 million to former Sydneysiders Piers Dawson-Damer and his wife, Kim, has quietly traded for a much higher figure and established a Tasmanian residential price record.
The Dawson-Damers reaped a quick profit after selling Waimea House for $8 million to Tasmanian-born Greg Woolley late last year. Apparently the couple were approached directly by Woolley, who stitched up the private off-market deal to secure the property.
A Sydneysider who resides at Point Piper (in a Wentworth Street house bought for $10.55 million in 2005), Woolley is a former Macquarie banker and a long-time adviser to the Lieberman family of Melbourne.
Westbury winner … Culzean, a grand circa-1842 residence on the outskirts of Westbury, sold within weeks of its $1.8 million listing.
He was also a business partner in an aviation leasing company that included David Coe, who was chairman of the collapsed Allco Finance Group.
Last August, when the leasing company was sold, Woolley was reported to have collected proceeds of about $42.5 million on his investment made six years ago.
The Dawson-Damers bought Waimea House from the prominent Nettlefold family, who had owned it since 1948. The late Len Nettlefold, a successful businessman and Australian amateur golf champion, was the son of Robert Nettlefold, the founder of Tasmanian Motors, which had the General Motors dealership on the island.
Ros Palmer’s Craiganor is now for sale at $895,000.
The Dawson-Damers’ $6.06 million purchase of Waimea House, negotiated through agent Brian Watchorn of Charlotte Peterswald for Property, smashed the previous Tasmanian residential record of $3.1 million from 2007 for a waterfront property in nearby Sandy Bay Road.
Occupying one of the finest positions in Hobart, Waimea House is a Federation Arts and Crafts mansion set on 9726 square metres.
Located in prestigious Sandy Bay, the landmark property has magnificent harbour and Derwent River views, a swimming pool, tennis court and a smaller second house, also with art deco influences.
Georgian splendour … regarded as one of Tasmania’s finest colonial homes, Longford House, owned by farmer and sculptor Lynton Manley, is up for sale at $2.2 million.
The Dawson-Damers moved to Tasmania after they sold their home in Kent Road, Rose Bay, for $8 million in August 2007 to entrepreneur Frank Tagg, a former Wests first-grade rugby league player who made a fortune as a McDonald’s franchisee.
Westbury winner
Another recent sale – but at the northern end of the island – is Culzean, a magnificent circa-1842 residence on the outskirts of Westbury, a township 30 kilometres west of Launceston, Tasmania’s second-largest city.
Leo’s mansion … Leo Schofield has his property, Dysart House, on the market for $1.5 million.
Sold by the Flynn family, the Anglo-Indian-style five-bedroom house on 12.98 hectares was listed for sale at $1.8 million late last year through Roberts Real Estate agents Martin O’Byrne and Peter Stackhouse.
While the agents would not divulge details surrounding the sale, it is understood the property was snapped up at the asking price within weeks.
In 1907, the house was named Culzean (pronounced Cullane), after Culzean Castle on the Firth of Clyde on Scotland’s west coast, by Charles and Minnie Busby, who planted many European trees that are still standing in the 2.8-hectare garden surrounding the house.
In 1965, the Laker family bought Culzean and built a vast lake, which is a significant feature of the garden. The Laker family stayed 35 years and left in 2000.
Drop for designer
Sydney interior-design doyenne Ros Palmer is selling Craiganor, a superbly appointed circa-1830 Georgian house in Launceston. Set high on a hill in York Street, yet within easy walking distance of the city centre, the renovated two-storey residence was listed for sale in 2010 at $1.2 million with all the furnishings and decor included.
But Palmer has reduced the price to $895,000, with vacant possession. Palmer is also offering vendor finance (at 3 per cent) on 50 per cent of the purchase price. Featured in Vogue Living, the three-bedroom residence is for sale through Roberts Real Estate agent Martin O’Byrne.
Georgian spendour
Just south of Launceston is the village of Longford, where farmer and sculptor Lynton Manley is selling Longford House, a magnificent circa-1834 Georgian residence regarded as one of Tasmania’s finest colonial homes.
Listed last spring at $2.5 million, it is now for sale for $2.2 million through Martyn O’Byrne of Roberts Real Estate. With sandstone-flagged verandahs, five reception rooms and six bedrooms, the residence is set on eight hectares with a two-hectare garden, an orchard and a barn. The estate is surrounded by hawthorn hedges, white gums and English oaks.
Manley moved to Tasmania 11 years ago from Tilba Tilba on the NSW south coast, where he sold The Valley Country House for $1.75 million. Manley’s other property at Longford, a four-storey Georgian mill, is listed for sale at $550,000 through O’Byrne.
Leo’s mansion
At Kempton, about 20 minutes’ drive north of Hobart, Leo Schofield’s Dysart House remains for sale at $1.5 million through Brian Watchorn of Charlotte Peterswald for Property.
In autumn last year, Schofield listed the circa-1842 nine-bedroom mansion on 5.8 hectares (with a coach house and stables) and when a sale looked imminent he decided to auction the contents, which fetched about $825,000.
Originally named The Green Ponds Hotel, the Georgian Greek Revival building served as an inn, public house and residence until the 1860s.
During the next decade it was used as a school for young women before reverting to private occupancy.
Hobart high point
In Hobart, one of the prettiest listings is Hillcrest at Battery Point. For sale at $1.4 million through Christine Neely of VIEW Hobart, the Runnymede Street property is owned by Andrew and Loretta Thompson, who moved from Sydney to the Apple Isle in 2004.
Since purchasing Hillcrest for $895,000 in 2004, the Thompsons have carried out extensive renovations and refurbishments to the five-bedroom Victorian Gothic residence. The couple, who established Tasmania Campervan Rentals, are downsizing.