The Sell: George Piggins’ childhood home plus neighbouring block for sale

Two legendary Rabbitohs families have joined forces to offer their neighbouring homes for sale as one block. Plus: How did Ian Thorpe’s auction turn out? Read about it in The Sell.

The Piggins and Kennedy families, who hold a special place on the South Sydney Rabbitohs honour board, have been neighbours in Mascot for almost seven decades.

And now they have collaborated to offer their adjoining cottages in one lot to attract the buying interest of townhouse developers.

George Faris, of The Agency, has the 1400sqm listing scheduled for auction on October 14.

It was 1955 when halfback Clem Kennedy and his wife Mary bought on Linden St. The tyre rubber worker paid £3400.

He had debuted with South Sydney in 1939 and was then called up for active duty in 1941, during World War II.

He served on the Kokoda Track campaign, where he contracted malaria, but managed to return to playing rugby league at the end of the war. Kennedy played for both NSW and Australia representative sides.

South Sydney rugby league legend George Piggins. Picture: Jonathan Ng

The couple had three children — Maureen, Geraldine and Clem Jr. Clem Sr died in 2010 and Mary in 2022.

Their neighbours were the Piggins family, with wickerworker George Leslie Piggins — the Souths legend’s grandfather — and wife Elizabeth, buying the property for £66 in 1914. Interestingly, it was the year Souths won the third of its 21 premierships.

6A and 8 Linden St, Mascot, covers 1400sqm and is scheduled for auction on October 14.

It then became the home of their son, Wally, and his wife Minnie, and all their seven children — Albert, Jeff, George, Wal, Stan, Kim and Lyn, who holds the land title to the 700sq m portion.

George, the Mascot junior-turned-Rabbitohs great, played 118 games for Souths between 1967 and 1978.

Born in October 1944, he was the Dally M Coach of the Year in 1986 and 1989.

The tough hooker was also to become club president, when, following their exclusion from the National Rugby League at the end of the Super League war, Piggins led the battle for re-inclusion in 2002.

“It is a rare exciting chance to redevelop the two blocks as a development opportunity or for multi-generational living,” Mr Faris, a Souths supporter, said.

There has been significant townhouse construction in the neighbourhood, including the former Arcadia Nursery site on King St, as well as more recent completions on Middlemiss St.

THORPEDO’S PAD SALES SINKS AT AUCTION

The modern Woollahra townhouse of Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe was passed in on a $3.95m vendor bid at auction on Saturday.

There had been a $3.7m guidance through Black Diamondz agents Courtney Wong and Monika Tu.

The listing secured 4400 page views on realestate.com.au during its pre-auction marketing.

“We are trying to get something done with parties on the phone in France and Greece,” Emma Brown-Garrett, from Menck White Auctioneers, told the crowd, with just the one buyer bid being placed.

Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe’s apartment did not sell at auction on Saturday. Picture: WireImage

Woollahra’s apartment median price sits at $1,375,000, while its house median is $5,150,000, according to realestate.com.au.

The offering was in a 1860s mansion converted into six residences in 1983 to a design by the late architect Furio Valich.

Thorpe has owned the Ocean St townhouse at the very rear of the block since 2017, when he paid $2.75m. It was bought off-market from Muscle & Fitness Australia owners Paul Graham and wife Carole.

Thorpe, who retired in 2006, was the youngest individual world champion when he won the 400m freestyle at the 1998 World Aquatics Championships, aged 15. He then won three gold medals at the 2000 Sydney Games and two at the 2004 Athens Games.

The Woollahra apartment has a price guidance of $3.7m.

With 164sq m of indoor and 52sq m of outdoor living, the three-level townhouse has four bedrooms. The communal heated pool is set at the front of its grounds amid tropical gardens.

Thorpe advised the spacious home had become surplus to his needs as he was “completely single” and looking for a smaller apartment nearby.

The marketing suggested it was the “best residence” in the block, where there was a $3.65m sale in May 2022.

Thorpe previously owned properties in the ­Sutherland Shire and at Thirroul plus in the Hollywood Hills.

GILMOUR CATCHES BYRON WAVE

Surf legend Stephanie Gilmore has bought a development site on one of Byron Bay’s most popular streets.

She’s spent $2.7 million on an original condition 1970s home between the popular Top Shop Cafe and Clarkes Beach.

The 767sq m Massinger St property, set in established gardens and backing on to crown land, was marketed as having the potential to create a dual occupancy or duplex by its First National Byron listing agents Su Reynolds and Renee Schofield.

There is no sign of a development application with council just yet.

Australian surfing champion Stephanie Gilmore. Picture: Getty Images

They had initially sought between $2.8 million and $3 million for the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home, before revising their expectations down to between $2.5 million and $2.75 million.

It was on the market for three months before Gilmore’s purchase of the block, which has council rates of $5600 a year.

Gilmore isn’t the only surfer in town who has turned to developing.

Recently retired surfer Owen Wright is developing four villas on Daniels St, just under 400m away.

