An Award-Winning Riverside Queensland Home Is For Sale
Tropical styling meets brutalist design in Sanctuary Cove.
By Terry Christodoulou
Sun, Dec 6, 2020 6:16am
2 min
2 min
On the banks of the Coomera River in Queensland’s tightly held Sanctuary Cove, the award-winning ‘Cove House’ by architect Justin Humphrey is sprawled across a 966sqm block.
Located an hour from Brisbane CBD, or 30-minutes from the Gold Coast at 7366 Marine Drive East, Sanctuary Cove in Queensland, the 3-bedroom, 4-bathroom and 3-car garage home takes its cues from both brutalist architecture and tropical modernism. The heady combination sees an intriguing melding of materials and details – such as off-form concrete and curving timber battens – throughout the home that follows an unconventional layout revolving around lush, open-air tropical garden atriums.
Dark tones set against timber is a theme that is reflected throughout the home – including in the kitchen – which sees a charcoal hued benchtop, European appliances and a hidden wine cellar.
From here, the space flows towards the dining and living areas where timber panelling adorns the ceiling and floor-to-ceiling glass windows give views to the aforementioned central tropical gardens and out to the river.
From the main living area and kitchen, the outdoor entertaining terrace is accessed. The luxurious space is fitted with an in-built barbeque and fireplace, kitchenette with bar fridges, sunken lounge and a pool while an attached mooring allows homeowners to lap up their watery surrounds.
Elsewhere, the home’s master suite sees curved architectural features, glass Venetian-style shutters, a walk-in robe and an ‘indoors-outdoors’ ensuite that offers privacy through the residences central gardens (while still feeling like you’re outside). A further two bedrooms and study are found throughout the home as well as a private laundry courtyard.
Beyond the Cove House’s considered finishes, it holds a submerged rainwater tank, a solar photovoltaic system capable of 15kW alongside three Tesla energy storage batteries furthering its green cred.
The listing is with Matt Gates (+61 404 444 439) of Ray White Sanctuary Cove; POA.
MOST POPULAR
The Australian leather house has opened an immersive four-day pop-up in Manhattan, unveiling its Bloom Collection and redefining what a product launch can look like.
Following the successful launch of its Palais Collection, MAISON de SABRÉ has unveiled a new modular handbag system offering more than 720 styling combinations.
The imposing stone structures, with towers, turrets and a hot tub room, lord over the landscape near the mountain resort town of Sandpoint.
By Liz Lucking
Mon, Jul 13, 2026 2 min
2 min
Idaho is not a place that’s often associated with Medieval castles, but a pair have just hit the market for $6.25 million.
The imposing stone structures have towers, turrets, ramparts, arrow-slit windows and even a drawbridge, and might just be the most authentic-looking castles this side of the Atlantic.
“Who expects to see a castle like this in Idaho?” said listing agent Brenda Burk of Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty, who brought the property to the market last week. They are, she said, “extremely unusual.”
Schweitzer Castle and Château de Melusine, as they’re known, stand within Schweitzer Mountain Resort in the Selkirk Mountains and overlook the nearby mountain resort town of Sandpoint. They take in panoramic views of Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho’s largest lake.
The pair of ski-in/ski-out homes each have three bedrooms, two bathrooms and three stories, Burk explained. They are “so authentic,” she said. “Every single stone was handlaid.”
Schweitzer Castle, she said, wasn’t built for “functionality,” but has been modernized and adapted and now has everything a 21st-century residence requires, along with a dungeon, which for some buyers may also be a requisite.
The chateau, meanwhile, has a hot tub room with mountain views, as well as a garage.
The property is being sold furnished, and will come complete with the hand-carved statues, armor, mounted swords, stained-glass windows and a host of antiques dating to the 15th and 16th centuries.
The owner, an antique collector who couldn’t be reached for comment, “is always looking for that hidden jewel and he found that here,” Burk said.
The next custodian is likely to stem from a varied pool of buyers, Burk said, that would include “the trophy-home buyer, someone who can say ‘I own a castle.’”
The property could also appeal to someone looking for a vacation home, or a multi-generational estate, and beyond that “there’s the dreamers,” she said. “We definitely try to market to people who like Medieval history or maybe do Renaissance fairs.”
The seller “really wants it to go to someone with the same passion.”
