Northbridge trophy shelf scores an Alex Popov masterpiece on offer for $15 million

The Alex Popov-designed Northbridge home of hedge fund manager David Curtis and his wife Joan heads up the post-holiday trophy market with a guide of $15 million.

The impressive concrete residence with tennis court, infinity pool and an inclinator to the private jetty is one of the few local residences that could challenge the suburb high of $15.25 million set last September when former head of equities giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Justin Reizes sold his waterfront home to a buyer from China  – Jianwen Huang.

The other potential chart-topper is the neighbouring waterfront home of businessman Robert Salteri and his wife Kelly, which they bought in 2001 for $6 million.

Their home is expected to also hit the market in coming years when their record $27 million penthouse purchase in the Opera Residences is completed.

Curtis, the former Credit Suisse foreign exchange chief who founded Northbridge Park Asset Management, has predictably listed the family home with McGrath’s Michael Coombs, who set the suburb’s top result with the Reizes home sale.

Furniture chief nabs The Retreat

Fantastic Furniture CEO Debra Singh and her husband Palvinder are trading up from Leichhardt to the $5.3 million historic Glebe waterfront, The Retreat.

Built in the 1850s, the sandstone Georgian residence was sold by Bresic Whitney’s Andrew Liddell and Ivan Bresic on behalf of One Big Switch chief  and Kevin Rudd’s former press secretary Lachlan Harris.

Harris was in possession of the property only six months, doing well on the resale given little improvements since his purchase in 2016 for $4.85 million.

The Singhs have already listed their former two-storey home on Emma Street with Andrew Liddell and Melinda Antella. Expect to pay $2.5 million at its May 13 auction.

Clovelly pad boasts bathroom of the year

David Harrington’s Clovelly home.
Photo: Supplied

IAG Insurance chief David Harrington is offloading his designer digs in Clovelly given a $4.65 million buyer.

The Studio Internationale-designed residence won Housing Industry Association’s Bathroom of the Year in 2016 for the en suite, but is better known to Title Deeds regulars as the former home of two time Archibald Prize winner Del Kathryn Barton and recently appointed chief of Challenger, Chris Plater.

Alexander Phillips, of Phillips Pantzer Donnelley, has set a May 20 auction.

Neerim Park sale sets suburb record

The Castle Cove trophy estate Neerim Park owned by whitegoods supplier and art collector Jim Woodward has sold for a suburb high of more than $13 million.

Martin Ross and Darren Curtis, of Christie’s International, were both tight lipped as to details, declining to reveal the result, but confirmed it had a guide of $13 million to $14.3 million before it sold after competitive offers from multiple parties.

The Michael Robilliard-designed residence on one hectare of waterfront reserve was commissioned by the late investment banker David Coe, who sold it new to Woodward in 1999 at auction for $5,378,000, setting a then suburb record.

The Dee Why-based Woodward and his wife Erica Krebs-Woodward topped Castle Cove’s previous high of $11.28 million set by the estate next door, Neerim House a year ago, and the Castlecrag high of $12.8 million set by Christie’s Ken Jacobs in 2015 when the Penhallow estate was sold on behalf of Paul and Sandra Salteri.

School’s in, Killara sellers come out

The Killara home showcases trademarks of Hrdina’s designs with natural timbers and stone.
Photo: Supplied

Killara’s best designer offerings have piled onto the market as the school holidays come to a close. Leading the pack is the home of architect Jorge Hrdina and his wife Diana for $7 million.

What was an original 1970s number when they bought it in 2008 for $2.95 million has been completely rebuilt and completed a year ago. The property features Hrdina’s trademark use of natural timbers and stone.

The six-bedroom residence overlooks a north-facing garden with tennis court and pool that goes to auction on May 21 through Scott Farquhar, of McConnell Bourn.

Also on Springdale Road is the Federation-style residence designed by architect Timothy Moon that goes to auction on May 13 for $6 million, again through Scott Farquhar.

“Dobroyd” is set on 2200 square metres bought by rheumatologist Neil McGill and his wife Vicki in 1991 for $760,000 and completed in 1995.

Architect pair list remade bungalow

The Abigail Street dwelling has an ultra-contemporary style. Photo: Aimee Crouch

It’s a similar designer story in Hunters Hill where award-winning architect Julian Ashton and his wife, fellow architect Tracy Ashton are also selling, but not before they’ve completely transformed what was a two-bedroom Californian bungalow into a ultra-contemporary family home.

The Ashtons paid $1.1 million for the Abigail Street property in 2008 and created a four-bedroom home with separate living areas overlooking a level, north-facing garden that goes to auction on May 13 for $3.1 million through Nicholas McEvoy and Narelle Scott, of BresicWhitney.​

Ashton, who won the state’s Sulman Medal for Public Architecture for the Westmead Millennium Institute in 2015, flipped his former Hunters Hill home after a major redesign. He spent $500,000 in nearby Auburn Street in 2001 and almost doubled its value when he sold his recreation in 2008 for $980,000.