Point Piper, New South Wales

Point Piper
Sydney, New South Wales

Seven Shillings Beach
Coordinates 33°52′14″S 151°15′03″E / 33.87045°S 151.25097°E / -33.87045; 151.25097Coordinates: 33°52′14″S 151°15′03″E / 33.87045°S 151.25097°E / -33.87045; 151.25097
Population 1,404 (2011 census)[1]
Postcode(s) 2027
Location 6 km (4 mi) east of Sydney CBD
LGA(s) Municipality of Woollahra
State electorate(s) Vaucluse
Federal Division(s) Wentworth
Suburbs around Point Piper:
Port Jackson
Darling Point Point Piper Rose Bay
Double Bay Bellevue Hill Bellevue Hill
Lady Martins Beach
Fairwater, New South Head Road, designed by John Horbury Hunt
Rear view of John Symond's Point Piper mansion

Point Piper is a small, affluent harbourside eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 6 kilometres (4 mi) east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area known as the Municipality of Woollahra.

Point Piper is generally regarded as the most exclusive residential suburb in Australia. Wolseley Road, Point Piper, is currently ranked the 9th most expensive street in the world, at $38,900 per square metre.[2]

Location

The suburb of Point Piper sits on Sydney Harbour, beside the suburbs of Rose Bay, Bellevue Hill and Double Bay. The streets in Point Piper are: Buckhurst Avenue, Longworth Avenue, New South Head Road, Redvers Street, St. Mervyns Avenue Wolseley Road, Wolseley Crescent, Wingadal Place, Wentworth Place, Wentworth Street, Wunulla Road, Wyuna Road.[3]

History

Point Piper was named after Captain John Piper (1773–1851). Piper was a Scottish-born military officer of Cornish parentage, who arrived in the colony in 1792 and built a neo-Palladian mansion on the point, on 190 acres (0.77 km2) of land granted by the governor in 1816. After a review of Piper's performance as head of the Customs Department showed that he had mismanaged funds (although he was not actually accused of being corrupt), Piper attempted to drown himself in Sydney Harbour. He subsequently sold his holdings at Point Piper, Rose Bay, Neutral Bay, and Petersham, for £5,000 and moved to the country.

In 1834, Piper's former residence was leased by Colonel John George Nathaniel Gibbes (1787-1873), the newly arrived Collector of Customs for New South Wales and a Crown appointee to the colony's Legislative Council. Colonel Gibbes and his family resided at Point Piper House (also known as Henrietta, or Naval, Villa) until 1844, when they moved to "Wotonga" on Kirribilli Point. Wotonga now forms part of Admiralty House. Unfortunately, Point Piper House was torn down in the 1850s and the site redeveloped.[4]

Commercial area

Point Piper does not have a commercial area, and has few amenities or public facilities. The closest commercial areas are in nearby suburbs such as Rose Bay and Double Bay.

Beaches and reserves

Clubs

Population

Point Piper, in combination with Darling Point, Edgecliff and Rushcutters Bay was named as the wealthiest area in Australia according to information with the Australian Tax Office in 2013.[5]

Housing

Point Piper is home to some of the most expensive and exclusive homes in Australia. There are only eleven streets in Point Piper; the main road is Wolseley Road. The price per sqm of real estate in Point Piper is one of the most expensive in the world; property writer Cindy Martin calculated in 2002 that the total value of the properties on the 1 km waterfront section of Wolseley Road was A$720 million.[6]

John Symond's mansion on Wingadal Place, reportedly cost over $70M to build (excluding land), easily making it Australia's most expensive, privately owned residential home.[7] In 2007, Altona, located in Wunulla Road and Australia's second most expensive house, was listed for more than A$50 million.[8] It was sold in 2013 for a price thought to be more than $50 million, which was a Sydney record.[9]

Craig-y-Mor is a non-waterfront house on Wolseley Road. Australia's second most expensive residential property, it was sold in 2008 for $32.4 million to the Chinese buyers Zeng Wei and Jiang Mei.[10] It was previously owned by Rene Rivkin, who sold it to businessman Ben Tilley in 2004 for $16.15 million. The house has six bedrooms and a nine-car garage.[11] The property was demolished in 2014 after the decision by the local municipality to deny this was overturned by a state judge.[10]

Wolseley Road is the world's 9th most expensive residential street at up to $38,000 a square metre.[12]

Notable residents

Point Piper is an affluent residential area, home to many prominent Australians including:

Notable former residents

View of Point Piper from the harbour

References

  1. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "Point Piper (State Suburb)". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  2. ↑ Financial News (2011-03-14). "The 10 Most Expensive Streets in the World". Business Insider.
  3. ↑ Gregory's Sydney Street Directory, Gregory's Publishing Company, 2007
  4. ↑ The Book of Sydney Suburbs, Compiled by Frances Pollen, Angus & Robertson Publishers, 1990, Published in Australia ISBN 0-207-14495-8, page 206
  5. ↑ Sydney Morning Herald, 2.5.13, p.3
  6. ↑ Cindy Martin (2002-12-24). "Extreme Sydney, Wealthiest". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  7. ↑ SMH (2006). "Boom's glittering prize". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  8. ↑ SMH (2007-06-17). "Crowe eyes $50m home". Courier Mail.
  9. ↑ Sydney Morning Herald, 2.5.13, p.2
  10. 1 2 A. Odysseus Patrick (2014-06-17). "For a century, the mansion sat above Sydney Harbor. Then China’s nouveau riche arrived.". The Washington Post.
  11. ↑ Jonathan Chancellor (2008-03-14). "$32m for Rivkin Point Piper pile". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  12. ↑ http://smh.domain.com.au/real-estate-news/worldclass-price-tags-on-wolseley-road-20100905-14w6i.html
  13. ↑ Refined Living (2007). "Point Piper". Refined Living.
  14. ↑ SMH (2007-06-26). "Really rich man claims to be poor, Matt O'Sullivan's a poor man who admits he's poor.". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  15. ↑ http://www.pureseries.com.au
  16. ↑ Jonathan Chancellor (2005-03-10). "Sale nets Murdochs a quick $2.2m". The Sydney Morning Herald.
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