Property of the week: 1 Edzell Avenue, Toorak
A rare riverfront position is just the start to the luxury offering at this Melbourne trophy home
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Only four properties on coveted Edzell Avenue reach the Yarra River waterfront, so the arrival of this newly rebuilt residence at number 1 is a prize catch. So rare is the riverfront position, and the unique redesign by Andrew Parr of SJB Architects, that Marshall White Stonnington has listed the Toorak trophy home with a head-turning price guide of $50 million to $55 million.
The prestige property will be firmly placed in the top residential price bracket for Melbourne, but is still far from the giddy heights of the Victorian capital’s benchmark of the $80 million spent by crypto king Ed Craven on his Toorak pile in 2022.
A complete transformation of an original 1920s house, this stately home still holds much of its old world glamour but also showcases the best of what money can buy a century later.
And that cash comes from an owner who knows a little about renovations — title records reveal the period property was bought in 2013 by Sarah Laidlaw, wife of former Mitre 10 boss Mark Laidlaw. After purchasing for $6.1 million, the Laidlaws’ transformation has injected a sophisticated aesthetic complementing its glamorous historic facade.
The river sits centre stage with an uninterrupted outlook from most rooms of the house, as well as the private jetty and rare Melbourne boathouse, capturing Burnley golf course and the city skyline.
Beyond a stately reception hall the living areas have been carefully remastered on a grand scale with a choice of entertaining spaces opening to the great outdoors.
The palatial dining and living rooms have fireplaces and aged–bronze archways framing the river panorama and an expansive north west–facing stone terrace with pergola, barbecue kitchen, heaters and an outdoor fire. A media room and bar also spill out onto the landscaped gardens and for further entertaining the cantilevered heated infinity pool and spa seemingly hover above the Yarra.
In the state-of-the-art kitchen there are Pilbara marble benches, Gaggenau appliances, an integrated Sub-Zero fridge/freezer, wine fridge and a butler’s pantry.
Up the curved marble staircase, or via the private lift, the accommodation level includes three bedrooms with ensuites and built–ins plus a palatial primary suite complete with a gas fire, indulgent dressing room, deluxe marble bathroom and balcony overlooking the water and golfing green.
Down on the lower level, the property also features a gym, temperature-controlled wine cellar and executive home office with and independent street entry.
The rare piece de resistance for the riverside residence is the large river deck with a self-contained timber–lined retreat with kitchenette and ensuite. Below that is a personal boatshed with a slipway, one of only a handful of privately–owned jetties in Toorak.
Additional five star features include Control4 home automation, an alarm with CCTV and a video intercom, as well as hydronic heating, reverse-cycle air-conditioning, ducted vacuuming, full irrigation and a four-car lock up garage.
The Toorak residence is listed through an expressions of interest campaign closing at 1pm on November 11 via Marcus Chiminello, Nicole French and Alan Crawford of Marshall White Stonnington.
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 …
Set on one of the city’s last absolute riverfront sites, The Riversdale by Mosaic combines irreplaceable waterfront ownership with one of Brisbane’s most significant residential opportunities.
3 min
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.
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