Bob Carr jumped at this Maroubra house 43 years ago. It’s now yours for $5 million

Bob Carr was a journalist at the now defunct magazine The Bulletin and his late wife Helena was running a cheque-printing factory in late 1979 when they purchased a house on the high side of the street in Maroubra.

It was a decent home upgrade for the young couple who had started out in a 1960s flat down the road. “We knew the house and the people who lived there well,” said the former Labor premier and foreign minister. “So when it came on the market we jumped on it.” Records show they paid $173,000.

The Maroubra home of Bob Carr was redesigned by architect Howard Tanner in the 1990s.

“It was a lot of money at the time,” he said. “I remember Paul Keating said to me, ‘don’t worry about it, young Robert, if nothing else you’ll at least set a new benchmark for the rest of the houses in the street’.”

Carr is expected to set another benchmark for French Street on April 6 when it goes to auction with a $5 million guide through PPD’s Alexander Phillips and Ray White Eastern Beaches’s Nader Hotait.

Former Premier Bob Carr is swapping Maroubra for nearby Coogee Beach.Credit: Louie Douvis

The sale plans follow the sudden death of Carr’s wife of 50 years in October last year, and his subsequent plans to move to Coogee, where he recently purchased a penthouse overlooking the beach for $8.8 million.

A lot has changed since the Carrs purchased their “forever home”, not least of which is the price of Sydney’s housing. At the time, the median house price in Sydney was $27,400. It is now nudging $1.6 million.

“This was the big step-up. What we regarded as a stylish house that we then rebuilt comprehensively with the help of [architect] Howard Tanner in the early 1990s,” Carr said.

The three-storey house on 578 square metres is set above basement garaging and has formal living and dining rooms, and four bedrooms, of which one is in self-contained quarters.

Selling agent Phillips said the street is one of the best in the suburb because it is elevated and has panoramic views to the beach and ocean.

Ever the salesman, Bob Carr claims his Maroubra home offers distant views to the South Island of New Zealand.

“I’ll need a horse tranquiliser to get out of the house, so much of my life has been lived here,” Carr said recently as he prepared mentally to leave his home of almost 43 years.

He lived there during his 22 years as the local member for Maroubra, his 10 years as the state’s longest-serving premier, and later as a senator and foreign minister in the Gillard government.

“Helena and I set out from the house on four election nights not knowing what the results were going to be as we headed into the parliament house office. It’s a very emotional thing in the life of a party leader.”

Ever the salesman, Carr’s own hyperbole best sums up two of the home’s top features. “The backyard – we’re not gardeners – is long enough to land a Concorde plane. And the bedroom balcony has views to the South Island of New Zealand and at a stretch you can almost see the northern reaches of Antarctica.”

Bob Carr’s Maroubra home, which he has owned for 43 years, goes to auction on April 6.