A SPECTACULAR home fit to entertain European royalty and Sydney Royal’s finest show cattle has hit the market.
The Bellevue Hill home belonging to the Hordern family, once the country’s biggest retailers, has been listed for the first time since it was built in 1935.
The eight bedroom home on Ginahgulla Road was built as a gift to honour the union of June Baillieu and Samuel Hordern III. The newlyweds’ fathers, Sir Samuel Hordern and Clive Baillieu, commissioned Professor Leslie Wilkinson, formerly the chair of architecture at The University of Sydney, for the job. The light-filled home is said to be one of Wilkinson’s favourites.
The property, which now belongs to the June and Samuel’s grandchildren, Samuel V and Anthony, has been listed via an expressions of interest campaign with Sotheby’s director of NSW sales, James McCowan.
The Land’s readers will be familiar with the Hordern family’s pastoral contributions over many generations. Two generations of ‘Samuel Horderns’ led the Royal Agricultural Society (RAS) of NSW. The family, under Samuel Hordern III, pioneered the Santa Gertrudis cattle breed (as well as the Quarter Horse) in Australia through its Yugilbar stud on the Clarence River.
Royal Sydney Show stalwarts will know Samuel Hordern IV, who currently resides on Ginahgulla Road with his wife Joy and sons. Mr Hordern Snr is a life member of the RAS, having joined in 1954.
Mr Hordern Snr’s passion for agriculture was sparked during childhood trips to his family’s Bowral estate, Retford Park (the famed homestead which was last year donated to the National Trust of Australia by James Fairfax AC). He left school at age 12 to work as a drover at this property. He then returned to Cranbrook School before studying agriculture at Cambridge University in England.
His son, Samuel V (or Samuel Jnr) is interested in becoming involved in the RAS to continue the family tradition of helping bridge the city and the bush.
The family of four keeps close ties to the agriculture, conservation and horsing communities. Each family member holds concerns for the health of the land and its stewards.
For Mr Hordern Snr, a key concern is coal mining and the extraction of coal seam gas on prime farmland. He also laments the disappearance of strong political advocacy for the bush – a concern shared by his wife, Joy.
For Samuel Jnr, one of the biggest threats to agriculture is the genetic modification of food crops and livestock. Anthony strongly believes in the need to create a sustainable food system based on organic, locally grown food.
The Hordern’s decision to sell their “Sydney base” has been an intensely personal one. The job to manage the 2700 square metre property may now fall on others.
The family will leave behind their expansive garden featuring a much-loved avocado tree which sprouted from a seed tossed by the late June Hordern, and a towering magnolia which once belonged to the “Rona” estate, from which the land was purchased.
The property is dear to Mr Hordern Snr, who was born in the house. He remembers the times the backyard hosted stud cattle from Retford Park which were in town a day early for their check-in at the Sydney Royal Show’s stables.
The cattle, and indeed, past visiting dignitaries including Prince Phillip and Lord Louis Mountbatten, would have enjoyed views to the Sydney heads through Double Bay as well as the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
