Hamilton’s Hottest Home Is Up For Grabs
High on the hill, this architectural wonder could be one of Brisbane’s finest.
By Terry Christodoulou
Mon, Dec 7, 2020 2:30am
2 min
2 min
Perched on the spectacularly private Hamilton hill, 55 Markwell street is a luxurious three-story residence boasting panoramic views of Brisbane’s CBD.
Designed by architect Shaun Lockyer, the 6-bedroom, 5-bathroom, 4-car garage residence is filled with a raft of resort-like amenities across a 2456sqm plot, only 10 minutes from the CBD and airport.
The main house offers over 1000sqm of living space and is fitted with a heady combination of timber, glass and stone achieving a contemporary aesthetic through floor to ceiling glass doors and windows, lofty ceiling heights and timber panelling.
On the first level, the kitchen well-appointed with Miele appliances, a marble island and is bordered with stonework pylons alongside a walkthrough butler’s pantry. Creating a free-flowing space are connections to the formal dining, casual dining, family room, lounge and outdoor deck area.
Additionally, on the first level is a study alongside four of the bedrooms, three of which come with ensuites.
Throughout the home, the bathrooms are adorned in a combination of limestone tiling or marble benchtops, with the aforementioned timber, stone, glass design trinity referenced.
Up the marble staircase, the upper level sees the master retreat, complete with its own ensuite, boasting twin vanities and ‘his’ and ‘hers’ walk-in robes and more impressive views.
The lower level of the home sees a private squash court, games room, personal gym, theatre and cellar, along with a laundry and yet another bathroom.
Built to entertain, the deck area and backyard host an outdoor kitchen, complete with barbecue, pizza oven, sink, built-in refrigeration and fire pit. There’s also a jaw-dropping 21-metre heated lap pool complemented by a spa and sauna.
On the technology front, the home is fitted with a C-bus lighting system, multi-zone security system with cameras and a Sonos sound system.
The residence also offers a separate fully self-contained one-bedroom cottage for the housekeeper or guests.
The listing is the Ray White New Farm’s Matt Lancashire (+61 416 476 480). POA
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By MARK ELLWOOD
Sat, Oct 5, 2024 3 min
3 min
Many luxury hotels only build on their gilded reputations with each passing decade. But others are less fortunate. Here are five long-gone grandes dames that fell from grace—and one that persists, but in a significantly diminished form.
The Proto-Marmont |
The Garden of Allah, Los Angeles
A magnet for celebrities, the Garden of Allah was once the scene-making equivalent of today’s Chateau Marmont. Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner’s affair allegedly started there and Humphrey Bogart lived in one of its bungalows for a time.
Crimean expat Alla Nazimova leased a grand home in Hollywood after World War I, but soon turned it into a hotel, where she prioritised glamorous clientele. Others risked being ejected by guards and a fearsome dog dubbed the Hound of the Baskervilles. Demolished in the 1950s, the site’s now a parking lot.
The Failed Follow-Up |
Hotel Astor, New York City
The Astor family hoped to repeat their success when they opened this sequel to their megahit Waldorf Astoria hotel in 1904. It became an anchor of the nascent Theater District, buzzy (and naughty) enough to inspire Cole Porter to write in “High Society”: “Have you heard that Mimsie Starr…got pinched in the Astor Bar?”
That bar soon gained another reputation. “Gentlemen who preferred the company of other gentlemen would meet in a certain section of the bar,” said travel expert Henry Harteveldt of consulting firm Atmosphere Research. By the 1960s, the hotel had lost its lustre and was demolished; the 54-storey One Astor Plaza skyscraper was built in its place.
The Island Playground |
Santa Carolina Hotel, Bazaruto Archipelago, Mozambique
In the 1950s, colonial officers around Africa treated Mozambique as an off-duty playground. They flocked, in particular, to the Santa Carolina, a five-star hotel on a gorgeous archipelago off the country’s southern coast.
Run by a Portuguese businessman and his wife, the resort included an airstrip that ferried visitors in and out. Ask locals why the place was eventually reduced to rubble, and some whisper that the couple were cursed—and that’s why no one wanted to take over when the business collapsed in the ’70s. Today, seeing the abandoned, crumbled ruins and murals bleached by the sun, it’s hard to dismiss their superstitions entirely.
The Tourism Gimmick |
Bali Hai Raiatea, French Polynesia
The overwater bungalow, a shorthand for barefoot luxury around the world, began in French Polynesia—but not with the locals. Instead, it was a marketing gimmick cooked up by a trio of rascally Americans. They moved to French Polynesia in the late 1950s, and soon tried to capitalise on the newly built international airport and a looming tourism boom.
That proved difficult because their five-room hotel on the island of Raiatea lacked a beach. They devised a fix: building rooms on pontoons above the water. They were an instant phenomenon, spreading around the islands and the world—per fan site OverwaterBungalows.net , there are now more than 9,000 worldwide, from the Maldives to Mexico. That first property, though, is no more.
The New England Holdout |
Poland Springs Resort, Poland, Maine
The Ricker family started out as innkeepers, running a stagecoach stop in Maine in the 1790s. When Hiram Ricker took over the operation, the family expanded into the business by which it would make its fortune: water. Thanks to savvy marketing, by the 1870s, doctors were prescribing Poland Spring mineral water and die-hards were making pilgrimages to the source.
The Rickers opened the Poland Spring House in 1876, and eventually expanded it to include one of the earliest resort-based golf courses in the country, a barber shop, dance studio and music hall. By the turn of the century, it was among the most glamorous resort complexes in New England.
Mismanagement eventually forced its sale in 1962, and both the water operation and hospitality holdings went through several owners and operators. While the water venture retains its prominence, the hotel has weathered less well, becoming a pleasant—but far from luxurious—mid-market resort. Former NYU hospitality professor Bjorn Hanson says attempts at upgrading over the decades have been futile. “I was a consultant to a developer in the 1970s to return the resort to its ‘former glory,’ but it never happened.”
