Kanebridge Property of the Week: $28 million Stoneleigh, Darlinghurst, shoots for residential auction record

The 1860s Darlinghurst mansion Stoneleigh could become Sydney’s most expensive home ever sold under the hammer when it goes to auction.

Clint Ballard is giving buyers a $28 million guide for the heritage-listed mansion on Darley Street, opposite Iona, the former home of Hollywood royalty Baz Luhrmann.

Stoneleigh is being offered for sale for the first time in 36 years. The home is owned by jeweller Vanessa Wong, who took the keys in 2016, after the Wong family paid $3.18 million in 1990. Wong renovated the home shortly after taking ownership, adding a pool to its 650 sqm grounds.

A Landmark on the Heritage Register

‘Stoneleigh’ is recognised on the NSW State Heritage Register for its architectural elegance and historical significance, and remains a defining presence within the tightly held Darlinghurst Ridge heritage precinct, an enclave prized for its concentration of intact colonial and Victorian-era residences just minutes from the CBD.

While the bones of the home date to 1860, its current form reflects a considered architectural transformation by Brian Hess, with landscaping by Dangar Barin Smith, that reconciles the villa’s historic fabric with the demands of contemporary living.

Stoneleigh was added to the State Heritage Register in 1999. It features a hipped corrugated steel roof, a bank of 12 paned timber framed double hung windows to the first floor, and arched colonnade to the ground floor, all set behind a Victorian cast iron palisade fence and colonnade extends around one side of the building.

Two of its previous owners have included Richard Jones, who was Chairman of the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney and the founder of the Maitland Mercury newspaper. He owned the home for around two decades from 1870. From the mid-1890s, J. Russell French, who was General Manager of the Bank of New South Wales, had the keys.

Grand Interiors, Resort-Style Grounds

Inside, the home unfolds across multiple levels, anchored by a statement marble kitchen with integrated dining that flows into expansive formal and informal living zones. These spaces open out to a private terrace and tropical gardens, blurring the line between indoor and outdoor living in a way that’s become the calling card of Sydney’s top-tier renovations.

The outdoor offering is a standout in its own right: a 3-metre-deep mineral pool with geothermal heating anchors a resort-style entertaining garden designed for year-round use, an increasingly sought-after feature among buyers at the top of the market.

Accommodation is generous with six bedrooms in total. There are two master suites, including a primary retreat built around a Japanese Hinoki bath, along with additional bedrooms, terraces and substantial storage, a rare inclusion in an inner-city heritage home of this era.

Finishes throughout run to French Oak flooring, hand-applied Marrakech plaster walls, bespoke lighting by Michael Anastassiades and a Stuv fireplace, all supported by advanced geothermal climate control, ducted air conditioning and a full security system. A cellar on the lower ground floor houses a functioning heritage well, a genuinely rare survivor that underscores just how much of the property’s 19th-century character has been preserved.

Perhaps most notably for an inner-city heritage property, ‘Stoneleigh’ offers secure parking for up to five vehicles, a feature agents will no doubt lean on heavily, given how scarce multi-car garaging is within walking distance of the city.

Key Features

Architecturally redesigned by Brian Hess with landscaping by Dangar Barin Smith
Landmark c.1860 Victorian Regency residence with a refined contemporary transformation
Resort-style outdoor living with mineral pool, geothermal heating and tropical gardens
Designer marble kitchen with integrated dining and Sub-Zero, Wolf and Miele appliances
Multiple formal and informal living zones flowing to an outdoor entertaining terrace
Two master suites, including a primary retreat with a Japanese Hinoki bath, plus additional bedrooms
French Oak flooring, Marrakech plaster finishes and bespoke lighting throughout
Advanced geothermal heating/cooling, ducted air conditioning and full security system
Stuv fireplace, Michael Anastassiades lighting, retractable awnings
Secure parking for up to five vehicles — a rare inner-city offering
Level walk to fine dining, bars, cafes and train stations; 2km to the CBD
Moments from some of Sydney’s finest schools, including Ascham, SCEGGS and Sydney Grammar

A New Record?

The highest price ever paid for a residential house sold under the hammer in Sydney is $24.6 million, for a home in Vaucluse in September 2020.

Bidding opened at $13 million for the 1,085-square-metre block against an $11 million price guide, and the hammer fell at $24.6 million — well above the $14 million reserve. A young Australian-Chinese couple who’d never bid at auction before walkedaway with the keys. That result broke the previous auction record of $23 million, set by media scion Lachlan Murdoch’s purchase of the Bellevue Hill mansion “Le Manoir” in 2009.

Late last year, Iona, across the road from Stoneleigh, sold by private treaty for $37.5 million. It was bought by Bryant Stokes, son of the billionaire Channel 7 chairman Kerry Stokes, and his wife Dominique. It was sold by investment banker Tim Eustace and his partner Salvador Panui, who bought it from film director Baz Luhrmann for $16 million in 2015.

A long, winding driveway beneath mature gums provides the first indication that The Farm is not a conventional Mornington Peninsula country property.

Rather than immediately revealing the residence, the approach follows the contours of the landscape, moving through established woodland before the house emerges in a secluded clearing at 515 Tucks Road, Shoreham.

Completed in 2025, the five-bedroom estate has now been listed through Buxton’s James Redfern and Holly Longmuir with expressions of interest and an indicative price range of $18 million to $19.8 million.

