BYRON HINTERLAND TROPHY HOME WITH STAR POWER RETURNS TO MARKET
Award-winning Byron hinterland estate Amileka returns to market, blending architectural pedigree, celebrity history and lucrative luxury retreat appeal.
2 min
A Byron Bay hinterland trophy home that once starred on Love Island Australia has resurfaced for sale after making a brief appearance on the market last year.
Amileka in Federal, 24kms from the famous shores of Byron Bay, was listed for a short time in July with a guide of more than $8m, but is now asking $7m to $7.7m with Sotheby’s agent Will Phillips via an expressions of interest campaign, closing on March 12, at 5pm.
The contemporary homestead on 10ha last sold for $9.5 million during the regional post-pandemic boom in 2022. Since then, the iconic house has been earning its owners thousands of dollars a night as a glamorous short term rental.
Built in 2008, Amileka took home the Australian Institute of Architects (NSW country division) Architecture Award in the same year. The minimalist design on secluded Blackbean Lane was crafted by architect owner Sharon Fraser and her husband, Steve Esson.
Tom Lane, of the Oroton fashion family empire and his stylist wife Emma, then bought Amileka for $4 million in 2011. They sold up in 2015 for $3.5 million to the Johnson family, who offered up the compound to feature as the Love Island home for the Channel 9 dating show’s third season in 2017.
Later, in 2022, the remote residence was snapped up by Mikaela Lancaster, Spotify Australia managing director, and her husband Mark Britt, founder of video-streaming platform Iflix. Lancaster and Britt are now seeking Amileka’s next custodians.
The main home has a large sunken lounge room and a spacious dining zone seamlessly connected to the gourmet kitchen and multiple outdoor terraces. In the designer gas kitchen there are stone surfaces including a big island bench, and a discreet but large butler’s pantry.
Created for grand scale outdoor entertaining, Amileka’s alfresco options include a central courtyard, level lawns with rolling district views punctuated by ancient Black Bean, fig and pandanus trees, plus an 18m by 5m pool and a fire pit.
Internally, the house features a stately formal entry, honed concrete floors with solar hydronic heating, bespoke cabinetry, walls of windows to capture the leafy outlook, a dedicated media room, and five bedrooms.
Off the primary suite there is a large walk-in wardrobe, an ensuite with bidet and a private hot tub, plus the house has two more family-friendly bathrooms.
Additionally, the estate also has a three-bedroom caretaker’s cottage with its own swimming pool.
Famous for its legendary lush vistas, untouched rainforest and waterfalls, the Byron Hinterland is also known for picturesque sleepy villages such as Bangalow and eclectic fine dining options.
Federal is home to a small general store, the popular Doma Cafe, and is approximately a 25-minute drive from Byron Bay, 35 minutes to Ballina Airport and 50 minutes to Coolangatta International Airport.
Amileka in the Byron Bay hinterland is for sale with Sotheby’s International Realty via an expressions of interest campaign, closing on March 12, 5pm.
Two coming 2027 models – the first of the “Neue Klasse” cars coming to the U.S. early next year – have been revealed.
A&K Sanctuary unveils Kitirua Plains Lodge, a sustainability-focused luxury property shaped by landscape, local craft and contemporary safari architecture.
After half a century in the same hands, The Palladium blends Art Deco heritage, cinematic history and beachfront living in one extraordinary offering.
3 min
In Sydney’s Northern Beaches, there are plenty of homes with a multimillion-dollar view and an enviable position close to the sand.
This unique listing has all that, but it has also earned its page in the local history books.
After 50 years in the same hands, The Palladium in Palm Beach—once a famed dance hall, then a restaurant, a private residence, and an artists’ studio—is now back on the market with a price hopes of $13.5 million through BJ Edwards and David Edwards of LJ Hooker Palm Beach.
Positioned in a rare corner spot where Ocean Rd meets Palm Beach Rd, The Palladium has been front and centre observing the famous sandy stretch for almost a century.
Built in the early 1930s, the Art Deco building was originally conceived as a vibrant community dance hall; the “it” place to be for young folk during Sydney’s thriving interwar period.
Often the dances were held to raise money for the Palm Beach Surf Life Saving Club, and newspaper reports of the time told of rowdy parties lasting until the early hours, bootleg liquor arrests, and where shorts and sandals—or even pyjamas—were scandalously worn by “both sexes”.
Over the decades, The Palladium has worn many hats.
By 1943, the original owner, Joseph Henry Graham, had defaulted on his loan, and a mortgagee sale reportedly sold the building for £1550, which translates to about $137,000 today. It later became a dining space and a general store run by the Milton family. In the 1960s and early 1970s, the property was also home to the Blue Pacific Restaurant.
The current owners acquired the keys in 1976 when it began its next chapter as a creative hub. One of today’s vendors, filmmaker David Elfick, who has been a filmmaker and producer on such films as Newsfront and Rabbit-Proof Fence, has told stories of a free-spirited creative hub that has been used for film sets, to store numerous movie props, as editing rooms, to hold countless parties and has even hosted visiting members of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
From its famed beachside soirees to its grassroots film club nights, the venue has become woven into the cultural fabric of Palm Beach.
Today, that rich history has been reimagined into a coastal home that honours its past while embracing contemporary beachside living.
Built in a unique architectural style known as streamline moderne, the aeroplane hangar-like building reflects the era’s fascination with air travel, mass transport, and modernity. The facade is defined by a sweeping curved roofline and subtle nautical cues.
The main residence features a vast central living space framed by a number of bedrooms and sunrooms, as well as a front dining room and kitchen. In total, there are four to five bedrooms, three bathrooms and a powder room adjoining an upstairs loft space.
Big, broad windows draw in loads of natural light and provide iconic views, plus the sounds of the beach just across the road.
Many of the original elements remain, most fittingly the polished floors of the former dance hall. In the additional building at the back of the block, there is a separate, self-contained studio with its own bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and laundry. From its elevated deck, the outlook stretches across the full sweep of Palm Beach.
Outside, the expansive 1151sq m land parcel also features established gardens with veggie patches and standalone decks for quiet contemplation.
Sitting just across the road from the beach, the property is also within walking distance of local cafes and the surf club. Palm Beach Rock Pool is at one end of the beach, with the Palm Beach Golf Club and the water airport at the other end of the peninsula.
The Palladium and Palm Beach Studio at 16 Ocean Rd, Palm Beach are listed with BJ Edwards and David Edwards of LJ Hooker Palm Beach via a private treaty campaign with a price guide of $13.5 million.
A long-standing cultural cruise and a new expedition-style offering will soon operate side by side in French Polynesia.
A thoughtful timber-led renovation in Byron Bay has reimagined an existing house as a warm, resort-style family sanctuary grounded in natural materials.
