Glenrock, the 1830s colonial mansion on 990 hectares at Marulan in the NSW southern tablelands, has been listed for sale with hopes near $100 million.
The tightly held property dates to one of Governor Lachlan Macquarie’s original land grants to pastoralist George Barber, the husband of Isabella Hume, sister of the explorer Hamilton Hume.
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The 10-bedroom, 10-bathroom Georgian homestead fronted by 18 fluted columns has received an extensive restoration from its vendor, lawyer and corporate adviser Charles Mendel, who bought it in 1984 for $1.6 million.
Apparently, Mendel’s concerns over family succession planning have prompted the listing of the Highland Way property, which comes with stables, clock tower, two lakes and a boathouse, gorge and waterfall.
“I don’t want the situation where like Solomon you have to suggest something absurd like splitting the baby,” he told the financial press. His children are 16 and one year old.
It longest owner was the West Indies-born businessman John Morrice, a member of the NSW Legislative Assembly for Camden.
The home — which appeared in the marketing campaign after the 1966 American Express gold card launch — is best associated with the late acclaimed architect Peter Muller and his wife Carole, who ran it as a Hereford cattle farm after their purchase in 1964.
Retired estate agent Bill Bridges recalled recently over lunch with The Sell that it had been his first significant listing.
Muller published a 127-page photographic record of the initial restoration of the homestead in 2010 through Walsh Bay Press.
Muller’s second-floor Walsh Bay apartment was sold this month. No sale price disclosure but the three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment with 238sq m indoor space at the northernmost end of the pier had a $10.5 million guide.
It had last sold in 2000 for $3.395 million.
According to PropTrack, the median house price in Marulan is $804,000, up 6 per cent over the past 12 months.
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