At the upper end of that guide, the property could establish a new residential record for Shoreham. The existing benchmark has been reported at $16.5 million.

Set across approximately 20.64 hectares—or about 51 acres—The Farm is a contemporary interpretation of the Australian rural homestead, designed by Wolveridge Architects and constructed by award-winning Mornington Peninsula builder S. Smith Builders.

The property’s vendors, builders Vicki and Steve Smith, reportedly acquired the land through Smith Investments Australia for $4.2 million in 2019. They moved into the completed home in April 2025 and are now selling as they prepare to relocate to Portsea.

A farmhouse reduced to two buildings

Rather than allowing the estate to develop as a scattered collection of rural structures, Wolveridge Architects consolidated its principal functions into two carefully positioned buildings: the main residence and a substantial farm shed.

The structures face a broad central forecourt and sit within a larger composition of native woodland, productive pasture and views towards Western Port Bay.

It is an approach informed by the way Australian farms traditionally evolve, but made more deliberate. Instead of accumulated sheds and outbuildings, the property presents as a resolved architectural precinct.

The principal residence spans approximately 638 square metres. Its defining feature is an inverted radial roofline supported by a visible grid of ironbark posts and beams.

The roof rises towards the tree canopy and open sky, lending an unexpected lightness to a house of considerable scale. Blackbutt cladding, extensive glazing and timber detailing further soften the relationship between the building and its surroundings.

Wolveridge Architects describes the property’s location as Bunurong country and credits Jerry Wolveridge, Laura Tindall and Jessica Corbett as members of the project team.

The Farm was shortlisted in the New House Over 200 Square Metres category of the 2026 Houses Awards and in the Living Space category of the 2026 INDE Awards. Its published architectural photography is by Jack Carlin.

Designed around the landscape

Throughout the house, long internal sightlines and carefully framed openings maintain a connection with the surrounding gums, paddocks and distant water.

The central living, dining and kitchen space sits beneath soaring timber-lined ceilings. A monumental fireplace formed from Dromana granite anchors the room, while a second wood-burning fireplace serves a more intimate living zone.

The kitchen combines stained Tasmanian oak cabinetry with Austral Dream Dolomite and Pilbara Green Dolomite surfaces. A suite of Swiss V-Zug appliances supports its practical role, while a temperature-controlled, timber-lined wine cellar provides a dedicated space for collectors.

Belgian French oak flooring, Swiss wool carpet, Eco Outdoor stone paving, brushed-nickel fittings and extensive custom joinery continue the natural, materially rich palette.

A sheltered internal courtyard introduces northern light into the centre of the floor plan. Conceived as a protected garden within the wider landscape, it provides an outdoor space removed from the property’s more exposed rural environment.

The architecture repeatedly shifts between those two conditions: the openness of a large rural holding and the security of carefully protected interior and courtyard spaces.

A resort within a working estate

The Farm’s lifestyle credentials extend well beyond its principal living areas.

A fully tiled 14-metre swimming pool and adjoining spa sit within landscaped surrounds, creating a private resort zone connected to multiple outdoor entertaining spaces.

The grounds include indigenous planting, native woodland and productive pasture, together with approximately 591 metres of frontage to Stony Creek.

A separate 216-square-metre farm shed, fencing, cattle infrastructure, water systems and multiple access points ensure the estate has genuine rural capability. This is not merely a large house styled to resemble a farm.

Technology has been integrated throughout the property via a Control4 system governing lighting, climate, security, gates, blinds, irrigation and pool functions. The house also includes hydronic heating, zoned reverse-cycle airconditioning, motorised window furnishings, monitored security, video intercom and Starlink connectivity.

Its sustainability infrastructure is similarly substantial. More than 235,000 litres of water storage is paired with a 70-panel, 30.8kWp solar system, Tesla Powerwall battery storage and electric-vehicle charging.

The result is a house capable of delivering the comfort and automation expected of a contemporary trophy residence while maintaining a high degree of self-sufficiency.

That balance may be The Farm’s greatest achievement. Despite its scale, luxury finishes and extensive technology, the residence does not attempt to overpower its setting.

Its architecture instead directs attention outwards—to the tree canopy, the cattle in the paddocks, Western Port Bay and the changing conditions of the surrounding landscape.

For buyers seeking a private Mornington Peninsula estate with architectural credibility and room for a genuine rural life, The Farm represents one of the region’s most compelling new offerings.

The Farm at a glance

Address: 515 Tucks Road, Shoreham, Victoria
Property type: Acreage/semi-rural estate
Price guide: $18 million to $19.8 million
Sale method: Expressions of interest
Bedrooms: Five
Bathrooms: Five
Parking: Five cars
Land: Approximately 20.64 hectares or 51 acres
Residence: Approximately 638sqm
Farm shed: Approximately 216sqm
Architect: Wolveridge Architects
Builder: S. Smith Builders
Completed: 2025
Pool: Fully tiled 14-metre pool with adjoining spa
Creek frontage: Approximately 591 metres to Stony Creek
Water storage: More than 235,000 litres
Energy: 70-panel, 30.8kWp solar system with Tesla Powerwall storage
Selling agents: James Redfern and Holly Longmuir, Buxton Mornington Peninsula–Flinders
Listing: View the live property campaign