Prestige Property: 7 Hillside Avenue, Vaucluse, NSW
A rare trophy home in Sydney’s east hits the market.
By Terry Christodoulou
Fri, May 28, 2021 4:13pm
2 min
2 min
Set in a truly enviable setting, this hillside pile in Sydney’s blue-ribbon suburb Vaucluse arrives with sweeping vistas of the eastern suburbs and harbour.
Designed by Howard Tanner of DKT architects in the early ’00s, the nearly 2000sqm site sees a 7-bedroom, 7-bathroom, 10-car parking mansion offering unadulterated luxury at every turn.
The home boasts natural stone flooring and timber underfoot, with soaring ceilings and extensive use of glass used to form its character.
Making the most of the home’s lofty location, the design maximises the views and embraces its many courtyards and manicured gardens designed by Paul Bangay.
A grand entry foyer welcomes one into the home, here the double0heigh ceiling is warped in glass while showcasing the grand two-way staircase.
All the living areas are found on the ground floor. Here, the formal dining is elegance exemplified with an ambient gas fireplace and French doors to the gardens.
Also on this level is the kitchen. Built for entertainers, it features a Corian benchtop, enormous island bench, an array of appliances including an eight burner Barazza cooktop. A butlers’ pantry is also found here.
Four spacious bedrooms alongside a family room comprise the upper level. The lavish master boasts a glamorous ensuite – replete with marble – and freestanding bath, ‘his’ and ‘hers’ walk-in-robes, the latter with more breathtaking views.
Downstairs, the basement sees a 10-car garage – perfect for the avid car collector – with an expansive cellar.
Elsewhere the home features a gym on the ground floor, well-appointed office and a separate guest house complete with its own kitchenette, living and bathroom.
Outside is where the home really shines, with a poolside terrace making it easy to lounge and enjoy the surrounds. Here, a powder room is accessible through the terrace and is adjoined by a Wisteria clad arbour.
The home is found in an exclusive cul-de-sac setting and is close to Kincoppal Rose Bay School, Hermitage Foreshore reserve and within walking distance of Rose Bay’s vibrant village centre.
The property is listed with Ken Jacobs (+61 407 190 152) of Christie’s International Real Estate. Price guide $38m; hillsideavenue.cve.io
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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.”