Wright, in a joint venture with Burke Urban, recently broke ground on the $26 million development.

Wright paid $5.1 million for a 1970s timber beach house on the 1605sq m site.

Gilmour spent $2.7 million on an original condition 1970s home on one of Byron Bay’s most popular streets.

Wright and Burke Urban are keeping one villa each, so just two have been for sale. One sold for $6.5 million midway through last year.

Gilmore has been shuffling her property portfolio around.

She’s had an offer and acceptance on a Tweeds Heads apartment that she has been selling herself through Property Now.

The eight-time world champion had been seeking $850,000 to $930,000 for the two-bedroom apartment in Rainbow Bay, where the Snapper Rocks surf break will be the home of the 2032 Brisbane Olympics surf events.

SKYE THE LIMIT FOR AGGRIEVED RESIDENTS

There is still no sale of the two newly built $20m penthouses atop the Skye Tamarama building despite promising signs early this year.

The seven-level building, previously known as Glenview Court, is nearing the end of its refurbishment, but its 78 owners will long be enduring special levies.

The latest update advised $16m in costs still remaining before the ambitious, overdue project is completed — with a $2.3m projected shortfall.

“We do not have sufficient funds to complete the project,” the strata committee recently advised.

The Skye Tamarama luxury apartment building is overdue and over budget.

The penthouses will offer spectacular views, once they’re completed.

The penthouses — called Cirrus and Stratus and listed with Sotheby’s and TRG — feature an Arclinea kitchen, Kronos Ceramiche tiles and Rimadesio-upholstered panelling to a design by Joel Schmied.

The long-running saga began in 2011 when fire safety and concrete cancer issues arose in the complex, completed by Walter Rivkin in 1965 on a clifftop overlooking the beach.

The initial hope was the penthouse sales’ proceeds could finance a $26m refurbishment, but costs have ballooned, with Australia’s biggest-ever drawdown strata loan at $60m plus, through Lannock Strata Finance, paying as high as 11.55 per cent.

There are gutted apartments for sale from owners who just want to move out.

There’s tension over unapproved internal works along with whether building manager StrataLogic should begin recovery action for bad debts of regular levies.

And it remains to be seen if Skye Tamarama will shed its nicknames, the Soviet Hospital and the Tamarama Toaster.

Ranelagh, Darling Point, is shortly deciding whether to take a $36.5m Lannock loan for its facade project.

BURLEY GRIFFIN ANTICIPATION EXTENDED

The auction of the Walter Burley Griffin designed Johnson House at Castlecrag has been pushed back a fortnight.

Built in 1922, the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home features all the Burley Griffin trademarks, including sandstone pillars, circular windows, built-in shelving and a grand lounge with a central sandstone fireplace.

The house takes up 752sq m on a 1005sq m block at 4 The Parapet, complete with saltwater pool.

The Walter Burley Griffin-designed Johnson House at Castlecrag.

Price guidance on the restored property — on a 1005sqm block — is $3.9 million.

The Johnson House was the third built by Walter and his wife Marion Mahony Griffin, the Chicago architects who brought modern views on building and society when they moved to Australia in 1914.

It last sold in 2004 for $1.18 million to the Alliker family, who bought it from the Jude family, who acquired it for £3700 in 1950.

Politician Sir Elliott Johnson, a four-time speaker of the House of Representatives and his sister, Florence Johnson, had bought the block in 1922 from Griffin’s Greater Sydney Development Association for £30.

It sold for £875 in 1938 to accountant Edgar Deans, who sold to John Guyatt in 1946 for £1000.

“The current owners have lovingly restored it to highlight the unique architectural features with luxurious modern updates,” said Chris Keane at Stone Real Estate, whose price guidance is $3.9 million.

SALE DIALLED BACK

Nova FM radio co-host Ricki-Lee Coulter and her husband Richard Harrison have postponed the auction of their northern beaches home for a fortnight.

The price guidance has been tweaked from $2.5 million to $2.45 million.

They purchased the two-level, four-bedroom, three-bathroom house for $1.1 million in 2014, a year before they married in Paris.

HEALTHY RETURN ON INVESTMENT

Public health advocate Kerryn Phelps and her wife Jackie Stricker-Phelps have snappily sold their Potts Point investment for $1.8 million pre-auction through PPD’s Debbie Donnelley, who had a $1.6 million guide.

They’ve owned the one-bedroom Rockwall Gardens apartment since paying $860,000 in 2013.

The fourth-floor apartment has 75sq m of internal space with Harbour Bridge views.

GOOD NEWS FOR TV JOURNALIST

Downsizing television journalist turned podcaster Helen Dalley and businessman husband Phil Cordony sold their Greenwich home on Saturday for $4.2 million.

The five-bedroom, three-bathroom house, which had a $3.75 million guide, drew 2850 views on realestate.com.au.

The couple purchased in 1987, the year after Dalley joined the Nine Network as a reporter for Business Sunday.

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Originally published as The Sell: George Piggins’ childhood home plus neighbouring block for sale