Everything including her kitchen sink is for sale at Patricia Ilhan’s Brighton mansion, for charity

Big-hearted Patricia Ilhan is having a giant sale at the mansion she shared with her late husband “Crazy” John, before starting afresh. And the items have to be seen to be believed.

The wrecking ball will come crashing down on Patricia Ilhan’s Brighton mansion in less than a month.

But in keeping with the philanthropic legacy of her late husband, “Crazy” John Ilhan, everything down to the kitchen sink is up for sale, with the money going to breast cancer research.

“Everything’s for sale, the oven, the fridge, the dishwasher, even the front door. Anything you see in the house is for sale. Going, going, gone,” Ilhan exclaims.

Garage sales on Brighton’s famed and reclusive Golden Mile are far and few. This millionaire’s yard sale is a doozy.

Everything at the Brighton mansion is for sale, even the front door. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

The mansion is on the famed Golden Mile. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

A sparkly, gold Trelise Cooper party frock Ilhan wore for her 50th birthday celebrations hangs on a rickety clothes rack alongside labels like YSL, Emilio Pucci, and a to-die-for Anine Bing biker jacket with a $200 price tag.

Snakeskin and designer leather bags have been flung hastily into a bargain bin. Millinery with pink ostrich feathers and handcrafted frilled trims that have been hobnobbing inside the chairman’s room at Flemington are piled up in a corner alongside a pair of gold Michael Kors party pumps and some RayBan wayfarers for just $25.

Some of the clothes and shoes up for sale. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Fittings and household items are being sold. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

There is a gaping hole in the kitchen near the Miele dishwasher, which has a $50 sign slapped on it.

“Someone already bought the microwave,” Ilhan laughs. “I told you everything was for sale.”

The Brighton home she built 20 years ago with her late husband, mobile phone tycoon John Ilhan, once crowned the richest man in Australia under 40, will soon be turned to rubble.

After selling the adjoining vacant lot last year which was used as a family garden, for a record $20 million plus, newly married Ilhan has decided on a fresh start.

The philanthropist and businesswoman has shared many memories at the Seacombe Grove address. There were the highs, including the birth of her only son Aydin. Her three daughters Yasmin, Hannah and Jaida had happy memories going to school formals before graduating and leaving home.

Everything in the kitchen is available to buy. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

The mansion will soon be turned to rubble. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

There were also the lows. Her late husband’s shock death at 42 from a heart attack while jogging not far from their home.

Then gathering her children in the family living room in 2019 to tell them she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

“The only thing scarier than been diagnosed with cancer is having to tell your children,” Ilhan says. “They were already crying before I’d finished the sentence. Because of course, they assume the worst.”

Since that conversation, Ilhan has endured 25 surgeries. But she says she is one of the lucky ones. She joined a support group of five well heeled friends she now dubs “Breast Friends By The Bay,” who have worked tirelessly raising funds and awareness against the deathly disease.

Best Friends is a committee of five women Suzanne Rumble, Jo Robertson, Fiona Dicker, Ilhan and Katea Gidley.

Best Friends by the Bay members Katea Gidley, Suzanne Rumble, Patricia Ilhan, Jo Robertson and Fiona Dicker. Picture: Supplied

“We have a lot in common, including the fact that we’ve all had breast cancer,” Ilhan says.

“Between us we’ve had more than 70 rounds of chemo and 45 rounds of radiotherapy, I alone have had 25 surgeries. My next one is on August 11 just to reconstruct my left breast.”

With a contact book to inside the wallets of Melbourne, the Breast Friends of five have catapulted their partnership with Rotary Club of Brighton’s annual fundraising “Brighton Lunch” on Friday over to Caulfield Racecourse.

“The numbers got to over 800 so it became too big to fit everyone,” Ilhan says who gave the keynote speech, shedding light on the reality’s of the cancer with the hope to raise in excess of $200,000.

For now Ilhan is looking forward. Marrying Chris Blackman, the father of one of her daughter’s best friends.

“They parent trapped us,” Ilhan laughs.

Ilhan and Chris were married at an intimate ceremony on Phillip Island in March.

It wouldn’t have been Ilhan without a little of the ol’ razzle-dazzle. Wedding guests were later driven to the family’s Portsea pile for a “happy glamping” reception with fireworks capping off the night.

The newlyweds honeymooned at their new Glenlyon tree-change, a tree-lined picturesque property they bought just before tying the knot.

Lyonbank is considered one of Victoria’s grandest country estates.

“Chris and I went and spent a couple of weeks at the farm, just the two of us setting up house. Yes, this is kind of a new chapter,” Ilhan beams.

“This house was beautiful,” she says of the Brighton mansion which will be torn down and rebuilt in a three year project.

“For 20 years I raised my four children here. But I’m not really sentimental.”

Ilhan will ask a carpenter to make some timber boxes from the house’s wood panelling to give her children as keepsakes.

“It will be something to remind them of the house,” she says.

“I find it rewarding to get rid of old stuff, because a lot of the stuff that I’m selling, even though it’s beautiful, some of it is 20 years old.

“I like the idea of starting afresh with my new husband.”

Details: Grand Demolition Garage Sale.