Spanish Mission-style architecture became popular in suburban Sydney in the late 1920s in large part because Australia was infatuated with Hollywood, and Hollywood was big on Spanish Mission. Australians were keen and lifestyle magazines of the era featured images of glamorous Hollywood stars in glamorous Spanish-American-style homes and hotels.
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Elite Sydney suburbs such as Bellevue Hill and Mosman, however, had welcomed the style somewhat earlier. This was thanks to the renowned architect Leslie Wilkinson, Australia's first professor of architecture. Wilkinson built his own home, Greenway in Vaucluse, in a sort of Spanish Mission-style and promoted the compatibility of the architecture with Australia's intense heat and light. Better than an English terrace house, surely.
Upper-class Sydneysiders "seeking appropriately grand houses that would demonstrate their affluent yet casual lifestyle" loved Wilkinson's ideas, writes art historian Erika Esau and, for better or worse, those ideas eventually spread across the continent.
Two Bellevue Hill buildings with Spanish Mission hues are considered among Wilkinson's most notable: Samuel Hordern's home on Ginahgulla Road and the lovely Silchester block on Trahlee Road.
La Granada, the beautifully maintained building in which this apartment is located, is probably not a Wilkinson. Nonetheless, it has Spanish Mission features in spades: stucco walls, terracotta elements, timber-panelled ceilings, arches galore and elaborate wrought ironwork.
The apartment itself, which is on the second level, is charming but not as well maintained as the building it's in. It has been a rental property for some time and could use a bit of TLC: sandpaper, fresh paint and new carpet at least; probably a new bathroom and kitchen. As the agent says, whoever buys the apartment will essentially be buying a generous space and the location.
The spacious living and dining rooms, and the tiled sunroom, face north-east and enjoy between them juliet balconies, leadlight doors and arched timber windows that frame a stunning outlook over the treetops to the harbour.
Glass doors in the main bedroom, which also has a vintage built-in wardrobe, allow it to share a bit of the view. The other two bedrooms are smaller, the third probably best suited to a small bed or a big desk.
The apartment also comes with a separate storage room and a lock-up garage, the latter handsomely arched but narrow.
The owner says: "The building is classic Spanish Mission revival and we just love it. Oh, and the outlook is beautiful, too."
Room for improvement: The apartment would benefit from a complete surface overhaul: paint, carpet, kitchen and bathroom.
2/82 Beresford Road, Bellevue Hill
$1.4 million +
3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1 parking space
Built 1928
Size 110 square metres
Strata levy $1680 a quarter
Inspect Thursday and Saturday, 9.30am-10am
Auction August 15
Agent McGrath, 0411 832 584
More photos: Domain.com.au
Need to know:
Last traded $123,500 in 1984
Highest recorded apartment price in Bellevue Hill (past 12 months) $3.85 million for 3/72 Bellevue Road in February
Median price for units in Bellevue Hill $887,000
Recent sales:
$1.46 million for 6/27 Drumalbyn Road in April
$1.1 million for 4/16 Cranbrook Road in September
$1.62 million for 2/1 Blaxland Road in November
Source: Domain Group
Surrounding area:
Bellevue Hill is a handsome, leafy, residential rise about five kilometres from the CBD, and one of Australia's most affluent postcodes. It boasts plenty of fine contemporary architecture as well as heritage buildings such as Fairfax House, Rona and Caerleon. It is, and has been, home to famous names including: Kerry Packer, Rene Rivkin, Lachlan and Sarah Murdoch, Toni Collette and Martin Sharp.
Serviced by buses
Close to Woollahra Sailing Club, Woollahra Golf Club and the Lyne Park Tennis Centre. Rose Bay is an easy walk and Bondi Beach, Double Bay and Bondi Junction are an easy drive.
