Heritage mansion a rare piece of Melbourne’s architectural past
A rare John Beswicke-designed mansion in Hawthorn East has hit the market for the first time in over 50 years.
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Just over a dozen of John Beswicke’s residential designs remain today. So, when one of his unique heritage mansions resurfaces after more than half a century off the market, it’s enough to turn some history-lovers’ heads.
A rare piece of Melbourne’s architectural past is 13 Harcourt St, Hawthorn East—previously known as Tudor House or Hilton House—which is listed for the first time in 52 years with Davide Lettieri and Nikki McCarthy of Marshall White Boroondara.
Beswicke certainly influenced Melbourne’s built environment, designing hundreds of public and private buildings between the 1870s and 1915.
A prolific designer, he is credited with creating approximately 300 buildings, including more than 200 houses, 44 commercial buildings, 14 churches, 11 hotels, nine banks, and six town halls including prominent spaces such as, Brighton Town Hall, Malvern Town Hall, Essendon Town Hall, Dandenong Town Hall, and Hawthorn Town Hall.
He called Hawthorn home, specifically Harcourt St in Hawthorn East, where he and many of his family resided. Of the houses he designed in the coveted street, 14 still stand, including Rotha, his own home at 29 Harcourt St.
In March last year, number 35 made headlines when the impressive manor named Charlton set a new street record. The restored circa-1882 Hawthorn East home on 3422 sq m with Paul Bangay gardens was set to become the suburb’s first sale above $20 million, but only just missed the mark at $19,986,888.
Before that exchange, the previous benchmark for the street was $19.5m, set in 2022 with the sale of Ellerslie, a 3340sq m estate at 16 Harcourt St.
Today, the smaller but no less impressive residence at 13 Harcourt St, which is 2114 sq m and has a price guide of $13.25 million, is on the market.
Completed around 1875, the solid brick Victorian residence features a unique chateau-inspired facade and retains many of its period finishes by Beswicke.
The home is framed by lush private parkland gardens with a fountain, rolling lawns and a backyard pool.
Beyond the elegant castle-like exterior, there are voluminous interiors, including an impressive double-arched entrance hall featuring oak parquetry floors and leadlight windows. At the front of the floor plan sits a vast sitting room with a marble fireplace and a stately library with a gas fireplace and walls of bookshelves.
The showstopper is the grand former ballroom, now a combined living and dining area. It has a double-height timber-lined vaulted ceiling, yet another marble fireplace, and arched French doors opening out to the lush north-facing grounds.
The contemporary kitchen, which also spills out onto the yard, has stone bench tops, an integrated fridge/freezer, a meals area, and a hidden laundry.
On the ground floor a self-contained wing features a bedroom with ensuite and sitting area, ideal for a primary suite or guest quarters with direct access to the gardens.
On the first floor, three more bedrooms have built-in wardrobes. They share a full family-friendly bathroom and a balcony overlooking the large front lawn.
Outdoors, there is ample room for entertaining beside with a stone terrace and solar-heated pool.
Despite its 150-year-old status, the property also features many modern conveniences such as an alarm, ducted heating, reverse-cycle air-conditioners, irrigation, storage and multiple car spaces.
The Hawthorn East home is close to Auburn amenities and station, Burke Rd trams, sought-after schools, and Rathmines Reserve.
13 Harcourt St, Hawthorn East, is on the market via private sale with Marshall White Boroondara and has a price guide of $13.25 million.
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 …
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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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