Developer Tom Dooley lists riverfront home in Brisbane’s east

Brisbane developer Tom Dooley and wife Emily open the door to the family home they built a decade ago ahead of its sale.

Brisbane developer Tom Dooley with wife Emily and their dog Toffee, in their riverfront home at Hawthorne, Brisbane. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

The toss of a coin landed the Dooley family in Hawthorne along the Brisbane riverfront a decade ago.

Being developers by trade, Tom and Emily had two blocks of land overlooking the water to choose from when building their own home – one at New Farm and the one they ultimately chose.

“We love it,” Ms Dooley says. “I’m going to be really sad when we go but we don’t have that overarching sentimentality about it. We’re just always excited about the next move.”

Mr Dooley jumps in: “You’re always looking for a site that other sites can’t do. So, this is really special.

“I grew up in New Farm and then we’ve done a lot of development there, it’s very cosmopolitan and busy. Whereas you come here and it’s quiet, it’s always quiet.”

The view from the river.

The five-bedroom home with two studies was designed by Shane Plazibat Architects, who the Dooleys have worked with extensively on their developments. It was designed around a core stone plinth in the kitchen to welcome people to gather in the living and entertaining areas.

The space was sympathetically built around a tree to the side east of the home creating a spectacular view of nature from the living area through floor to ceiling glass walls. Twenty metres of river frontage wraps around the home and laps at the side of the property, with no neighbours in sight, all culminating in a total sense of privacy.

Well placed glass and voids are just some of the architectural features of the house, which also includes three-metre-plus high ceilings, Carrara marble accents, Pietra grey marble slab floors and a Chambord limestone feature wall.

The home is split into three distinct levels, sleeping upstairs, living in the middle and services below.

“When we did this back then, the architect was doing everything in stone. I'm going, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s going to be pretty much easier to bring a piece of stone, pop it on the block and carve it ourselves’,” Mr Dooley says with a laugh.

As in a commercial complex, floors and walls are precast concrete with no timber. The house also includes all the usual amenities in a luxury complex, including a commercial air conditioner, fully fitted-out gym, two pools and a media room with wet bar. On the homey side of things, the property comes with a private pontoon, fenced off yards, and an in-ground professional trampoline which was installed as a family project through the initial lockdown much to Ms Dooley’s displeasure.

But now the family has decided it is time to move on to their next home now that their three kids are growing up. One of their children has already moved overseas and another is soon to follow as they train in competitive skiing.

The home at 80 Uhlmann St, Hawthorne, is being marketed through Sarah Hackett of Place Bulimba. Best offers are due by November 4.

The athletic family have decided to downsize after a decade on the river.

Tom Dooley Developments has completed $750m worth of building projects in the past decade. Mr Dooley’s current big ticket project is Argyle at New Farm. Positioned at the end of Maxwell St and overlooking the Story Bridge, the luxury project of 11 apartments sold out in January ahead of its likely completion in August 2022.

Previously, the developer was behind Skyring at Gasworks in Newstead and the riverfront apartment project Aquila, which has achieved several strong resales in recent months.

Originally published as Developer Tom Dooley lists riverfront home in Brisbane’s east