Latest news with #Curtain
News.com.au
22-04-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Award-winning mansion with ‘James Bond' garage, own nightclub whisky bar up for sale for $36m-$39m
An award-winning Toorak mansion complete with a James Bond-style garage, nightclub-like whisky bar and pool is poised to quadruple its address' value in fewer than 10 years. Records show the 12 St Georges Rd home is being sold by Hong Kong-based investment banking executive Anita Wong and William Lai — a Deakin University graduate who now heads wireless tech firm Hollyland. It last sold for $9.02m in 2016, but on Sunday was advertised with a jaw-dropping $36m-$39m asking price — one of Melbourne's highest-priced listings so far this year. Features of the home include a wellness centre, a lift up driveway that reveals a ramp into the six-car basement garage, a brass bar set into a nightclub-style first-floor games parlour and living zones spread over four levels. Built along feng shui principles for invigoration and positive energy, the home also features a Delos Healthy Living suite, which filters air and water for any impurities. It took close to five years to gain permits and complete construction of the home, with industry insiders suggesting it could have been worth as much as $20m in build costs. The home is being sold by Marshall White's Marcus Chiminello in conjunction with agents at Sotheby's International Melbourne — including Antoinette Nido, Rob Curtain and Max Ruttner. Mr Curtain said the home was 'like a good view', as amazing as it looked in photos — the real thing was better. The agent added that the effectively four-storey home was a one off, with council planners unlikely to ever green light another home like it — especially on St Georges Rd, which is widely regarded as one of Melbourne's best streets. While Mr Curtain said the whole home had been carefully considered as a whole, one of its most remarkable aspects was the ability for individual spaces to stand out. 'You turn the lights on and shut the curtains in the games room and at night time you have this whisky bar feel that tells you, you could be in any luxury nightclub in the world,' Mr Curtain said. 'And it hits the senses when you come into a house like that.' Mr Chiminello said the 'absolutely one of a kind' home was one of the three most expensive homes brought to market in 2025 and would change how Melbourne's elite looked at homes in the city's most exclusive suburb. 'We are going to be recalibrating pricing based on this unprecedented property,' he said. 'From the moment I stepped through the front gate, I felt like I was in a world-class, six-star hotel or resort.' M While there had been homes selling at Melbourne's top end where the quality of home was there, Mr Chiminello said buyers in that market were 'not silly' and wouldn't overpay for homes. Ms Nido added that with a building process that had gone so far as to crane more than 70 sheets of solid concrete into place, it was as much 'an engineering feat as it is a home'. 'It's one of the finest residences in Australia; that's a big statement, but this home deserves it,' Ms Nido said. The extraordinary build replaced an existing dwelling at the property with an incredible home that won its creators, Easton, the Master Builders Victoria residential Master Builder of the Year in 2021. In addition to the immaculate interiors, the builder's extraordinary attention to detail extended to filling the fridge, picking up the owners from the airport when they flew in to see the finished product and signing them up for the Melbourne Cricket Club membership wait list. Designed by SJB architects' Andrew Parr the home's six-bedroom design extends over four lift-connected levels. The basement hosts the wellness centre with a gym and sauna, as well as a 500-bottle wine cellar and a 'James Bond' garage. 'You come in from Teringa Place and you press a button and the top lifts up,' Ms Nido said. It also has a one-bedroom apartment space with a kitchenette and ensuite for live-in help. The ground level features a home office, an art gallery space, and an open-plan living zone with an open fireplace at one end and a kitchen with a butler's pantry at the other. In between, living and dining spaces are set beneath a timber ceiling, with the room opening out to the pool and garden terrace — which is surrounded by Paul Bangay landscaping. Upstairs, the middle level features two bedrooms, as well as a games and bar room designed like a moody nightclub space with brass surfaces in the preparation area, purple carpets, room for a billiards table and extensive liquor shelving. The home's top floor is divided in two, with a pair of bedrooms and a family room on its southern side, and a library as well as the sprawling main suite with a dressing room and its own bathroom to the north. No. 12 St Georges Rd had been quietly offered to buyers without being advertised in the latter half of last year, but is now being advertised more widely. 'In 2025 we are finding that there will be multiple bids at the end of the EOI, whereas in 2024 there was significant discounting,' Ms Nido said. Since December last year, her agency has sold about $120m in real estate across Melbourne's top end — most of that before or in line with the expressions-of-interest date. 'And most have sold above the quoted range,' Ms Nido said. The firm's most recent sale, at 80 Clowes St, South Yarra, was advertised for $14m-$15m. Ms Nido said she could not confirm a sale price, but did note the home had sold ahead of the closing date for its expressions of interest.
Telegraph
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
David Suchet: I can't watch anyone else play Poirot
Sir David Suchet has said that he cannot watch anyone else play the part of the Belgian detective. The actor, 78, played Agatha Christie's most famous character – Hercule Poirot – for a quarter of a century on ITV. Speaking to Radio Times, he admitted that he has never watched other portrayals, but for a good reason. Sir David, who was nominated for a Bafta for the part of Poirot in 1991, explained that by not watching anyone else play the finicky detective, he is 'able to say I have no opinion'. He added: 'I get asked the same question in every interview, and most people are looking for me to say I don't like them. 'I sincerely wish everybody who plays that wonderful character the best.' Sir David's Poirot is the longest-standing, beginning in 1989 and eventually spanning 70 episodes across 13 series. The character of Poirot has been depicted widely since the late 1920s, with the fictional detective reimagined on screen, stage, radio and games by more than 40 actors. Poirot made his debut in Christie's 1920 novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles, and his last in Curtain, published in 1975. The author described the distinctive character's famous 'upward-curled mustache' and 'pink-tipped nose', adding that he is 'hardly more than 5ft 4in' tall. Sir David has previously credited the popularity of his portrayal of Poirot, which ended in 2013, to the attention to detail he paid to Christie's work and description of the detective. For example, the British actor previously admitted he had 'searched and searched' through Christie's books to find her description of Poirot's distinctive walk before finally adopting it by borrowing Laurence Olivier's trick of clenching a penny between his buttocks. After filming his final episode as Poirot, he described the shooting of the last scene as 'the hardest day's filming of my career' and said he would miss the character 'as my dear, dear friend'. The Telegraph said Sir David's 'swansong 'proved that the show has been one of TV's greatest achievements'. Elsewhere in the interview, the actor gave his thoughts on getting older and reflected on his childhood. Sir David, who will star in upcoming Channel 5 series The Au Pair, explained: 'I'm coming up to 79, I'm attending more funerals, and I'm aware of a certain ageism in our society, but I think that's in all societies. 'People are living longer, but the NHS suffers. What do we do with our increasingly aged population? Generally speaking, I think we're very well looked after.' Speaking about why he chose to return to his first series role in six years in The Au Pair, Sir David said that it was 'a real page-turner'. 'Other roles I was offered were nice, but repetitious and not quite challenging enough,' he added. The veteran screen and stage actor also said that he wouldn't wish boarding school on anybody when discussing his childhood. 'It was very tough and you grow up very quickly,' he explained, adding: 'It just didn't suit me because I was a homeboy.'
