Title Deeds: Out of town

An overseas buyer has bought Mulgoa’s historic Glenleigh Estate amid plans to land-bank the 35-hectare property and complete its restoration.

Colliers’ Richard Royle and Deborah Cullen declined to reveal the sale price; they exchanged on property as Title Deeds went to print. Settlement will confirm local speculation that the result landed the hoped-for $10 million.

The Scottish baronial-style residence set a Penrith record when it last traded in 1984 for $1.05 million, when it was bought by Graham Windridge and the late Fred Grotto.

Built in the 1880s for Irish shipping merchant James Ewan as his country home, it was designed by architect William Wardell, whose notable Sydney works include St Mary’s Cathedral and St John’s College at Sydney University.

Glenleigh is one of a few remaining colonial-era holiday homes in the area, but sits in the shade of the trophy estate Fernhill, a few kilometres down the road. The 1842-era residence built in the Greek Revival temple style for the Cox pioneering family on 383 hectares is up for grabs for $30 million through Ken Jacobs and Darren Curtis, of Christie’s International.