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Fenwick House in East Ballina has sold for a residential record of $3.87m.
A historic 1886 manor in East Ballina has sold for $3.87m, breaking the sales record for a residential home in the northern NSW town.
Three registered bidders fought for the property when it went to auction and while it was passed in, the selling agent, David Smith of Ray White, Byron Bay, said he brokered a contract under the same auction conditions within the following hours.
The house is the only example of residential Victorian Italianate architecture in the area.
“There were several interested parties too who couldn’t buy unconditional also waiting in the wings, but we managed to do a deal under auction conditions that same day,” Mr Smith said.
Fenwick House had been owned by the same family since they bought it 28 years ago, in 1993, for $530,000.
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According to the Office of Environment and Heritage, Fenwick House is among the oldest and most opulent historic masonry houses in the Ballina shire and is the only example of residential Victorian Italianate architecture.
It was built by Thomas Fenwick, who established a tug-boat service in the shire.
It was built by Thomas Fenwick, known for establishing a tug service on the bar of the Richmond River, in 1886. The house was designed by architect James Fenwick and is said to be based on a similar design of a relatives home in Thomas Fenwicks’ native Scotland and cost 9000 to build.
It has marble tiles and 4m-high ceilings.
Thomas Fenwick spent 20 years as tugmaster on the Richmond River before he died in 1896.
The house was sold to ‘an Evangelical religious group’ who converted into a grammar school for boys, which it remained for many years.
It has been owned by the same family for 28 years.
Fully restored over the years, entry to the home is through huge cedar double doors, which take you into an entrance hall tiled in traditional black and white checked marble and featuring a carved English Mahogany staircase that ascends through an arch to the second storey. With Italian marble tiles and fireplaces, ballroom, 4m high ceilings, chandeliers other period details, the mansion is truly majestic.
The English mahogany staircase.
Mr Smith said the new owners, who wished not to be named, would likely turn the house into a commercial venture.
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The property has the potential to be anything from a boutique hotel to a restaurant or suite of commercial offices.
The residential kitchen. There is also a commercial-grade kitchen.
The sale on Fenwick house is part of a wider buy-up blitz going on in and around the Northern Rivers as buyers from southern states seek a sea or tree-change further north.
Six out of the top ten auction and private treaty sales registered last week by REA Group were for properties on the Northern Rivers.
Two other East Ballina properties, 1 Tuckeroo Dr and 7 Minley Cr, took out the second and fourth place in the top auction sales for last week at $1.675m and $1.4m respectively.
The traditional bathroom.
A five-bedroom home on 3.2a in leafy Mycocum, ten minutes from Byron Bay, took out the top sales spot under private treaty, fetching $3.4m through Jeremy Bennett of Byron Bay Property sales.
It was followed by the sale of a five-bedroom home at 6 Seaview St in Byron Bay, which sold for $3.027m through Ian Daniels and Susan Whyte of McGrath, while a house at 11 Sapphire Crt, Lennox Head, rounded off the top five sales, achieving $2.925m through Kent Shay of LJ Hooker.
Fenwick House East Ballina