How art and trophy home collector John Schaeffer made his mark on Sydney's prestige property scene

Businessman and art collector John Schaeffer insists you can’t take a business approach to buying art because ultimately you are getting far more value out of it than any financial gain.

The world-renowned art collector should know, having bought, sold and gifted some of the most valuable works of art over the decades – much of them Pre-Raphaelite works.

But in his property-obsessed Sydney hometown it is his appreciation of fine real estate that has left an indelible impression on the landscape.

There was the $20.7 million national record he set in 2002 when he bought the Spanish mission-style trophy home Boomerang in Elizabeth Bay, his 1989 purchase of the neo-Gothic estate Rona in Bellevue Hill ending more than a century of Knox family ownership, and, more recently, his brief ownership of the F. Glynn Gilling-designed mansion Bonnington.

But his most impressive financial gain, on a percentage basis, was his first Sydney home built on a bush block in East Lindfield he bought in 1965 as a 24-year-old with his first wife Kerry for $4500.

The block’s most distinguishing feature was a round rock platform on which a friend offered to design a glass, round house. Schaeffer then built it with the help of some mates.

Soon after completion the Schaeffers travelled to Europe and the US on a two-year working holiday and leased it out, almost paying it off by the time they returned home.

Eight years later the distinctive house in Namoi Place sold for $51,375. It stands today, having last traded in 2016 for $1.6 million.

“At that age you just don’t know what’s ahead of you,” Schaeffer said. “We weren’t as well informed about the market as people are now and we had no idea of the colossal price gains that would be made in terms of Sydney’s rising house prices.”

Schaeffer’s first big impression on the property market was in 1982 when he paid what was then a jaw-dropping $1.19 million for the historic waterfront mansion Craigstone in Drummoyne. He sold it in 1990 for $2.55 million, setting a Drummoyne suburb record in the process.

By then Schaeffer had already made a name for himself among Sydney’s trophy home set having bought the prized historic Rona in Bellevue Hill the previous year for $9.6 million.

In the ensuing decade, Schaeffer’s stocks soared. His Tempo Cleaning Services had become the largest contract cleaner in the country by 2000 when he debuted on the BRW Rich List worth $110 million.

In 2002, he cemented his place as one of Sydney’s most notable trophy home hunters by setting a national house price record of $20.7 million when he bought Boomerang in Elizabeth Bay. In doing so he toppled the previous high of $19.25 million, held for 14 years by the Point Piper residence Paradis sur Mer.

But rising debt and a downturn in the Tempo share price prompted a sell-off of his stocks, his prized real estate and much of his art soon after.

Rona went first, sold in 2004 for $20.5 million to property tycoon Terry Agnew. Schaeffer says he probably only just broke even on the property given an extensive restoration and his subsequent purchase in 1992 of the neighbour’s tennis court for $1.235 million and the original stables for $2.7 million to take the estate to 5700 square metres. Agnew sold it last year for $58 million.

In 2005 Boomerang was sold for $20 million to Katrina Fox, daughter of Melbourne trucking magnate Lindsay Fox.

After the trophy home sell-offs Schaeffer retreated to Point Piper, and an art deco block where he later bought one of two penthouses for $4.03 million in 2009. He added the adjoining penthouse in 2014 for $3.3 million, and amalgamated it into one spread.

A year later after  being approached by his  neighbour, Xiao Bei Shi, wife of property tycoon Phillip Lee, he sold the penthouse for $12 million.

The historic Victorian Italianate villa in Darlinghurst Iona, then listed for sale by Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin for $16 million, was his next target.

Iona was expected to be a fitting consolation to his sale of Rona given both historic mansions are named after islands off the coast of Scotland.

But it sold for $16.5 million to stockbroker Tim Eustace and his partner Salvatore Panui.

It remains a sore point for Schaeffer that he never managed to buy it.

Schaeffer moved to Darling Point, buying a three-bedroom apartment in The Manor for $4.25 million in early 2016 (and for which he pocketed $5.5 million the following year), while he renovated an art deco residence in Dover Heights he bought in 2015 for $4.85 million.

True to Schaeffer’s lavish, and generous style, he says he again only broke even on the art deco residence despite selling for $9.28 million last year given his extensive renovation.

When Schaeffer bought the F. Glynn Gilling-designed mansion Bonnington in Bellevue Hill for $20.5 million in 2017 it was of some consolation, as it was set on part of the original Rona estate.

However he says he returned Bonnington to the market a year later because his partner, film producer Bettina Dalton, preferred their $7 million Bondi apartment.

There was also the burden of two mortgages over both properties, combined with the couple’s increased travel.

Bonnington sold under the hammer for $20.32 million to fund manager Ari Droga, making it Sydney’s second highest auction sale.

It is somewhat of a paradox for Schaeffer that he is now settled at his contemporary Bondi Beach Pacific apartment he bought in 2016 for $7 million, and his Pre-Raphaelite art collection is in storage as he waits for “something delicious” and historic to come up for sale in the $12 million range where he can hang his art again.

Schaeffer’s love of art

Schaeffer’s love of art has also meant some big financial gains.

“When I had my first difficult financial downsize after being on the BRW Rich List I was selling much of my art when I got a call from Christie’s representative in London to say Malcolm Forbes, of the Forbes magazine family, was selling his Victorian art collection,” said Schaeffer.

“The timing wasn’t good and I explained as much, but two days later he rang back to say the Forbes estate have said they’ll give you one-year credit on any purchase.

“I insisted I just couldn’t make it work at that time, but they rang back again to offer me two years’ credit. I said, ‘make it three years’ credit and lower your reserves because they are too high and I’ll fly over to London and take a look.”

Thanks to $15 million in credit Schaeffer bought 22 pieces from the Forbes estate, including the Il Dolce far niente by one of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood founders William Holman Hunt for £450,000. He sold it three years ago for more than £5 million.

It also included the Frederic Leighton marble sculpture An Athlete Wrestling with a Python valued at $8.5 million – known to Schaeffer’s friends as John Fighting His Bank Manager – which now stands in the John Schaeffer wing of the Art Gallery of NSW.