Elizabeth Bay apartment sold by yachtie Matt Allen for $30m

But the clock is ticking on the Andreas-Evatt family’s ownership after it hit the market on Friday for the first time since 1914 when the architect Edward Hewlett Hogben-designed residence was purchased by big-game fishing pioneer Harry Andreas for £280.

Since then, it has had a few notable incarnations: as the retreat of barrister and NSW Labor MP Clive Evatt, and later as the Leuralla Toy and Railway Museum thanks to Evatt’s son, the late defamation lawyer Clive Evatt and his wife, Elizabeth.

Fourth-generation owner Victor Evatt has owned it since 1984, but after his father died in 2018 there were a slew of legal actions among family members over the ownership that weren’t resolved until 2021.

Following the closure of the museum last year, the 2.2 hectare property is up for expressions of interest until December 14 through McGrath Double Bay’s Craig Pontey and Christie’s Darren Curtis.

Property juggling

As fashion designer Lesleigh Jermanus and her husband, retail veteran Chris Buchanan, push ahead with their controversial plans to turn one of Paddington’s oldest pubs into a boutique store, they also have their hands full buying two Byron Bay properties for almost $13 million.

One of the Wategos Beach houses is a five-bedroom residence known as Larimar sold by local agent Rez Tal for property consultant Priscilla Darcy, more than doubling the $3 million she paid for it in 2020 from local media boss Antony Catalano.

But Jermanus and Buchanan were interested in more than just one property locally, prompting Tal to approach next door’s owner, Catalano’s 32-year-old son Jordan Catalano and his wife, Jessica.

Catalano is likely glad he opened the door to Tal because the house he purchased in 2021 for $3.55 million has sold for $6.035 million to Jermanus and Buchanan’s company Bowie Ferris Investments.

It is the same investment company that Jermanus and Buchanan used to buy the heritage-listed pub The Village Inn Paddington for $6.22 million last year as a store for Jermanus’ fashion label Alemais.

But locals were less keen, prompting more than 350 residents to protest against the pub’s closure. Woollahra Council’s Local Planning Panel agreed, rejecting the application to convert the pub into a boutique with co-working space upstairs.

Jermanus, who won for best emerging designer at last year’s Australian Fashion Laureate awards, and Buchanan are based in South Coogee, where earlier this year they paid $6 million for the home of baby goods entrepreneur Chloe Brookman and her husband, Charlie Wheeler.

Coppins it

The historic Pymble estate Coppins, which was designed by architect Walter Burley Griffin in 1935, is being sold by former Bank of Queensland chief Stuart Grimshaw and his wife, Anneliese.

The sale comes soon after the Grimshaws undertook a lavish renovation of the six-bedroom residence they purchased in late 2020 for $13 million from Telstra senior executive David Burns and his wife, Edwina.

There are new floors, dramatic light fittings and a new kitchen, among other updates, but Ku-ring-gai Council took exception to some of the unauthorised works to the state heritage-listed residence.

The ensuing stoush made its way to the Land and Environment Court, which last month upheld orders that the Grimshaws reinstate key heritage features of the house, such as the original timber door at the entry, a sandstone fireplace and a windmill in the Marion Mahoney Griffin gardens.

Pello’s Alex Mintorn declined to offer a price guide or say if those rectification orders had been complied with yet. All will be apparent by next week’s first open inspection, he said.