Holiday house for $40,000 per week

This extraordinary property is available for short-term rentals over Christmas for $40,000 per week and that includes staff.

If you’ve just about recovered from the eye-popping $40,000 a week price tag, take a deep breath because Christmas bookings are for a minimum of three weeks.

The extraodinary house, Barford, is owned and occupied for most of the year by the very private property developer Mr Ian Joye and his wife Maggie. The estate is most often described as unique. The house itself is enormous, grand and elegant not to mention historic, built in 1931, it was included in the Register of National Estate in 1992.

The house is set in some of the largest grounds in the area, at approximately 4039sqm, with extensive manicured lawns and long established gardens.

The advertisements for the residence call it “refined living at a truly ‘international’ level” and say that Barford “is unquestionably one of Australia’s finest residences”.

So, you aren’t just getting any old holiday shack, it’s a tranquil and secluded Georgian-style mansion, with staff. The grounds and household staff are on hand to maintain the gardens, tend to the pool and tennis court and keep the house in order. The Joye’s housekeeper is also available to cook meals.

Don’t bother trying to calculate how many friends you would need to round up to make those three weeks affordable, the property is only rented to families, and corporate groups get a “definitely not” from Nikki Hamilton, of Farquharsons Executive Rentals Double Bay, who manages the property jointly with several other agents.

The lucky families that do stay at Barford often bring staff with them, such as a nanny according to Hamilton. They are accommodated in staff quarters on the property, there are two self-contained one-bedroom apartments, one in the main house and another away from the house in the grounds.

Julie Rogers of Laing + Simmons Double Bay, another agent looking after the estate, said that despite some interest in the property this year, it had not been rented for Christmas as yet.

Without being prompted she said that she couldn’t name whoever might be staying there in the near future “but it’s NOT Oprah!”

She said that she would have anticipated that arrangements would have been made by now, but said hopefully “you can never tell what the next phone call will bring”.

The property has been host to many well known – mostly international – holiday-makers over the years, the likes of Will Smith.

Rogers would not be drawn on specifics but said that “visitors have absolutely loved it”, it had been great for them, holidaying privately there with their families.

Joye’s other glamour holiday rental in Palm Beach, Kalua, has seen the likes of John Cleese  Nicole Kidman, Mick Jagger, Rupert Murdoch and his wife Wendi Deng, and Rupert’s sons James and Lachlan and his wife Sarah. Kalua also costs around $40,000 per week. Rumour has it that the house is now being privately rented out by the Joyes.

Tenants have the run of the entire Barford estate, with the possible exception of a storage room where the owners keep personal items, according to Hamilton. With 10 bedrooms, 12 if you count staff quarters and the two acres of grounds, there is quite a bit to the property.

The house is set behind other houses on the street, so a long leafy drive leads to the property. Turning the corner towards the sandstone carriage loop, you see the house for the first time.

Driving between the pool and tennis court, the house stands grandly on the other side of the main lawn. In spring, an ancient wisteria drapes lilac tassels across the façade of the house in a spectacular display.

Entering the house you find a timber panelled reception area with marble flooring, doors lead off to the main formal rooms of the house and the original timber staircase leads to the upper floors.

“The Joyes are very family oriented” said Rogers and have made sure their home is ideal for hosting and entertaining families, with a whole floor of the mansion dedicated to a huge home theatre complex.

A modern roof conversion makes up this third floor, it has no actual windows, but a clever moving panel in the roof opens up to become an unusual dormer. When closed, it merges cleanly with the original roofline.

Visitors can spend more of their stay well entertained indoors in the library, the gym, or the games room playing billiards among other things. The dining room seats 12 so lavish dinner parties could be on the cards too.

Outdoor types can spend their summer days at tennis parties, swimming in the pool or lounging by it in comfy deck chairs. The grounds are extensive, with manicured lawns, ponds, trimmed hedges and beautiful established trees, practically your own private park to explore.

The huge level lawn by the house would be perfect for croquet and there is even a special children’s vegetable garden.

