An Opulent Penthouse In The Heart Of Melbourne

Emanating luxury, this breathtaking penthouse at 7 Bowen Crescent, in Melbourne offers elevated finishes, grand proportions and uninterrupted views of the city skyline, Port Phillip Bay and Albert Park Lake.

The David Hicks designed penthouse sets an opulent benchmark in apartment living offering 4-bedrooms, 4-bathrooms and 4-car parking spread across 439sqm and two floors.

Upon entry, the residence features dark stained American oak parquetry flooring across a palatial open plan layout. It’s here the living, dining and entertaining space is surrounded by 270-degree full height glass – giving access to the aforementioned sensational views and highlighting the penthouse’s soaring ceiling heights.

The living area then extends out on to an expansive, private, sun-terrace – ideal for entertaining – especially come time for the Australian Grand Prix (when it returns).

Inside, the kitchen offers Carrara marble finishes alongside Gaggenau appliances and integrated Liebherr refrigeration.

Also on the main level is the main bedroom, complete with a deluxe dressing room and bespoke cabinetry, alongside a marble ensuite. Elsewhere, two additional bedrooms arrive with marble ensuites and built-in robes.

Further, the living space features a sculptural spiral staircase – leading up to the versatile fourth bedroom, replete with office space – and a gas fireplace. There is also an internal lift servicing both levels.

The residence also offers underfloor heating in the bathrooms, video intercom, remote blinds, and powder room.

Purchasing the penthouse gives owners access to the Albert Place’s hotel-style amenities including the indoor pool and sauna, valet parking, concierge and lounge amenities and two private Vintech wine fridges offering approximately 300 bottles of storage.

The home is enviably located within walking distance of the Botanic Gardens, the Domain, Albert Park Lake, South Yarra and South Melbourne shopping and restaurant precincts.

The listing is with Marshall White’s Nicholas Hoo (+61 435 728 272) and Mark Harris +61 414 799 343. Price guide $8-8.8m.

Marshallwhite.com.au

A historic Barbados estate with a 300-year-old villa and 11 acres overlooking the Caribbean Sea is now for sale with a guide price of $22.5 million.

The seller is Kit Braden, chairman of the U.K. branch of French beauty empire L’Occitane Group, whose family has spent every winter for the last 13 years at the island property, known as Fustic Estate.

“It’s very much a family house,” Braden said. “We love having a lot of people there. It’s a collection point to keep everyone together.”

The main villa dates to 1712, though it’s been reimagined and expanded substantially over the years.

It spans 13,000 square feet and features seven en suite bedrooms across three wings, as well as expansive verandas, stone courtyards and rows of louvered doors in gay Caribbean pastels.

In the 1970s, when the home was owned by Charles Graves—brother of British poet Robert Graves—it was reimagined by stage designer Oliver Messel, one of the foremost theater designers of the last century. Messel expanded the home, added a lagoon pool with a natural waterfall and other theatrical features, according to Braden.

“The whole place is a little bit magical,” he said.

The home sits about 350 feet above the water, and surrounded by lush gardens that slope towards the water.

“We look down through our garden—which is about 12 acres of tropical gardens and palm trees and wonderful old mahogany trees—onto the Caribbean,” Braden said.

He and his wife first saw the property on New Year’s Eve 2013, during a quick trip from where they were staying in Grenada.

The couple spent an hour walking the perimeter, some of it still untouched jungle, in the pouring rain.

“By the time we got back, I had fallen in love with it,” Braden said.

His wife, however, wasn’t so sure. But in Braden’s telling, a second visit in sunnier weather with two of their children brought her around.

“She had to be talked into that it was a jolly good idea; now she absolutely loves it,” he said.

When they bought the property, the edge that runs along the waterfront was a jungle, so they cleared the ridge and transformed it into gardens.

They also bought an additional sea-level parcel with two beach cottages, giving the property direct access to the water and the town below via a five-minute walk.

The property also has a 15-person staff, a reflecting pond, an outdoor pavilion suitable for yoga and a commercial grade kitchen that can serve more than 100 guests, according to a brochure from Knight Frank, which posted the listing in March. They did not provide further comment.

For Braden, the property is special because of its natural beauty, its proximity to the town of Saint Lucy and its history—which dates way way back to when the island of Barbados was first formed via tectonic activity.

“It was basically tectonic plates that collided about a million years ago so the seabed is the top of the hill,” Braden said. “We’re on coral rock.”

As a result, Fustic Estate includes an extensive network of caves that were likely used by the Arawaks, a Venezuelan fishing tribe that followed the fish to these islands about a thousand years ago.

“If the fish were good they’d camp here,” Braden said. “There’s evidence that they stayed there in those caves, they lived there in good winters.”

Now it’s someone else’s turn to live on the land shared by Arawaks, the plantation owners of 1712, Charles Graves and the Braden brood.

An Opulent Penthouse In The Heart Of Melbourne

The private terrace is built for entertaining.

Kit Braden, an executive at French beauty empire L’Occitane, has spent every winter for the past 13 years at the stone vacation home.