Welcome, Adrian Bo, from Ray White Park Coast Eastern Suburbs. And today, I’m on Arcadia Street in Coogee to discuss a historic building and the proposed development of it that is currently going through the system. Ballamac House has seen some interesting evolutions since it was built in 1860. Charles Moore served as Randwick Mayor in 1863, and Sydney City Mayor from 1867 to 1869 and it was Moore who built Ballamac House in 1860. Then in the 1880s, it became a hotel known as Baden Baden, a sort of resort of the era, as back then, due to lack of transport links Coogee was considered quite remote from the city so the wealthy in the city would venture out here for a holiday in Coogee, and stay in what was a Victorian-era hotel. A local colourful character, Louis Frank, took over the hotel in 1887 after having lived there for a while. Frank was an artist who assembled a large collection of butterflies, the rooms were furnished with a Japanese flavour, as Frank had also assembled a large collection of Japanese items which he used in the hotel. Frank established an art gallery to display his work in the gardens of The Baden Baden Hotel. His work continues to change hands regularly at auction around Australia, his portrait of the Sydney Harbour, for example, in 1880, would have been one of his more valuable paintings. In 1897, a Hungarian lady by the name of Otilie Teleky took over the hotel, she was married to Count Imre Teleky, who, it was claimed, was of the Serbian Royal Family.

The property was turned back into a single dwelling by newspaper proprietor, James Joynton Smith in 1907, and after renovation, it was re-named “Hastings”. In 1920, King Edward VIII, at that time known as the “Prince of Wales”, stayed at Hastings as a guest of Joynton Smith. Rumours of the time suggested Edward entertained many young ladies at Hastings. Reginald Stuart-Jones later owned the house. Now Reginald lived a very colourful lifestyle. A gynaecologist based in Macquarie Street, who was rumoured to be running an abortion service. He was a known associate of Sydney’s underworld figures, ran a string of nightclubs, and owned many racehorses and greyhounds. During the Second World War, Reginald supplied black market liquor to the American soldiers, in 1944 was kidnapped and shot by two gangsters, Scotty Jowett and Cliff Thompson, though amazingly he survived and lived to the age of 60, passing away here in the house, at Arcadia Street in 1961. The Stuart-Jones family decided to subdivide the block in 1978, and a 12 story apartment building named Faimer Gardens was built fronting onto Baden Street alongside the house at 39 Arcadia Street. The house was also divided into five apartments.

I’ve sold over a dozen apartments in Faimer Gardens during my career so far, and it’s been well publicised that Justin Hemmes of the Merivale Group purchased in the Faimer Gardens buildings over the years to his burgeoning Mimi’s Restaurant, a hot stop for the Sydney social scene of the current day. So a lot of history on that block of land with the House, Heritage Listed. Property Developer, Central Element, has submitted plans to turn the house into eight new three-bedroom apartments, including a sandstone extension of the house to the east. The development is planned to preserve the legacy and history of the building, retaining the external and internal walls along with other distinctive features like the fireplaces, mantelpieces, and decorative ceilings. Acclaimed architects TZG are putting together the design. An interesting project on a very interesting property. Now I’m currently selling another interesting property at 302 Arden Street, here in Coogee, which is a 12-room registered boarding house. It’s being sold via expressions of interest closing September 22nd. By the way in a previous episode I covered, another interesting story on Arcadia Street, which involved a local inventor by the name of Frank Hammond who designed a petrol pump back in the 1920s, that would have been now known as a bowser, and one of his bowsers was sited here on Arcadia Street. I’ve covered over 100 stories featuring the area that I grew up in and have lived for my entire working life. And if you’d like to visit them it’s at AdrianBoStories.com.au. As ever, I’m always available to provide you an appraisal of your property. You can reach me on 0418-278-316, or by email to adrian.bo@raywhite.com. Keep smiling, your home is worth more with Adrian Bo.