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The first pictures of an incredible Toorak estate hidden behind high walls and not sold since the 1970s, poised to become Victoria’s most expensive house, have been revealed.

The circa-1939 Georgian Revival mansion at 17 St Georges Rd, Toorak, has officially hit the market with a $65m-$70m price tag that would shatter the state’s residential record.

Victoria’s highest reported residential sale is that of Malvern’s historic Stonington Mansion, which fetched $52.5m in 2018.

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The 10-bedroom house was designed by Melbourne architects Hughes and Orme and has not been sold since the 1970s.

Buyer’s advocate to the city’s top end David Morrell said it was “like driving into an English estate” but would require a “$15m reno”.

“You’ve got to have a very big appetite to want to buy that particular property,” he said.

“You’d get no change out of three years (renovating it) … so it’s somebody who wants to run up a big flag pole and say ‘look at me’.”

Mr Morrell said the property would sell and believed there were “two or three players in it”.
Marshall White Stonnington director Marcus Chiminello has the listing, with expressions of interest closing August 8, but could not comment.

It’s being sold by the family of late engineer Radovan Basil Nanut, who died in 2004 and left the estate to his wife, Marguerite, and three children James, Pia and Elizabeth.

The stately mansion has been at the centre of a bitter family feud, with James launching legal action against his two sisters and mother last year.

The property was valued at about $20m when Mr Nanut’s will was written in 2005.

But court documents seen by the Herald Sun reveal James estimated it to be worth between $60m-$70m.

Title documents confirmed the siblings and Mr Nanut’s wife as the “legal personal representative(s)” of the estate.

The incredible 7854sq m property features a tennis court, Victorian glasshouse, and separate guesthouse among its botanic gardens that are within the grounds of Toorak House, Melbourne’s former Government House, discreetly set well back from the street behind high walls and a sweeping drive.

Real Estate Institute of Victoria president Richard Simpson said the property was “once in a lifetime” and the buyer pool at that end of the market was limited.

St Georges Rd is widely regarded as Melbourne’s premier street, with its grand mansions and prestige address sought by the city’s wealthiest and regularly attracting eye-watering sums.

— with Alesha Capone

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Originally published as Victorian house price record: First look inside $65m-$70m Toorak home

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