7 Oak Park Court, Oak Park, was established by Melbourne founding father John Pascoe Fawkner. Inset picture: Supplied/State Library of Victoria.
A grand heritage mansion originally built for one of Melbourne’s founding fathers has shattered Oak Park’s house price record with a $3m sale.
Located in the city’s north, the 1728sq m property at 7 Oak Park Court features marble floors, gold leaf accents, stained glass windows, an indoor pool and spa, a billiards room, bar and four-car garage.
Records show it smashed the suburb’s former $2.6m house value benchmark set by a four-bedroom home at 128 Devereaux St in 2021.
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UK-born businessman and politician John Pascoe Fawkner established the Oak Park Court residence as a farm, known as Belle Vue Park, in the 1830s and 1840s.
The nearby suburbs of Fawkner and Pascoe Vale were named after Fawkner, who financed a party which sailed from Tasmania and organised a settlement near the Yarra River which later became the modern city of Melbourne.
Following Fawkner’s death in 1869, an English family purchased Belle Vue Park and constructed a double-storey mansion connected to the original home.
The six-bedroom address is classified by the National Trust as a historically significant property.
The mansion dates back to the 1830s.
John Pascoe Fawkner financed a party of free settlers from Tasmania to sail to mainland Australia in 1835. They founded a settlement on the Yarra River which became the city of Melbourne.
Chandeliers, marble fireplaces, gold leaf and high ceilings feature throughout the mansion.
A couple who purchased the residence in 1992 spent years restoring it as their family home.
McDonald Upton’s Rhys Afford, who had the listing alongside colleague Joe Zucco, said Belle Vue Park went under the hammer in early December and passed in on a bid in the vicinity of $2.5m to $2.7m.
Negotiations with the highest bidder, a local family, resulted in the $3m sale which became official this week.
Mr Afford said he believed the buyers were planning to live at the mansion and potentially do some renovating.
“The old Victorian part of it, which was done in the 1800s, is in amazing condition,” he said.
“It needs a cosmetic lift, but the actual structure and how it’s stood the test of time has been amazing.”
One of four bathrooms in the mansion.
A bar and fireplace feature in the entertainers’ area.
Mr Afford said the family was attracted to Belle Vue Park’s size and uniqueness.
“It’s not something that you could replace, it’s the only one like it in Oak Park and certainly the only one like it for many, many kilometres,” he added.
Buyers from as far away as Templestowe inquired about the abode which boasts a horseshoe-shaped driveway, Melbourne city views from the second-storey veranda and an entertainer’s space with a fully-equipped bar, fireplace and three sets of French doors leading to the outside.
PropTrack data from realestate.com.au shows Oak Park’s median house price is $1.185m.
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