Property of the week: 23 Barr St, Balmain
An extraordinary warehouse conversion in the inner west delivers in spades on luxury living
3 min
Artist Sandra Leveson is known for her luminescent paintings and prints, embracing vibrant colours and abstract textures in her work. So it comes as no surprise that her private home and studio of the last four decades has been a grand converted warehouse brimming with natural light and oodles of open space.
The one-time chemical warehouse in Sydney’s inner west is an extraordinary urban transformation blending a raw industrial palette with a savvy floorplan to create a unique work-from-home experience. Simultaneously a home, a studio and a gallery, Leveson’s Balmain bolthole is a testament to her artistic legacy and creative mind.
Selling agent Danny Cobden of Cobden Hayson, who is taking the property to market with a $7 million price guide, said the rare listing is an opportunity for a buyer with vision.
“It’s such a truly unique offering for Balmain. Warehouse residences do come up, but they’re pretty rare and this particular one hasn’t been to market in about 40 years,” he said.
“This is certainly very liveable as is, but it’s also an extraordinary blank canvas for somebody new to come in and put their own stamp on it.”
Measuring 535sqm of internal living space, the residence sits on a 573sqm block incorporating ample room for outdoor entertaining, storage and parking. The former atelier features a striking 29m-long facade with a dramatic sawtooth roofline providing spectacular double-height vaulted ceilings and plenty of floor space. Elevated steel-framed windows, exposed steel beams and a contemporary mezzanine upper level layout are reminiscent of Manhattan’s coveted lofts but rarely seen in Sydney.
The vast open plan ground floor space is anchored by a huge L-shaped entertaining gallery and living room punctuated by a central fireplace. While the high roof line and cavernous space are showstoppers in themselves, the piece de resistance is the 11m by 3m pool and private sundeck sitting at centre stage in a rooftop terrace visible from almost every corner of the property. Under the pool, there is hidden storage, as well as a laundry.
The commercial-grade eat-in kitchen has stainless steel surfaces and appliances and the ground floor also houses one bedroom with an ensuite, plus a self-contained one-bedroom apartment.
Up on the second level, two open plan bedrooms overlook the gallery space with two bathrooms, a dressing room and a second living area.
Additional amenities include a secure lock-up garage with a 3m clearance and loading bay, off-street parking and a lush tropical entry garden. The quiet cul de sac position tucked behind Darling St is close to Ann Cashman Reserve.
The Balmain warehouse has a price guide of $7 million and is on the market with Cobden Hayson via expressions of interest, closing September 25. For more information contact Cobden Danny Cobden on 0411 144 210.
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A Vaucluse masterpiece by MHNDU with interiors by Poco Designs brings architectural ambition and breathtaking ocean outlook to the auction block.
2 min
There are ocean views, and then there is this.
Positioned on a dramatic clifftop in Vaucluse, 8 Ray Street doesn’t just face the Pacific, it commands it. With nothing between the home and the horizon but open water, this is the kind of outlook that buyers spend decades searching for and rarely find.
The residence itself is the work of MHNDU, one of Sydney’s most respected architectural practices, with interiors conceived by Poco Designs.
Together, the collaboration has produced a home that is as thoughtfully resolved inside as it is spectacular in its setting.
Soaring ceilings and expansive glazing open every principal room to the ocean panorama, while a series of indoor-outdoor transitions dissolve the boundary between interior life and coastal landscape. Light arrives differently here depending on the season — sharp and glittering in summer, golden and low in the cooler months.
Across five bedrooms and six bathrooms, the home offers scale without sacrifice. The brief has clearly been to create a property that functions as a family residence without ever retreating into mere functionality. Two car spaces complete the picture.
Vaucluse has long been synonymous with Sydney’s most coveted residential addresses, and Ray Street occupies one of the suburb’s most elevated and protected positions. The clifftop location is permanent — no development will interrupt this outlook — a fact that buyers at this level understand immediately and price accordingly.
The suburb’s median for five-bedroom homes currently sits at $11.725 million, with 50 transactions recorded this year and an average of 43 days on market. At that level, the properties that generate the most sustained buyer interest are those with something genuinely unrepeatable about them. A never-to-be-built-out ocean position qualifies on every measure.
8 Ray Street is listed with David Malouf, Director, Double Bay at Highland Property, and Steven Chen of The Agency, and will go to auction. Private inspections are available by appointment, with a scheduled open on Thursday 18 June at 5:30 pm.
Contact David Malouf (Highland) on 0411 073 882 or Steven Chen (The Agency) on 0412 959 959.
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