Grand Geelong mansion linked to 10 Melbourne Cup winners hits market

News.com.au

2 days ago

A grand Geelong mansion linked to multiple Melbourne Cup winners has hit the market in the city's east.
The listing of St Albans Homestead gives a rare glimpse inside the historic 30-room manor set on an incredible 3.4ha estate.
Vendor Geelong business owner Dean Montgomerey has meticulously restored and modernised 6-30 Homestead Drive, St Albans Park, since buying the property 15 years ago.
Whitford, Newtown agent Peter Fort said with his children now grown, the time had come to sell the grand private residence.
The new owners will take the reins of a significant piece of Australian racing history that produced direct lineage to 10 Melbourne Cup winners.
Perhaps St Albans Stud's biggest claim to fame is secretly hiding legendary Phar Lap before his celebrated 1930 Melbourne Cup victory after a previous attempt on the racehorse's life.
Mr Fort said the equine legacy continued through a substantial stable complex with 30 stalls that could form part of a future business at the property.
'Previously all those stables were agisted and it was even a wedding reception venue at one point so there's certainly lots of options,' he said.
'It's very rare to have that kind of landholding five minutes from the CBD. And when you are there you could think you were on 100 acres.
'The way the house was originally built was at the height of the hill there so you don't have anything overlooking.'
The polychromatic brick homestead, built-in 1873, was designed by renowned Melbourne architect James T. Conlan.
As well as the main six-bedroom residence, the property's $7m to $7.5m price tag includes a separate self-contained guesthouse, the stable complex, day paddocks, a tennis court and extensive botanical gardens.
'The owner is just a fiend for these types of properties. He had the old orphanage in Fyansford and he had some really grand homes in Ryrie St,' Mr Fort said.
'He is a real fan of that period of home and he is a real custodian. He makes the necessary changes that are required by certainly never major architectural changes. It's more restoration than renovation.'