Barry and Cate lived at The Astor, now the penthouse is for sale

The penthouse at The Astor, 121/123-125 Macquarie St, Sydney, has hit the market.

An apartment once owned by Barry Humphries and later Cate Blanchett in The Astor sold for about $12m in 2020, now the penthouse is up for sale. And it’s cheaper.

It’s understood the guide for 121/123-125 Macquarie St in the CBD is $7,775,000 to $8.5m for a October 18 auction, but the McGrath sales agents William Manning and Kelly Samuels are shy about revealing the owner.

Being a famous 1923 Art Deco treasured company title building, property records aren’t filed with the Land Titles office and the well-to-do residents keep to themselves.

But once source confided the vendor is multi-millionaire Geoff Bainbridge, co-founder of burger giant Grill’d. He’s believed to have paid about $6.5m four years ago.

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The vendor is Geoff Bainbridge, co-founder of burger giant Grill’d.

Improvements included the chef’s kitchen, with cocktail bar.

The penthouse has views of the harbour and Opera House.

He then spent a fortune on a lavish reno of the two-bedroom pad, with rare marbles, hand-crafted timber joinery and aristocratic detailing.

Calling in the acclaimed designer David Flack of Flack Studio, improvements included the chef’s kitchen, with cocktail bar.

The penthouse, which is in the prized north-east corner of the top floor and has Opera House and harbour views, is actually smaller than the two-level $12m apartment that two-time Oscar-winning actress Blanchett and her husband Andrew Upton owned further down the building.

That apartment had once been three separate flats.

Andrew Upton and Cate Blanchett owned a $12m dual-level apartment a few floors below the penthouse.. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)

The penthouse that’s for sale has just two bedrooms.

The late comedian Barry Humphries owned one, then bought the one on another floor and illegally combined them.

The often-told story is that the first the other residents knew about it was when he invited them to a party and he glided down the new circular staircase.

When the businessman Mark Bouris bought it in 2005, he bought a neighbouring apartment and created the huge 400sqm residence, and Blanchett and Upton bought it for $8m in 2015.

Other famous residents of the building have included Lady Mary Fairfax and the celebrated artist Ruby Rich.

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