Andrew Cox, the former owner of the Melbourne Rebels rugby club, has reduced the price of his renowned 19th-century home in the Brighton neighborhood of the Australian capital by millions of dollars.
The great dame, a unique Italianate palace named Narellan, was last listed for sale in April 2021, in the midst of Melbourne’s intermittent, stringent lockdowns due to the epidemic. The 1880s mansion was listed for an ambitious A$18 million to A$19 million (US$11.88 million to US$12.54 million) at the time, but it didn’t sell. The house’s price guide has been increased from A$13.5 million to A$14.3 million, according to Gowan Stubbings and Will Maxted of Kay & Burton Stonnington, the new listing agents.
Stubbings said the expansive six-bedroom house on 1,389 square meters on Moule Avenue, just streets from Brighton Beach, is priced to sell.
“It’s certainly in very good company in the caliber of A$10 million up to A$50 million homes ” Stubbings said. “Brighton, like many of Melbourne’s elite suburbs, has seen several of its historic homes modernized and changed over the years, but Narellan is an icon for the area”.
The home’s white Italianate Victorian facade is eye-catching, Stubbings said.
“It has such a majestic nature. You can see it being one of the original Brighton landmark homes” he said. “When I walk up to the top of the turret and take in the views over Port Phillip Bay, it takes me back to another time and I can imagine the ships coming back towards the city.”
According to CoreLogic data, Cox, the previous owner of the Melbourne Rebels Super Rugby club, paid A$5.71 million for the estate in 2006.
Cox, who was born in New Zealand, is currently the manager of the private equity fund Imperium Capital Group, a varied investment firm that primarily buys small and medium-sized businesses in the travel, hospitality, and sports management industries.
Andrew Bassat, one of the co-founders of the influential job website seek.com.au, also owned the house at one point.
Cox did not want to comment on the property’s sale, although it is believed that he made extensive modifications to the enormous two-story home when he owned it. According to Stubbings, “it’s been very sympathetically redone for its era.” People adore the spacious rooms, high ceilings, and abundant natural light, but the kitchens and baths are what give it a more contemporary vibe. Everything fits together perfectly, especially the bathrooms that flow out onto the upper terrace—it seems like a five-star hotel.
“This home has been designed so that someone can just move in and enjoy it. There’s nothing more to do. They’ve modernized it beautifully to the way we live today. I just think they’ve nailed it ” Stubbings added.
The home features a long list of ground floor entertainment spaces including an elegant entry porch and foyer leading to a large study or library, a sitting room, formal dining room, an elaborate billiard room with bar, a combined living area and a contemporary kitchen. There is also a sunroom, gym, sauna and self-contained two-bedroom guest wing with a commercial-grade kitchen.
Six roomy bedrooms, including the main suite with a bay window, private balcony, walk-in closet, and ensuite, are located upstairs. The suite also has access to a distinctive turret that offers panoramic views of Port Phillip Bay and the metropolitan skyline. There are two more living rooms and two more balconies on the upper floor.
Outdoors, the home is surrounded by landscaped grounds with manicured hedges, rose bushes, level lawns, an alfresco barbecue terrace with fireplace as well as a pool house with a bathroom and kitchen and pool.
The period home is a short walk from the beach with sought-after schools, popular boutiques and eateries nearby.
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