A Cliffside Manor With A Modern Refresh

Privately positioned cliffside 8 Gap Road, Watsons Bay offers expansive views of the city’s twinkling harbour, via a former 1920s Masonic Lodge that has been reimagined and delivered to luxurious modern standards by renowned architects Weir Phillips.

Dream living all year — through arguably the perfect new year’s eve party pad — the 5-bedroom, 5-bathroom home boasts a tangible sense of airiness and ease as driven by stately proportions and 5-metre ceilings across open plan living areas, bespoke arched windows connecting not only to history but the literal inside to outflow.

The finishes throughout are impeccable and unique, with 200-year-old French parquetry flooring paired to a Calacatta marble kitchen that’s fitted with Gaggenau appliances and an elongated, showpiece, marble benchtop for dining.

The upper level, accessible by private lift, sees the five large bedrooms each fitted with under-floor heating and Perrin & Rowe marble ensuites in each as well as a separate self-contained guest level.

The master suite comprises a dressing room larger than most Paddington boutiques (what’s left of them) and more views over Sydney Harbour.

Outdoors feature a covered entertaining area as well as a separate balcony space with in-built outdoor kitchen. There’s also a rebuilt Egyptian limestone pool with William Dangar designed gardens completing the space.

8 Gap Road Watsons Bay

Parking for two cars is secured by an electronic gate, security and camera system. The house sits within a two-minute stroll of Watson’s Bay Boutique Hotel, Robertson Park and known restaurants such as Doyle’s and Dunbar House.

The listing is with Michael Pallier of Sotheby’s Sydney, +61 417 371 544; POA.

sydneysothebysrealty.com

For years, tech entrepreneur Asher Waldfogel and his wife, Helyn MacLean, dreamed of building a modern house in Palo Alto, Calif.

The couple, however, worried about clashing with the Mediterranean-style architecture typically associated with their neighborhood of Old Palo Alto.

So they tapped architect Steven Ehrlich to create a design that paid homage to its surroundings with stucco, mahogany and titanium zinc cladding. They spent $20 million over several years building the house, completed in 2005.

Designed for indoor-outdoor living, the house has matching mahogany paneling and limestone both inside and out. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

The dining room is between an outdoor garden and the staircase. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Now looking to be closer to their adult daughter on the East Coast, they are putting the five-bedroom home on the market for $44 million—the most expensive listing in Palo Alto.

Waldfogel is an angel investor who co-founded Redback Networks, a telecommunications-equipment company. MacLean previously had a career in fundraising.

The kitchen and family room open to the garden and pool. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Cast alcoves and mahogany shelves house the couple’s books and ceramics. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

The couple purchased the roughly 0.4-acre site for $7.1 million in 2000 and demolished a circa-1930s Spanish Colonial home. The house they built pinwheels around a central staircase. It has 7,900 square feet of livable space, with four distinct courtyards and a pool.

A key feature of the home is a cast-in-place concrete wall, or spine, that is two stories high and about 80 feet long. “There’s a little bit of controlled chaos in what comes out of the form,” unlike a perfectly uniform surface, Waldfogel said. “If you want that, you do it in plastic.”

Ehrlich said it took a few tries to get the concrete wall right. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

‘It’s a really hard material to tame,’ Ehrlich said of concrete. Workers learned as they went, and Waldfogel and Helyn grew to appreciate the imperfect material. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

A central staircase is housed in a glass tower. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Waldfogel said he and his wife are thinking about the next phase of life now that their daughter is grown, although they have not decided where they will move. They also have a home in Sun Valley, Idaho.

“Right now we’re just trying to emotionally let go and decide what to do next,” he said.

Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Two wings of the house are connected by horizontal planes. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Palo Alto, an epicenter of venture capital and tech startups in Silicon Valley, is home to some of the country’s biggest tech titans. Sales volume and prices are rising, with a median sale price of $3.5 million for the three months ending in August, up 5.8% year-over-year, according to real-estate brokerage Redfin.

Arthur Sharif of Sotheby’s International Realty—San Francisco Brokerage has the listing.

A Cliffside Manor With A Modern Refresh

An updated slice of history with a luxury French twist and unique water views.

A five-bedroom Palo Alto home designed by Steven Ehrlich is listed for $44 million, making it the city’s most expensive listing. Built around a dramatic concrete spine, the home features four courtyards and a pool.