Australian media reporter Stephen Nicholls recently shared his experience of visiting Australia's most expensive home, and the headline said: "I've been to that A $73 million mansion, Elaine, but frankly, it's ugly."
In February last year, he had the privilege of visiting Elaine., then a luxury home that belonged to the Fairfax family. But after the visit, he said he had no trouble in his heart.
Ken Jacobs, the intermediary, reminded him before taking him in: "there's really nothing to see in it." The interior decoration is not what we think it is. "
The interior of the room is not allowed to take pictures during the visit. But he soon understood why.
Fifteen months later, the Elaine changed ownership last week, the highest selling price in Australia's history.
Although the upstairs rooms have been carefully decorated for taking promotional photographs, the forgotten rooms downstairs are very shabby.
The house has not been renovated since 1950. It has been a huge shell for more than a decade.
Through its lobby, down the stairs, to the small bungalow outside. It was decorated with ugly milk-blue cabinets and chessboard-shaped linoleum in the kitchen.
In describing the laundry inside, he wrote:
"the huge pool in the laundry reminded me of my grandmother's house, which I died a long time ago, except that the laundry was much larger than that one."
Indeed, the photos included a beautiful ballroom, with a lot of bright windows, through which the tennis court downstairs and the harbor in the distance were seen.
but！！
With the exception of this room, the remaining seven bedrooms and five latrines are extremely ugly.
Fortunately, the new owner, Farquhar, is also a billionaire because he had to redecorate the old 1863-style mansion before he moved in with his wife and children.
Fortunately, the house already had a general renovation plan at the time of its sale.
In December 2015, the mansion was approved for a full $4.7 million renovation by cultural heritage architect John Roseof TKD Architechs.
Elaine's new owner, Mr. Farquhar, has even had a chance to rehabilitate the hospital's swimming pool.
Renovation plan
With its huge mansion and courtyard, the sea-view mansion, 6986 square metres north, leads along the path surrounded by the ivy vine through a few giant Norfolk Island pine trees up to Seven Shillings Beach, 's spectacularly spectacular. (see photo) -.
The buyer, Mr. Farquhar, also saw the potential of Elaine.
"if such rare houses end up in the hands of developers and divided into small pieces, it would be a huge loss." He said。
Despite Woollahra Council's statement that the house must remain, they approved a plan to divide the rare historic site.
When reporters visited Elaine, they even agreed to split the house up and sell it to a big family that respected Elaine's mystery and prestige, said Mr. Jacob, an intermediary.
Now, Elaine doesn't have to be partitioned, and some people fully respect Elaine, and think the best option is to keep the house as it is.
The results are satisfactory to both buyers Farquhar and seller John B. Fairfax, and then all of Elaine will continue to be owned by a family.
But it is understood that Mr Fairfax is prepared to cut the multimillion-dollar price from his asking price of A $75 million to ensure the integrity of the property.
People know more or less about the Fairfax family, but little is known about Farquhar, the new owner of Elaine.
Who is he? Why is a big hand swinging the most expensive house in Australia?
Many Sydney people in their thirties may still be struggling to climb the stairs and even rely on their parents, the bank, to buy their first small apartment.
But Scott Farquhar, 37, has become the owner of Australia's most expensive home.
That year, Mr. Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes, together, set up Atlassian., a software company, using the $10, 000 borrowed from their credit cards.
By 2014, they had entered the BRW rich list, worth more than a billion, typically young and promising.
Although he has now bought Elaine, he has not shown a strong interest in real estate before-he owns only two apartments in Pyrmont.
He has two children now, but he did not grow up with a golden spoon in his childhood.
He grew up in a working-class family on the west side of Sydney and had three sisters. When he was young, his parents couldn't even afford to buy him a computer, let alone buy him a real estate.
Later, he went to Carlingford's James Ruse Agriculture High School..
In 1998, the 18-year-old received a scholarship to attend the business IT program at the University of New South Wales.
Also in college, he met Cannon-Brookes..
In contrast to Farquhar's upbringing, Cannon-Brookes 's father brought his family to Australia in preparation for Citibank in Sydney.
Old photos of Elaine.
Elaine, built in 1863, has seven bedrooms and five baths, and has not been renovated since 1950.
Allan Coker, head of planning and development at Woollahra Council, said the importance of Elaine was not just the house itself, but also the location of the house and its interior, especially the towering trees surrounding it.
Mr Farquhar expressed alarm that Council had agreed to cut the plot, and he had tweeted: "We must not let the liberals cut them off."
This is also the most satisfactory result for John B. Fairfax.
Last weekend, Farquhar and his wife, Kim Jackson, an investment banker, issued a statement:
"We are excited to buy Elaine, and take him from the Fairfax family."
"it would be a huge loss if it fell into the hands of developers and divided into several parcels."
"when we heard about the plans, we just couldn't turn this beautiful historic Australian building into a construction site."
"knowing that many generations have grown up on the lawn under this iconic building, we can't wait for our own families to take root here."
