Bruno Grollo sells historic Woolamai Phillip Island estate
Melbourne’s former concrete king Bruno Grollo has sold his Phillip Island estate, Woolamai House. The sale comes after almost four decades of ownership.
The Grollo’s seven-bedroom Italianate mansion, built by colonial hotelier Captain John Blake Cleeland, came with a more recent award-winning extension – in concrete, naturally – designed by Robert Simeoni.
Captain Cleeland owned the 1875 Melbourne Cup winning horse Woolamai, which was trained on the island. It had been called “the most dangerous outsider” pre-race. Carrying 7st 8lbs, on what was the first ever Melbourne Cup on a Tuesday in November, the muscular horse took three minutes and 38 seconds to cover the two mile race.
No doubt Woolamai made its way to Flemington - a 150km slog – under its own steam.
On its listing late last year, Grollo’s son Adam said the family had grown up and headed in different holiday directions.
The purchaser, who will be only the third owner of one of Victoria’s oldest coastal homesteads, remains a mystery.
The Cape Woolamai property was sold by alpine and coastal real estate specialist John Castran at Castran’s in conjunction with Greg Price at Alex Scott & Staff.
They had given expectations of a $3.5 million to $3.85 million sale, a record price.
It sold before its scheduled expressions of interest campaign concluded on Thursday.
There’s a competing record setter still for sale on the island at Silverleaves, with the modern Villa Aloha listed at $3.65 million.
The sale comes several years after the Grollo family, amid some controversy, secured planning approvals for 69 allotments from the eight hectare property, with building blocks still a work in progress.
They briefly tried to sell the property in 2007, before the subdivision.
Building blocks in the estate are selling currently sit at $495,000.
Overlooking Cleeland Bight, the historic 1860s home, whose walls were decorated with horse racing greats, is now on 1.76 hectares of the island’s coast. In the boom days, the Cleeland estate occupied almost a third of the island.
The Cleeland family held onto the estate until 1985 when the Grollos paid $232,000 for it.
Before he moved to Phillip Island, Cleeland owned the Albion Hotel in Bourke Street, Melbourne, where Racing Victoria used to meet.
Bruno’s dad Luigi started the construction company in the 1940s after he and wife Emma arrived from Italy.
The 77 year Bruno dropped out of school at 15 to join his dad. The Grollos have developed much of Melbourne skyline including Rialto and Eureka Towers. The brothers Bruno and Rino went their separate ways in the business in 2000.
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