Lilyfield’s Latest Lavish Residence Hits The Market
Elevated living in a tightly held Sydney locale.
By Terry Christodoulou
Sun, Jan 17, 2021 11:41pm
2 min
2 min
Located in one of Lilyfield’s most sought-after streets, 18 Chapel Street presents a bold new residence. Designed by Simon Vaughan Architects and interiors by MXM Design Studio – and built by award-winning boutique building team, Micrah Projects – the new development brings high-end luxury across a dual-level floor plan.
The 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom, with lock-up garage residence sees imported Spanish porcelain tiling underfoot (with underfloor heating on the ground floor), high ceilings, galleries of glass and architectural skylights creating an airy light-filled space.
Further, the interiors – styled by Coloured Pencil – see a lavish kitchen as the centrepiece of the home, fitted with Manhattan marble benchtop and island, Zip hot water unit and integrated refrigerator with an outlook to the garden.
Elsewhere, the home sees flexible, fluid living courtesy of the architectural curves of the living and dining space fitted with a showcase fireplace. A separate family room offers built-in cabinetry and a comfortable space to retreat.
The residence is replete with four luxury bedroom suites all fitted with built-in robes while a study offers a built-in desk with brass inlays and LED strip lighting.
The master bedroom boasts ‘his’ and ‘hers’ robes, built-in bedside tables and a timber panelled feature wall. Here, the master also holds an ensuite, arriving with Manhattan marble – coordinating with the kitchen – and underfloor heating.
The other bathrooms follow suit with the same marble adornments and underfloor heating.
Outside, an expansive covered rear alfresco terrace sees a custom Cedar built-in barbeque and preparation area ideal for entertaining. In addition to the above, a central courtyard with established garden and spotted gum hardwood timber decking is also offered with great connection to the indoor spaces. It also doubles as a garage.
The residence is nearby to the bay and parklands, weekend markets, bus and light rail to Sydney CBD.
The listing is with Cobden & Hayson’s Ben Southwell (+61 407 896 212) and is set for auction on 13 February 2021 on-site. Price guide $3.3m.
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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.”
