Expat snaps up Bellevue Hill home for $21m at hot auction

41 Drumalbyn Rd, Bellevue Hill sold for $21,076,000 at an exciting private auction tonight, with 19 registered parties.

A grand Bellevue Hill estate has sold for more than $21m— $6m above the latest price guide — at an exciting private auction tonight.

There were 19 registered for the four-bedroom circa 1930s deceased estate ‘Fernlee’ at 41 Drumalbyn Rd, bought in 1990 for $2.3m by two doctors, Katherine Tang Yiu, and her late husband Robert.

The property, on an elevated 930sqm block, has magnificent harbour views and is in a dress-circle position.

It was marketed by Laing + Simmons Double Bay’s Steven Zoellner and had a $13m to $14.3m guide when Fernleigh first hit the market early last month. It was revised to $15m 10 days ago after two offers were received.

The exact sale price was $21,076,000.

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The buyers loved the charm of the old home with its high ceilings and big rooms.

They also loved the harbour views.

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Prominent buyer’s agent Simon Cohen represented the buyer, but he had no comment when contacted. Other sources said the buyer was an expat currently living overseas.

There’d been speculation in other media that the buyer was media mogul Lachlan Murdoch, who lives nearby, but the sources said he wasn’t the successful purchaser.

When asked to explain why the home went so far above the buyer’s guide, Zoellner said:

“This house is so unique, in a style that the buyers like something like … it has the elegance of an older-style home, with high ceilings, views and big rooms.

“There were 19 registered bidders, and it was super active.

“It was a private auction and only registered buyers could attend, and the room was completely full.”

The late vendors had purchased it for $2.3m in 1990.

It came down to $1000 bids at the end.

It’s understood the property was bought in a company name.

Auctioneer Jake Moore of Cooleys is understood to have had eight of the 19 who registered competing at rooms at Double Bay, with bidding opening at $16m and rising in $500,000 increments up to $20m.

It was down to $1000k bids at the end, with four bidders over $20m and down to just two bidders above $21m.

The underbidder was a Bellevue Hill resident.

Katherine died at the age of 91 last July, but moved out six years ago and the house had been sitting empty.

In an obituary, her beloved niece, Cho-Wai Cheung, wrote: “I always marveled at her energy in handling a huge house and the expansive front and back yards.

“Aunty Katherine was gracious and resilient. She was a dedicated and loving wife, mother and grandmother.

41 Drumalbyn Rd, Bellevue Hill. NSW Real Estate.

41 Drumalbyn Rd, Bellevue Hill. NSW Real Estate.

“She had a good knowledge of the Chinese history and Chinese antiques.

“I was always fascinated by the historical background that she told me about the furniture and paintings in her house.

“Her mind was still so sharp!”

The home was once owned by a man who received one of the highest awards that can be given by the Pope.

It was purchased by Ulisse Pellegrini, managing director of the firm Pellegrini and Co, and his wife, May, in 1931 for an unknown amount.

The respected firm, established in 1890 in Melbourne, provided religious supplies to Catholic churches and schools.

Pellegrini died at Lewisham Hospital at the age of 56 in February 1950.

According to his death notice in the Sydney Morning Herald: “Mr Pellegrini was honoured with the Papal Knighthood of St Gregory in 1947 … Mr Pellegrini has been abroad on four occasions and in 1929 was received in private audience by the late Pope Pius Xi.”

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