Brisbane record up for grabs as historic Queenslander hits market
Brisbane’s $20.5 million residential record set in April could be short-lived, given the listing of financial services industry veteran Craig Offenhauser and his wife Lorelle’s 120-year-old Hamilton estate, Ruhamah, with price expectations north of $20 million.
The Cutcher & Neale consulting partner’s Hamilton Hill home sits on over an acre at 4258 square metres across eight titles, and was built in 1903 for politician and businessman Thomas Morrow, whose biscuit manufacturing firm later became Arnott’s Biscuits. The Killara Avenue home sold 39 years later to pioneering thoracic surgeon Dr Konrad Hirschfeld and wife Brigid.
This Queenslander estate in Brisbane’s Hamilton has hit the market with price expectations of about $20 million.
Now, the six-bedroom, five-bathroom residence is being offered to potential fourth custodians as the Offenhausers – who paid $1.7 million in 1989 – are downsizing now their four children have flown the luxury coop.
Grace & Keenan’s Vaughan Keenan, who is selling the property alongside his colleague Streeta Parabi, says Ruhamah has the rare combination of estate proportions with views of the Brisbane River.
“I think it’s the best estate in the Ascot Hamilton region, it’s in a private location on an A-grade street,” Mr Keenan said.
The home retains many original features including wraparound verandahs, pressed-metal ceilings, chandelier lighting, ornate plasterwork and billiards’ room with the original table. Other features include a glass-enclosed indoor pool and spa, teppanyaki bar, media room, cellar and manicured gardens watered by a 700,000-litre water storage and filtration system located below the championship tennis court.
The Offenhausers briefly listed the property in 2017, but decided to keep it in the family for another seven years and renovate, including a recent kitchen upgrade.
The property retains original features including pressed-metal ceilings, timber panelling and leadlight windows.
The couple’s latest listing comes as little surprise considering they recently paid $7.425 million for a nearby river view home on Prospect Terrace, on a block about a sixth of the size of their Hamilton landholding.
According to CoreLogic, the Hamilton suburb record currently stands at the $13.5 million February sale of a Perry Street Queenslander sold by the executive director of Princess Alexandra Hospital, Dr Michael Cleary and his wife, Mary, to chairman of Hong Kong developer Golden Horse Group Feng Di and his wife, Xiaomin Guan.
While the Killara Avenue estate is expected to eclipse the suburb record, it could also test greater Brisbane’s residential record. That stands at $20.5 million paid by the managing director of mining equipment business M2P Engineering, Adam Beswick, for historic New Farm riverfront, Amity House, in April.
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