Former student of Guilford Bell spends $6.4m on his Toorak masterpiece

A former student of renowned architect Guilford Bell splashed $6.4 million on his 1975 Toorak masterpiece on Saturday, paying more than $1 million over the reserve.

With a final $10,000 bid, Ruth Wilson — principal of Melbourne’s Architectus firm — muscled out two other bidders to claim the “living piece of Australian architectural history” at 184 Kooyong Road.

Jellis Craig selling agent Mike Beardsley said Wilson only found out the notable three-bedroom residence was for sale by chance.

Bell died in 1992 and was known for his modernist designs and architecture. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s he had a cult following and designed homes for some of Australia’s elite, including the Fairfax family.

Known as Hallow’s House, the Toorak home sits on an 843 square metre block and boasts clean lines, a red brick facade, timber-lined ceilings, a gas fireplace and a north-facing courtyard. It was advertised with a quoted price range of $4.8 million to $5.2 million and the reserve was set at the top of the range.

Three bidders and a crowd of onlookers attended the auction. Bidding started at $5 million, and a flurry of $50,000 bids followed until the home was called on the market. Wilson and a local family went head-to-head from there.

Beardsley said the home was priced lower than some may have expected but felt its significant heritage status and block restrictions made it a tougher sell.

“A lot of buyers thought the home could be demolished but you couldn’t touch the footprint … so we had to find that specific buyer who appreciated the architecture,” he said.

“The romantic thing is Ruth, who [studied under] Guilford, and she didn’t even know it was up for sale until she drove past and saw that billboard.

“The vendor (Bell’s nephew) was ecstatic to see she got it.”

The home has been described as Bell’s masterpiece. Credit: Jellis Craig

It was one of 993 auctions scheduled for Saturday.

By Saturday evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 63.8 per cent from 710 reported results, while 77 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

Ray White Chief Economist Nerida Conisbee said the market remained flat but stable across the capital. Listings were 10 per cent lower than this time last year but 10 per cent higher than 2022.

“Listings are well up for spring and … we’re now at record levels in Victoria with a lot of homes coming to the market. And when we look at pre-approvals for loans that’s also high … so demand is better than we expected,” said Conisbee.

“For now, it’s a good market for buyers, and it’s particularly good for first home buyers.”

In Deepdene, a Gatsby-esque mansion at 8 Belmont Street fetched $6.5 million in post-auction negotiations.

The home’s quoted price range was $6.3 million to $6.7 million, and its reserve was $6.5 million. It attracted just one bidder.

Kay & Burton selling agent and auctioneer Scott Patterson opened the auction, which was held in the home’s living room, with a $6.3 million vendor bid. He then placed another at $6.35 million, at which point the sole bidder, who was from Balwyn, made a $6.36 million bid. The property then passed in.

“It was just him and his daughter looking to live there in a very big ’70s house,” Patterson said.

The unique home had been renovated by the previous owner, a feat Patterson said took eight years to ensure it blended with the original curved-wall architecture.

“It’s quite unusual to see that, and it would have cost a fortune,” Patterson said.

“The home is very luxurious. The terraced garden had about $500,000 worth of landscaping done.”

At 21 Elder Parade, Essendon, a local family nabbed the keys to a classic three-bedroom home on a 446 square metre block after throwing down an opening bid of $1.45 million that landed like a knockout punch. The home was then passed in and sold quickly after for $1.5 million.

Woodards Essendon selling agent Bruce Warburton said it had a quoted price range of $1.35 million to $1.45 million, and a reserve of $1.5 million.

“We had a lot of interested parties, but that opening bid extinguished the other bidders,” he said. “The buyers want to utilise the land to build a home on it because it’s a good street and land that size is hard to get around there.

“While homes like this are coming up more often due to the ageing population, the churn rate in that area would be around three per cent per annum which is pretty low.”