Derelict Mosman mansion is placing lives at risk, residents say
WHEN it was built in 1939, ‘Morella’ was one of the most prestigious properties on Sydney’s north shore. But 77 years after it was built the house is in ruins with a debate brewing over its future.
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IT is only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured while running amok inside a derelict Mosman mansion, residents fear.
Police are regularly called to the abandoned Morella Rd property by fed-up residents because teenagers take over the site at night.
They are known to smash bottles and windows, fight and spray graffiti on the walls. Squatters have also been seen inside the house.
They are able to enter with ease. A side gate to the property, which borders a set of public stairs, is unlocked.
It is also easily accessible from the Chowder Bay to Bradleys Head walk.
The property, which was built in 1939 for the Parer family, has been in a state of disrepair for about 15 years.
That was when Antony Parer vacated the property to live in northern NSW.
Mr Parer died last year.
The floor has been smashed up, along with a grand piano, and timber beams are precariously hanging from the ceiling.
Plants grow through the brickwork and shards of glass litter the ground.
Residents have told the Mosman Daily the situation has deteriorated to such a state that lives are at risk.
“It’s a real problem because it’s highly dangerous,” one resident said.
“It attracts quite a lot of people. Kids are often in there at night, smashing bottles. Police are here regularly and the fire brigade has been here. Someone is going to be seriously injured.”
Residents have also raised concerns with Mosman Council for a decade in a bid to have the property cleaned up.
“Mosman Council attended the site following resident complaints and has requested the estate’s representatives address access and safety concerns,” a council spokeswoman said.
The council refused to elaborate on their concerns but it is understood perimeter fencing will be fixed and the house boarded up.
It is unclear what will happen to the property in the long-term.
Director of Richardson & Wrench Mosman/Neutral Bay, Robert Simeon, said the property could be worth as much as $8 million.
GRANDEUR WORTHY OF MAGAZINE FEATURE
WHEN it was built in 1939, “Morella” was one of the most prestigious properties in Mosman.
Designed by architect Eric Nicholls, who drew inspiration from Walter Burley Griffin, the two-storey sandstone and brick home boasted panoramic views over Chowder Bay.
In the April, 1943 edition of Australian Home Beautiful magazine, six pages were devoted to detailing the grandeur of the Parer family’s home.
“An immense circular loggia is built out from the central hall facing the water,” the article said.
“Its short Corinthian pillars support an equally huge open sun deck reached from the bedroom above.
“Then beneath this, for the site of the house slopes steeply down to the water, excavation has been made for the building of a ballroom across the entire front of the house.”
The home had four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a library. There was a sweeping staircase, velvet curtains and ivory enamelled woodwork.
Mahogany furniture could be found throughout the home, although many items were in storage during the Second World War.
“One of the most prized items ... is the Spanish mahogany dining room set which goes back a couple of hundred years or so in the Parer family,” the article said.
The property is listed as a heritage item under Mosman’s Local Environment Plan but has never been placed on the State Heritage Register.
PROPERTY STEEPED IN HISTORY
IF ONLY the decaying walls could talk, they would tell a story of how a family with a famous last name once called a Mosman architectural masterpiece home.
“Morella” now lies abandoned, complete with graffiti and smashed windows, but it was not always that way.
The property had been the prized possession of the Parer family — Leo, wife Helena, and three children, Antony, Mariana and Sarita.
“There are so many interesting things to talk about in Leo Parer’s house that it is rather difficult to know where to begin,” an Australian Home Beautiful magazine article in 1943 said.
“For instance, there is the famous Parer family, with its ancestral dash of adventurous Spanish blood, which is a story well known to Australians.
“From the aviator Lieutenant (Ray, Leo’s brother) Parer, whose flight from England to Australia still holds the record in its particular field, to Damien Parer, whose epic photographs of theatres of war in New Guinea and elsewhere bid fair to become as famous.”
Leo, who was born in Melbourne, was the eldest of nine children.
His parents were Michael Parer and Maria Carolin. Michael was born in Spain, while Maria was said to be born in Bendigo.
Michael bought, and then sold, several hotels across Victoria and Tasmania.
Leo was a director of the Stanford X-Ray company, which was established by Stan Parer.
One of Leo’s brothers was Ray, who joined the Australian Flying Corps during World War I. He was also known as a pioneer of aviation in Papua New Guinea.
Leo died in 1968, and Helena in 1989. Antony, who lived at Morella up until about a decade ago, died in 2015, while Sarita died in 1979. Mariana is still alive and is believed to live in Canada.
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