The $27.5m estate that’s set to smash records for Sydney’s inner west

Balmain’s grandest estate, Ewenton House, is set to hit the market for the first time in more than three decades with a price guide of $27.5 million, as cardiologist John Yiannikas and his wife Susan look to downsize from their landmark residence.

The private harbourfront estate is the largest landholding in the suburb at 2206 square metres and the four-level sandstone home, which dates back to 1854 to 1872, is listed on the NSW State Heritage Register.

The home is an amalgamation of Georgian, Victorian, post-Colonial and Italianate influences, and the Yiannikas family undertook a major restoration after they purchased the property for $1.3 million from The Australian Centre for Languages in 1992.

The five-bedroom, four-bathroom property, which also has 10 car spaces, has had more renovations since and park-like gardens designed by Myles Baldwin and maintained by Amiel Van Ewyk.

It’s once-in-a-generation changing of the guard for the property recognised by architects and historians alike.

Ewenton House is selling through Danny Cobden and Samantha Elvy of Cobden & Hayson in an expressions of interest campaign closing 13 November.

“Despite being just 10 minutes from the city by ferry, Ewenton House feels more like a Southern Highlands retreat. The history, the scale, the craftsmanship, the privacy – there’s really nothing that compares to it anywhere in Sydney. The current owners see themselves as the proud custodians of the property and speak of the profound privilege and joy of residing in a landmark so integral to the peninsula’s rich history,” Danny told this masthead.

If sold at its price guide, it would break the inner west peninsula record by at least $6.5 million as it was last set by University of NSW law professor and barrister Dr Peter Cashman, who sold his historic Birchgrove waterfront home Keba on roughly half the land size for $21 million earlier this year to Ty Dincer, chief executive of investment advisory firm MEC Global Partners Asia, and his partner, Mel Toluk.

The prestige sale of Cashman’s 1878-built residence also comfortably reset the previous peninsula record, which was held by the gothic estate Rothesay in nearby Balmain East, which sold for $19.76 million.

Changing of the guards in the east

Meanwhile, in the eastern suburbs, almost $100 million worth of real estate has been snapped up in Sydney’s best streets, marking another generational handover of trophy homes in the neighbourhood.

The Moss family have sold their long-time home on Vaucluse’s blue-chip Coolong Road for more than $60 million, local sources say, ranking in the top three prestige property sales for the year.

Set on a rare 1663 square metres, the five-bedroom, six-bathroom house with coveted harbour views of Middle Head and Manly was on offer for the first time in almost 55 years.

The deceased estate was purchased by Alex and Magda Moss, who were directors of a list of companies, including Ladies Choice from the mid-1960s to 1990, according to their ASIC records. The Hungarian-born Alex was also the secretary of Banktech Australia briefly in the early 1990s.

While the buyer will be revealed upon settlement, they will be in the company of the Triguboff family’s growing stake in the suburb. Australia’s richest man and Meriton founder Harry Triguboff’s 6000-square-metre landholding is just nearby, Harry’s daughter Sharon Hendler and her husband, Gary Hendler, are also nearby at their $6 million address, and Harry’s granddaughter Miki Hendler set down roots in the suburb for more than $20 million earlier this year.

Then there are the closer neighbours, including Menulog’s co-founder Leon Kamenev, who spent just shy of $80 million amalgamating four properties in Vaucluse to build his private compound, as well as commercial property developer Robert Burger, who paid $38.8 million for a waterfront from Chinese supermarket chain co-owner Huang Qiarong.

It sold through Elliott Placks of Ray White Double Bay, who declined to comment. The next two highest sales were the long-time Vaucluse home of renowned philanthropist Isaac Wakil and his late wife, Susan, which sold for about $56 million, followed by the Vaucluse home of rag traders Stephen and Pamela Leibowitz, which sold for circa $55 million.

New neighbours move in

Meanwhile, the Point Piper deceased estate of little-known couple Ruby and Pesi Irani also sold for circa its $35 million price guide in a private auction held on site.

Set on one of the premier roads in the suburb, it was the first time on offer since the retired rag traders purchased the waterfront property for $5.1 million in 1998.

This prized pocket of Point Piper has steadily become the preserve of high-net-worth individuals, corporate heavyweights and influential decision-makers, including former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, former Channel Seven commercial director Bruce McWilliam, and media mogul Lachlan Murdoch and his wife Sarah, who paid $38.5 million for a two-storey boathouse nearby.

The home sold through Michael Pallier of Sydney Sotheby’s International Realty, who declined to comment.