Bronte time capsule sells for $7.35 million - $1.35 million over reserve

Joy Giles was 95 when she passed away last year. But she will be smiling from the heavens, after the family home her brother built for her overlooking Bronte Beach in 1958 sold for $7.35 million – $1.35 million over reserve.  

The house at 3 Bronte Marine Drive is just below the “fishbowl” that the late actor Heath Ledger sold in 2006 for $7 million after being hounded out of town by paparazzi. It was one of 715 homes up for auction in Sydney on Saturday as the spring auction season ramps up.

No one appreciated the beach location much in the 1950s and ’60s, according to Giles’ daughter, Lorraine, who grew up in the house with her sister, Pam. “We used to come home from school and go to the beach and no one would be there,” Lorraine said.

That’s changed, though the house hasn’t – it’s still decked out in the same furniture and artwork. Pink was a common theme throughout, from the drapes, wallpaper and bath.

The kitchen, with ocean views, is in its original condition featuring a Metters stove and black colour-speckled mosaics. Pam said: “Mum had told my uncle ‘I want the kitchen in front of the house so I can get the view, you’re not putting me out the back.”

Lorraine couldn’t remember the price their parents had paid for the vacant block in 1955. “They sold the back section so they [could] afford to build this,” she said.

Their cousin Brad Kerr said the house was exactly the same as he remembered. “My heart was pounding,” Kerr said as he watched the gavel fall to two ladies wearing baseball caps and mirrored sunglasses.

The pair had opened the bidding at $5.8 million – the price guide – and eventually won a fast-paced duel with a family man, whose teenage sons were egging him on. It was an exciting, fast-paced auction with both parties indicating their $25,000 bids to auctioneer James Hayashi by simply nodding.

The mysterious buyers weren’t keen to reveal their plans for the property, though it’s understood the couple will live there after renovating and adding another floor to take in the glorious beach view. Joy Giles’ relatives were emotional but extremely happy with the result. 

Phillips Pantzer Donnelley agent Alexander Phillips described the sale price as “massive”, though added that the “once in a lifetime opportunity” would serve the buyers well. “The renovated homes are all worth 10 to 12 million around here,” he said.

He said the  price-bracket of $3.5 million to $7 million was currently the strongest in the market.

The auction occurred at exactly the same time as another deceased estate “ripe for renovation” at 6/85 Roscoe Street in nearby Bondi Beach, though this was at the other end of the market.

The one bedroom unit – on the north-east corner of a building 200 metres from the beach – sold for $965,000 through Simon Exleton of McGrath.