Baillieu family Williamstown waterfront mansion hits market $7m

The Edwardian waterfront estate known as Tarneit was home to pioneering gallerist Marianne Baillieu, where Melbourne’s art world once gathered.

A waterfront Williamstown mansion tied to the Baillieu family — and long regarded as a hub of Melbourne’s art world — has hit the market with a $7m price tag.

The Edwardian estate at 28 The Strand, known as Tarneit, was home to pioneering gallerist and artist Marianne Baillieu for more than three decades, where she hosted legendary salons with painters, filmmakers and even Buddhist monks.

From its dynamited basalt swimming pool to its starring role in Paul Cox’s 1984 film My First Wife, the house is dripping with cultural history as much as architectural grandeur.
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Baillieu, who founded Melbourne’s Realities Gallery in Toorak in 1971, moved to Williamstown in 1980 to focus on her own painting career.

Over the following decades she held 15 solo exhibitions across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, while keeping the home as a gathering place for artists, writers and filmmakers.

Her son James remembers a childhood shaped by creativity.

The property’s dynamited basalt swimming pool has long been a local talking point, overlooking Hobsons Bay.

Grand Edwardian rooms with stained glass windows once hosted salons of artists, filmmakers and cultural leaders.

“The house is so close to the water that ships seemed to sail right into our front garden,” he said.

“It was an extraordinary household.”

The property became famous for its garden parties, where cultural heavyweights mingled against sweeping harbour views. Grand Edwardian rooms with stained glass windows, together with Baillieu’s own landscaped gardens, set the stage for Melbourne’s artistic community.

Marianne’s son James Baillieu recalls growing up in an extraordinary household where “ships seemed to sail into our front garden. Photo: Aaron Francis

The home’s spacious kitchen and dining zones were central to decades of family life and creative gatherings.

Now marketed by Ray White Williamstown’s Joanne Royston with a guide of $6.6m –$7m, the home sits on 1279sq m of blue-chip waterfront land. It features expansive reception rooms, landscaped gardens and the famous dynamited pool overlooking the bay.

Ms Royston said the listing was a rare opportunity to own “a piece of Australian cultural history”.

Gallerist and artist Marianne Baillieu, pictured with friend Chris Berwick, made Williamstown a hub of creative exchange.

The Strand remains one of Williamstown’s most coveted waterfront strips, with sweeping views across the bay to Melbourne’s CBD.

“The combination of architectural significance, cultural heritage and prime waterfront location makes this an exceptional offering,” she said.

While the prestige market has been relatively subdued in recent months, she expects strong interest.

“We’re seeing some buyers from other inner bayside suburbs such as Port Melbourne and St Kilda considering Williamstown, especially when true waterfront homes are this scarce,” she said.

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