Rogers says Mr Joye has spent over $1 million on renovations over the past year or so and if documents submitted to Woollahra council in 2009 are correct, Barford may be missing a fountain of late, but it’s sporting brand new outdoor BBQ facilities, including a pizza oven as well as a pergola by the pool.

While the Joye family is normally in residence during the rest of the year, according to the agents, Rogers said that the owners would consider a suitable tenant’s request for a longer stay. It has been over two years since they had a long term tenant and that was a two year stay, said Rogers.

The Joyes apparently moved back to Sydney in 2007, for at least a year, while a new home is built for them in Hawaii. No doubt another lavish home.

In keeping with their family focus the renowned party-givers first point of order when they moved back in ’07 was to throw a party: a wedding reception for son Christopher, 30, and his bride, the former singer/model/actor Nicky Love, 35.

Barford sits atop Bellevue Hill alongside a number of other exceptional private homes. It was designed by Neave & Berry architects and built in 1931 for Sir Warwick Fairfax, who lived there with his wife Marcie Elizabeth (Betty).

Their children Caroline and James grew up there and would have played in the idyllic garden setting. They would also have been free to roam in the adjacent garden of the original Fairfax family home, Ginahgulla. The Barford land was once part of the Ginahgulla estate. The family was cared for by a flotilla of servants in those days, among them; a cook, butler, housemaid, parlourmaid, kitchenmaid, chauffeur, gardener, a personal maid for Lady Fairfax and a nanny.

Caroline returned to Barford later in life, living with her father and his new wife, Hanne. She had her own apartment of a few rooms, nicknamed “Caroline’s ivory tower” by her father according to Valerie Lawson in a 2003 SMH article.

The home reflects the influence the renowned architect William Hardy Wilson who was in partnership with a prominent firm of Sydney architects Neave & Berry, but not at the time Barford was designed.

The property also boasts uninterrupted panoramic views across Rose Bay, Sydney Harbour and beyond the heads of Manly. The agents recommend the grounds as a perfect vantage point for the start of the annual sailing classic, the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.

The property’s advertisement includes these features;

• Numerous French doors opening to the gardens
• Soaring 3.5 metre-high ceilings
• A magnificent timber panelled Adams-style reception room with marble flooring
• A superb antique marble mantlepiece flanked by decorative columns
• Plaster wall panelling and arched doors in the drawing room
• Delicate Chinoiserie wallpaper supported by dado panelling in the dining room
• Romantic terraces
• Balconies off all bedrooms
• Alarm System
• FireplacesIntercom
• Polished Timber Floors
• Double garage and double carport parking
• Quiet Location
• Sweeping harbour views

Fast facts

Barford
58 Victoria Rd
Bellevue Hill

Properties such as this are usually tightly held for many years, often for generations, they rarely appear on the market, this one is a rare exception.

2004 Listed for sale
1998-99 Listed for sale
1987 Set a record for a non-waterfront property when it sold to Joye for close to $10 million. It would have had a Sydney record if it had hit the $10 million mark.
The house was owned around 1985 by Barrie Loiterton, a bankrupted businessman.
1931 constructed.
Land from the Fairfax estate of Ginahgulla set aside for construction of the home.

The listed heritage items are:
* house
* gardens
* gates and gateposts off Victoria Road and off Rupertswood Ave

From the Australian Heritage Database

Barford is a fine example of a large formal house in the inter-war Georgian Revival style.

The interior is mostly intact with detailed joinery and features of interest including panelled entrance, timber stair and interesting library cabinet work and fireplace.

The drawing room has a beamed and coffered ceiling painted pale blue and gold, which has been covered by a false ceiling and the original fireplace has been replaced.

The garden has a sandstone carriage loop and is planted with traditional species much favoured by the architects, including olive, Chinese elm, poplars and oleanders.

The former garage and squash court has been removed and a new outbuilding with tennis court built in recent years (1980s).

Modern alterations to the house include new kitchen and bathrooms and a new opening from kitchen to informal dining area.