Passers-by buy architect’s one-of-a-kind family home at last minute

A local family first saw this one-of-a-kind home for sale during its auction – and had it under contract within the next hour.

A local family saw this architect’s dream home for the first time while it was being auctioned off – and had it under contract within the next hour.

‘The Round House’ at 31 Marston Ave, Indooroopilly, was built in 1968 by Brisbane architect Donald Spencer, creating a specially designed home for his family.

The five-bedroom, three-bathroom home is covered in a unique curved interior design, with almost no wall across the property being entirely flat.

The home at 31 Marston Ave, Indooroopilly, was bought up by a surprise source: a family who was just passing by while the auction took place.

A crowd of more than 50 people attended the auction on the Saturday afternoon, arranged by Place Graceville agents Matt O’Neill and Peter May.

Auctioneer Peter Burgin presided over four registered bidders at the time, beginning the auction with a vendor bid of $3.5 million.

With several outside parties unable to attend the auction on the day, the home was passed in at that number in the interest of giving other parties a chance to negotiate.

But while this was happening, a couple who live in the Indooroopilly area saw the home being auctioned off, and expressed interest to the agents while the proceedings were underway.

Soon, the home was under contract with the family, for a price in excess of $3.5 million.

More than 50 people attended the auction to see it passed in, only for it to go under contract within the next hour.

The house had last sold in 2001 for $785,000, with an added outdoor extension having since been added to the original design.

The median suburb house price in Indooroopilly is $1,540,000, making this home worth around $2 million above that number.

Mr Burgin described the surprise development as a great example of how outcomes can come from even the most unexpected place when selling a home.

“This is what we love about auctions – you just never know,” he said.

“That was one of the most-viewed properties in Australia over the past few weeks, and you had an audience from all over the country and internationally as well. And it’s funny that a local buyer, someone from the immediate neighbourhood, ends up being the purchaser.”

The quite literally ‘twisted’ home was specially designed by Brisbane architect Donald Spencer for his family in the 1960s.

The home had previously been featured in the Courier Mail’s ‘Best Homes’ column, where vendor Jenelle King described how she and her family spend their 23 years living there.

“The roof is flat, so during Covid, we put a table and chairs up there,” she said. “Every sunset, the family would climb up onto the roof and have sunset drinks and nibbles. It was just a lovely, lovely memory.”

The auction arrived at the end of a big auction day for the country, with more than 2,600 homes set for auction across the combined capitals this week.

According to PropTrack, Brisbane alone saw 237 scheduled auctions for the weekend, a 53 per cent increase from auctions at this time last year.

Originally published as Passers-by buy architect’s one-of-a-kind family home at last minute