Revealed: Designs for planned mansion on empty Toorak block where grand home was demolished

Take a look at the $18 million Toorak mansion that was never built.

A landmark home on one of the city’s best streets was controversially demolished in 2015 and the site has since been vacant.

Plans were drawn up for a grand new build for the oversized block at 16 St Georges Road, but it never eventuated.

The owners were caught up in the Chinese government’s crackdown on transferring money out of the country, Caulfield Krivanek Architecture managing director Robert Caulfield, who designed the plans, told Domain.

“We had a builder all lined up ready to go, we had the building permit,” Mr Caulfield said.

“The construction price from the builder was $18 million.”

But he says his clients were unable to get their money out of China.

“They were virtually unable to finance it with the reduction in cashflow from China,” he said.

“We can’t realise their dream.”

The property last changed hands for $18.58 million in 2013 when the Queen Anne-style estate Idylwilde was marketed as a “home for the generations”.

Mr Caulfield said he originally worked on designing a renovation for the back part of the home.

But local residents pushed for heritage protection, which the owners incorrectly understood as a prohibition on making any changes to the home.

“They panicked and got a demolition permit, demolished it,” he said.

“We were just stunned.”

He was then commissioned to design a new build.

“We researched out what we believed would be an appropriate grand manor… we wanted to produce a house that looked timeless,” he said.

“This would have been right up there with the best, and as a grand, homes in the area.”

It would have been about 2400 square metres, set back from the street, with large areas of landscaping and big internal spaces, he said.

The empty land is now for sale off-market with an asking price of $40 million to $44 million through agency Kay & Burton.

Kay & Burton managing director Ross Savas noted positive signs for the housing market, such as the election of the Coalition government, two official interest rate cuts and a loosening in credit conditions from the banking regulator.

“All these initiatives have had a very positive effect on the equity and property market,” Mr Savas said. “We are now seeing buyers come back with a renewed confidence to the top end of the residential market.”

Stonnington Council has previously confirmed the empty site has been issued with a building permit for a single dwelling.

Mr Caulfield said a new buyer could go ahead with the existing plans but he expects they would likely have their own preferences for a home on the site.

The block has a single-dwelling covenant on it, but it is possible to have covenants lifted, he said, adding that any multi-residential plan for the site was likely to be top-end luxury penthouses.