The last time Iona was for sale it was the headline listing of 2015, its star power boosted by then owners, Hollywood’s Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin and the house’s prominence as arguably one of the inner city’s finest mansions. Almost a decade later the landmark Darlinghurst manor is again for sale, still with the same stately interiors, but with a more established garden and contemporary $40 million price expectations. Iona was built in the 1880s, but spent much of the 20th century as a private hospital.
But as Tim Eustace , principal adviser at wealth management firm Mercury Private, and Salvador Panui (named Stephen on title) contemplate packing up their 22-room home, it is perhaps worth noting given the current debate over housing supply that the heritage-listed residence only survived the ambitions of so many developers because from 1912 to 1977 it was a hospital. Iona was built in the late 1880s for pastoralist Edward Chisholm , and from 1908 was home to former Sydney lord mayor Sir Allen Taylor (after whom Taylor Square was named), and after a brief time zoned as a hotel it was returned to residential status when bought by entrepreneur Ian Gowrie-Smith in the early 1990s. Mercury Private’s principal adviser Tim Eustace is selling his Darlinghurst mansion Iona.
Within its sandstone wall and solid iron gates Iona stands as an oasis in the high-density neighbourhood, commanding more than 2700 square metres and with towering century-old trees, a circular driv.