Jamie Durie’s amazing waterfront home for sale with a $33m price tag
A showcase of sustainable luxury, Belah House rises from Stokes Point with sandstone, vertical gardens and off-grid capability.
2 min
Anchored into the cliffs of Stokes Point overlooking Pittwater, their recently completed eco mansion was designed by Silvester Fuller Architects in collaboration with the Backyard Blitz and The Block alumni and builder Antoine Gittany, from Dilcara.
The six-bedroom, six-bathroom, two-car garage home also features in the first season of Durie’s latest show, Growing Home.
Despite Durie reportedly knocking back an offer of $30 million earlier this year – and the couple revealing to media that money couldn’t buy the experience of living life in their eco dream home – the Northern Beaches residence has come to market this week with a $33 million price tag through McGrath Pittwater agent James Baker.
The high-profile pair are reportedly moving to the Byron Bay hinterland. Crafted to define what it means to live harmoniously with nature, Belah House is set over four levels on a dramatically elevated 1017sq m block on the prestigious peninsula. The enviable beach house has about 720sq m of internal living with seamless spaces flowing through to the great outdoors.
Wrapped in sandstone, with vertical gardens and carefully curated native greenery throughout the site, the property had been orientated to connect with the vast bushland of Ku-ring-gai National Park.
As a horticulturalist by trade and a sustainability advocate in practice, Durie is best known for his design programs, including appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show. The couple poured five years of research into their Avalon project, treating their own home as a test run for revolutionary technology to change the way Australians live with nature at home.
The house sits high on seven geothermal probes sunk 120m into the earth to harness the ground temperature to heat or cool the home, as well as its zero-chemical infinity-edge pool, and hydronic floors.
The property features 42 solar panels, a 20kW Skybox solar system for near-total energy independence, and water harvesting systems that recycle every drop. The concrete has been engineered with up to 75 per cent reduced carbon emissions, and the Control4 Smart Home system manages elements from climate control to lighting and irrigation.
Inside Belah House, there are multiple living areas inside and out, walls of glass to capture the outlook, a gourmet open-plan kitchen with a butler’s pantry and coffee station, as well as a full bar and terrace on the same level.
The lower ground floor is home to a palatial main bedroom with dual walk-in wardrobes, a large ensuite with a freestanding tub overlooking the water and three more bedrooms, including one with its own ensuite.
Additional features at the property include a media room, a self-contained guest suite, home cinema, wine cellar, outdoor kitchen, infinity pool, 160sq m rooftop garden containing a vegetable patch, interior hanging gardens, and a wellness retreat complete with a gym, sauna, steam room, plus ice bath.
A 35-metre inclinator services the 37-degree slope to private deep-water facilities, including a jetty, slipway, and grotto entertainment space carved into the natural rock.
Belah House at Avalon Beach is on the market with James Baker of McGrath Pittwater for $33 million via an expressions of interest campaign that closes at 5 pm on November 11.
A record-breaking $11 million sale at The Centennial Collection has set a new benchmark for luxury apartment living in Bondi Junction.
As interest rates, inflation and market sentiment fluctuate, investors are being urged to focus on data, not panic.
The imposing stone structures, with towers, turrets and a hot tub room, lord over the landscape near the mountain resort town of Sandpoint.
2 min
Idaho is not a place that’s often associated with Medieval castles, but a pair have just hit the market for $6.25 million.
The imposing stone structures have towers, turrets, ramparts, arrow-slit windows and even a drawbridge, and might just be the most authentic-looking castles this side of the Atlantic.
“Who expects to see a castle like this in Idaho?” said listing agent Brenda Burk of Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty, who brought the property to the market last week. They are, she said, “extremely unusual.”
Schweitzer Castle and Château de Melusine, as they’re known, stand within Schweitzer Mountain Resort in the Selkirk Mountains and overlook the nearby mountain resort town of Sandpoint. They take in panoramic views of Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho’s largest lake.
The pair of ski-in/ski-out homes each have three bedrooms, two bathrooms and three stories, Burk explained. They are “so authentic,” she said. “Every single stone was handlaid.”
Schweitzer Castle, she said, wasn’t built for “functionality,” but has been modernized and adapted and now has everything a 21st-century residence requires, along with a dungeon, which for some buyers may also be a requisite.
The chateau, meanwhile, has a hot tub room with mountain views, as well as a garage.
The property is being sold furnished, and will come complete with the hand-carved statues, armor, mounted swords, stained-glass windows and a host of antiques dating to the 15th and 16th centuries.
The owner, an antique collector who couldn’t be reached for comment, “is always looking for that hidden jewel and he found that here,” Burk said.
The next custodian is likely to stem from a varied pool of buyers, Burk said, that would include “the trophy-home buyer, someone who can say ‘I own a castle.’”
The property could also appeal to someone looking for a vacation home, or a multi-generational estate, and beyond that “there’s the dreamers,” she said. “We definitely try to market to people who like Medieval history or maybe do Renaissance fairs.”
The seller “really wants it to go to someone with the same passion.”
ABC Bullion has launched a pioneering investment product that allows Australians to draw regular cashflow from their precious metal holdings.
A record-breaking $11 million sale at The Centennial Collection has set a new benchmark for luxury apartment living in Bondi Junction.
