Our round-up of the top properties for sale this week.
- Australia’s strangest trophy home, Alkira, sells in secret pre-auction deal
- Sydney’s ultra-prestige and trophy home markets are off to a big start for 2017
- Aussie John withdraws $100m mansion from sale but says trophy values will double
Over the years, design, trends and technology have redefined what we consider a trophy home.
There’s been the advent of labour-saving appliances in the 1950s and 60s, the rise of bold colour and family rooms in the 1970s and the gleaming, gilt-edged interior decor of the 80s. In the 90s and beyond 2000, it’s been about open-plan living and smart homes.
Fast-forward to 2017 and it seems we might have seen it all.
18 Molong Street, North Curl Curl.
What type of house embodies today’s wow factor – or these days is it more of a now factor? Is today’s trophy home more about smart lifestyle than the latest gadgets and trends?
“It all depends on one’s personal interpretation of what’s considered a trophy home,” says Bill Malouf, of LJ Hooker Double Bay. “Is it a waterfront property, a finished house, a place with great potential?
It is without question that when designing this family home, the architect took into consideration relaxation and entertaining.Brendan Pomponio, Belle Property Dee Why
“Typically we’ve considered it to be a house on a large block of land with harbour views but it really comes down to the buyer and finding something that’s one of a kind.”
18 Molong Street, North Curl Curl
The “silhouette house” in North Curl Curl, once owned by supermodel Jennifer Hawkins and now on the market again, must come pretty close to embodying the rarefied trophy-home quality.
“We’ve got the most amazing architect, Koichi Takada, working on it,” Hawkins told reporters when the house was being built.
Perched on a cliffside and in a gated community, the three-level house on a 694-square-metre block owns some of Australia’s most breathtaking ocean panoramas.
18 Molong Street, North Curl Curl
“Between the canopies, ‘silhouette house’ frames the uninterrupted view of the horizon, creating pleasant living spaces in which to enjoy the atmosphere,” the architect states.
Agent Brendan Pomponio, who is marketing the property with Belle Dee Why colleague Kirsten Bertram, says the house is in Windy Gate, one of the most exclusive gated estates along Sydney’s coastline.
“This luxurious masterpiece offers unrivalled quality and design,” he says.
18 Molong Street, North Curl Curl.
Bertram describes the house as absolute opulence, with the master suite a highlight.
“The parents’ retreat really needs to be seen to be believed,” she says. “Waking to morning sunrises over the ocean and offering every woman’s dream with an oversized walk-in robe. I feel like I’m in my own personal designer boutique.”
The house offers privacy, with keyless entry through estate gates and a video intercom security system.
18 Molong Street, North Curl Curl.
But it’s also equipped for getting social, with an undercover barbecue area that flows from the downstairs living space to an “enviro-pool” and north-facing level lawns.
Hawkins and her husband, Jake Wall, sold and moved on in June 2014 after selling the house for $4.1 million.
They had bought the 700-square-metre block for $1,375,000 in 2010.
18 Molong Street, North Curl Curl.
Aspects of the North Curl Curl home that embrace the ocean views include retractable glass walls, outdoor terraces and a focus on indoor-outdoor liveability.
And while those in the house have a direct line of sight to the ocean panorama, Takada has made sure it’s a one-way entitlement.
Horizontal extensions in the architecture perform double duty, assuring privacy from below and allowing diffused sunlight from above.
Views and extravagant inclusions are also at the centrepiece of two high-profile projects Takada has undertaken for Crown Group.
Arc, a futuristic 25-storey mixed-use building in Clarence Street, will be topped with an elaborate rooftop and “ice cave” pool servicing both the public and residents of the 200 or so luxury apartments and hotel suites beneath.
In Parramatta, Takada has designed the lavish interiors of the residential and commercial tower known simply as V. Billed as “a 21st century community“, the 26-storey tower has views back to the Sydney skyline and across the western city’s parklands.
Alexander Phillips, of Phillips Pantzer Donnelley in Woollahra, says most of Sydney’s trophy homes are likely to be found on the beaches in the eastern suburbs and around Sydney Harbour.
“I think it comes down to the look and feel of a house and whether it has street presence,” he says. “It’s all about that first impression. It’s also important to consider buying a property with architecture that won’t date, with a good mix of traditional and new styes.”
Feature property:
18 Molong Street, North Curl Curl
$4.9 million
4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 car spaces
Auction
Saturday, March 11, 11am
Brendan Pomponio and Kirsten Bertram, Belle Property Dee Why, 0411 845 119 and 0404 887 693
See more at domain.com.au/2013394525
Recent sales
$2.14 million, 9 Headland Road, February 2017
$1.955, 23 Spring Road, December 2016
$2.975 million, 114 Headland Road, December 2016
Need to know
Data shows once people arrive in the sleepy northern beaches paradise, they rarely leave. Nearby Curl Curl was the best-performing beachside suburb for price growth in Sydney for the six months to September 2016, according to Domain Group figures.