Heritage Sydney cop shop apprehended for almost $2 million
With the crooks long gone, local home buyers outbid six other bidders with small business intentions when the former Surry Hills police station sold at weekend auction in Sydney for $1.9 million.
The former Bourke Street police station and lockup dates back to 1895.
It was marketed as able to be reinvented as a boutique gallery, showroom, design studio or professional suites, but its 2B zoning invited residential dwelling opportunities.
Set under a slate-tiled roof, its original period details include soaring four-metre ceilings, a marble fireplace and timber floors.
It has been bought by Mona and Joe Tower, director of the bridge construction company Bridgeworks Australia, who recently sold their Bourke Street, Darlinghurst terrace through BresicWhitney agent Mark Foy for $920,000.
Four of the registered bidders put in bids during the auction through Raine & Horne Newtown agent Michael Harris. It was announced on the market at $1.72 million under instructions of the NSW Department of Health.
The property sits diagonally opposite an 1890s house that was previously owned the late Abe Saffron, the Kings Cross nightclub identity.
The former police station premises is a single-storey brick and sandstone Federation Romanesque building with a façade that also combines Arts and Crafts design influences in its design by Walter Liberty Vernon.
Vernon’s career as government architect left about 30 of his works listed on the National Estate Register, including the Art Gallery of New South Wales and Central Railway Station.
Set on a rare level double block, it has been an alcohol and drug advisory centre since 1981, most recently as the AIDS Council of NSW Positive Living Centre.
NSW Health put the building up for sale when ACON recently moved to its Elizabeth Street premises, with the proceeds from the sale to be used to fund capital works within the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District.
