Grand Rose Bay estate sells for $45.1m at private auction
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19 Kent Rd, Rose Bay sold for $45.1m. There’d been interest in the $30m-$35m range soon after it was listed.
A grand Rose Bay estate has sold for an incredible $45.1m at a private auction this afternoon.
Fittingly named due to its elevated position overlooking the Royal Sydney golf course, The Knoll at 19 Kent Rd — a deceased estate — is a rare six-bedroom trophy home and was always going to be popular.
But selling agents Michael Dunn and James Dunn of Richardson & Wrench Double Bay had few comparisons and struggled to find an appropriate guide in time for the Wentworth Courier House of the Week feature last month, though at the time they cited early interest in the $30m-$35m range.
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The six-bedroom house had been in the same family for 60 years.
It was close by the golf course, with speculation (unconfirmed) they may have been members.
Dunn was ecstatic with the result. “I think it could be a record for a residential property sold at auction,” he said.
“The vendors are very happy with the result, but it was a spirited auction and good properties like this always attract good interest.”
He says he couldn’t reveal the purchaser’s identity or any details, apart from saying they were a local family.
Auctioneer Jessie Davidson had nine bidders, four of them active.
Bidding opened at $29m, and rose quickly in $1m increments.
Other sources who called in said it was the underbidder, a lady wearing red glasses, who had opened the bidding.
The separate sources said Davidson called it onto the market at $40m, and the underbidder thought she had it at $45m.
But those sources said another couple, a husband and wife in their 50s, stole the keys with another $100,000 bid.
They speculated that they must have been members of the nearby Royal Sydney Golf Club and wanted to live close by. Dunn couldn’t confirm this.
For her house of the week feature, Kirsten Craze wrote that the vendors were the Burns family, descendants of Sir James Burns who founded blue chip merchant company Burns Philp.
There are views of the Royal Sydney Golf Club from the home.
The buyers will no doubt renovate.
The house has large rooms with high ceilings.
They’d called the grand Kent Rd property home for 60 years; one of only a handful of owners in almost a century.
The estate measured 2536sq m, larger than almost all other non-waterfront properties in the coveted suburb.
The Kent Rd home was designed by Scott, Green & Scott in 1935 for WA Freeman in Georgian revival style, reminiscent of a stately manor in rural Britain.
Dunn had even speculated who may have been interested for Craze’s feature: “It would be perfectly suited to a lover of golf because you’re looking down across the recently renovated Royal Sydney Golf Club.
“The outlook is picturesque.”
Standing tall over the famous fairways next door, The Knoll features spacious level lawns, established gardens and a 15.2m pool.
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