Trophy Homes: Stokehouse owners’ new digs in Toorak

Frank and Sharon Van Haandel, owners of the Stokehouse, have bought an $8.65m Toorak home.

The Portsea holiday home.

Frank and Sharon Van Haandel, owners of the Stokehouse at St Kilda, have bought an $8.65 million Toorak mansion, having sold in South Yarra. It was the longtime home of veteran Melbourne caterer Peter Rowland and wife Susan. The elegant Parisian-style home reflects the scale and symmetry of 18th century Île de France architecture complete with large banquet hall with antique limestone fireplaces. Its facade was such a hit on its early 1990s completion that a spate of copycat homes followed in the neighbourhood. It has a hidden underground garage entrance beneath its tree-lined driveway, described as James Bond-style by the listing agents. Inspired by the trapdoor spider, a lid lifts up on the pebbled driveway to reveal a slope down to the basement art gallery with six-car garage. They had $10m hopes on its listing through Marshall White. The Van Haandel’s scored $12.3m for their former South Yarra home when it was bought by Swisse vitamins chief executive Radek Sali and wife Helen.

Portsea home changes hands

Former Liberal Party treasurer and businessman Andrew Abercrombie and wife Shadda have sold their limestone Portsea holiday home. Provenance is understood to have sold for about $5m to property developer Jonathan Altson and wife Elizabeth, having spent more than 150 days on the market before its sale through Kay & Burton agent Liz Jensen. Abercrombie paid $668,000 in 1998 for the Blair Road holding, which now comes with a seven-bedroom, five-bathroom house along with a guest cottage, barbecue pavilion, tennis court and infinity-edge swimming pool sitting on the 3750sq m parcel. The Toorak-based Abercrombie couple have recently completed a new cliff-top holiday home nearby.

Rinehart rents out property

Australia’s richest woman, Hancock Prospecting boss Gina Rinehart, has taken to renting out her redundant Brisbane riverfront property while it remains on the market. It is listed with a reduced $1500-a-week asking rental, having come as a $2000-a-week offering in 2012. Rinehart, who has an estimated wealth of more than $13 billion, listed the home in October last year. It cost her $3.175m in 2010. The company owns 12 properties across the country, including the $18m Hawthorne compound that set a Brisbane property record in 2014.

Correct weight for jockey

Injured jockey Nicholas Hall has sold his Graeme Gunn-designed Richmond townhouse. Built in 2010, the industrial-style home had a
$1.1m price guide offered by Marshall White before its April auction. Having failed to sell, the price was set at $1.295m, then $1.195m, before selling for an undisclosed price. The Brisbane-born jockey paid $806,000 in 2012. Hall has been out of the saddle since February, when it was reported he needed surgery on a troublesome hip.

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