The White Rabbit's Judith Neilson emerges with $8 million Chippendale warehouse as her intended home: Title Tattle

Judith Neilson, the founder of the White Rabbit Collection, one of the world's most significant collections of Chinese contemporary art, has spent $7,975,000 (including GST) on another Chippendale warehouse (pictured above). But Title Tattle gleans the O’Connor Street warehouse – formerly the Simona fashion headquarters set directly opposite the upcoming exiting Frasers Central Park precinct – will be her new private residence. The three-storey building has 1,375 square metres of warehouse space, plus the adjoining Dick Street 220-square-metre car park holding. It’s mostly open plan with soaring high ceiling and minimal pillars with a glass façade across its 26 metre frontage. Her White Rabbit Gallery is just 50 metres away, a converted former knitting factory on Balfour Street, which has four floors of exhibition space as well as a theatrette, a library and a teahouse. It cost her $4.6 million in 2007. Only a fraction of the collection can be shown at any time, with the entire contents of the gallery are rehung twice a year. For a while last year there was premature speculation that Neilson would be placing her personal serene Alice in Wonderland world-style art pieces around the penthouse and pool now atop The Residence, the newly completed apartment block overlooking Hyde Park. The selling agent of the Chippendale warehouse, Deans Property Broadway selling agent Justin Rose, isn’t saying much since the sale, but his marketing described it as “without a doubt the hottest property offering of the year with untold future potential for an owner-occupier, developer, investor or anyone who can identify a great opportunity.” It last sold in 1988 for $1.32 million when bought by the family company headed then by designer Inge Fonagy and her late husband, George, who founded Simona in 1963. Now spanning three generations, Simona will continue the tradition of creating classic garments for women of all ages at a nearby Ultimo.

Bong Bong (pictured above), the Burradoo home of Lynette Harvey, the former wife of retail entrepreneur Gerry Harvey, was passed in on a $1.5 million vendor bid last weekend through McGrath Bowral agent Sue Hunter. The 9405-square-metre estate had been listed with $1,995,000 plus hopes given its views over the Wingecarribee River. The four-bedroom, four-bathroom residence comes with large living, dining and entertainment areas, an open-plan kitchen with a butler's pantry and cool room. There’s also an indoor heated swimming pool. The Moss Vale Road property last traded at $2 million in 1999 when Lynette Harvey bought it from prominent medico Bruce Shepherd.

Author Bryce Courtenay and wife Christine Gee, the director of the Australian Himalayan Foundation, have yet again reduced price expectations on their Burradoo home (pictured above) in the NSW southern highlands. Set on 8,572 square metres of garden, the house comes with a library, courtyard and five bedrooms. McGrath Bowral’s Anne Stone and Kathie Frost have the listing with $1,955,000-plus hopes for its April 21 auction. It was initially listed with $3.3 million-plus hopes in 2010, then at $2.8 million last August. The property has been listed as Courtenay and Gee have relocated to live at their other home in Canberra. The couple bought the Werrington Street property for $2.8 million in March 2008 from the retired barrister Graham Martin and his wife, Judy.

A 1950s modernist Avalon cottage (pictured above) has been sold, for the first time since it was built. Set on a 1,571-square-metre Ruskin Rowe holding, the property was sold by the Russell family, who built the house in 1958. The following year it featured on the cover of Australian House & Garden magazine. No sale price has been given for the house, which was expected to sell for more than $1.3 million through David Edwards of LJ Hooker Palm Beach.

The Ingham family has pulled its long-held apartment (pictured above) in The Connaught, a high-rise residential tower opposite Hyde Park in the city, from auction this weekend. McGrath agents Ben Forsyth and Ben Collier had $2.6 million hopes for the 24th floor three-bedroom apartment with a 17-metre balcony. Title Tattle recalls it last traded for $505,000 in 1984, the year the Liverpool Street building was completed. When the 239 apartments came onto a depressed market in the early 1980s, they were initially slow sellers and prices realised were low.

Rabbitohs fullback Greg Inglis and his wife, Sally, have bought in Coogee, paying $1.11 million for a semi-detached house having been renting an apartment nearby. There had been a makeover to the house since it last traded for $965,000 in 2004.

Socrates Vasiliades, the international commodities trader, has relisted his house at 3 Towers Road, Toorak (pictured above). With 22 rooms, a lift, home theatre, gym, pool, basement parking and well-kept gardens, it came with record-setting $30 million hopes last May. Kay & Burton agent Ross Savas advised several months later that he’d received two $25 million offers but Vasiliades was holding out for the full amount for the 2,140-square-metre property. It was then withdrawn from marketing until this week. No new price indication has yet accompanied the latest marketing campaign, which began this week. Vasiliades, who had had tradespeople flown in from around the world to work on the house during its six-year construction, now gives his address as London. The property was bought by his wife, Celeste, in 2002 for $4.6 million from Peter Thomas. Vasiliades has been the chief executive of Core Mining since its 2003 establishment. The iron ore explorer is backed by Glencore International Plc and has Russian steelmaker OAO Severstal as an investor. He has over 23 years’ experience in the steel industry and prior to forming Core Mining he traded steel and bulk raw materials worldwide. The Victorian price record remains with the 2010 Portsea sale of Ilyuka for $26 million.

One Towers Road, Toorak (pictured above), owned by former JPMorgan Australia chairman Brian Watson, remains listed for sale. Set on 3,900 square metres, the six-bedroom house was once owned by businessman John Elliott. Its Kay & Burton listing agent Michael Gibson expected the house to attract more than $26 million when it was listed last October.

The Darling Point penthouse (pictured above) of the late Jeanette Solomon, the mother of high-profile publican Bruce Solomon, sold after its mid-week auction. It was passed in at $6.8 million, then sold soon after at a higher price by Ken Jacobs of Christie's and Bill Malouf of LJ Hooker, whose Double Bay agency tweeted it has recorded a record month of sales since the gfc. Occupying the top floor of an eight-storey waterfront building in Yarranabbe Road, the three-bedroom, three-bathroom apartment had been expected to sell for more than $6 million. The apartment last traded in 1999 for $3.9 million when sold by the Kelly family following the death of businessman Sir Theo Kelly, a former Woolworths chairman, who lived in the apartment with his late wife, Nan.

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The Bellevue Hill home of the late Lady (Sonia) McMahon (pictured above) has come down from websites, but Title Tattle gathers it hasn’t sold. Her three children, Julian, Deborah and Melinda, knocked back $5.9 million when it went to weekend auction. The Bellevue Hill property had been listed with $6 million-plus hopes. Sonia McMahon, the widow of former prime minister Sir William McMahon, bought the building block for $3 million in 1991 and subsequently constructed a French Riviera-inspired residence on its 1,252-square-metre holding. It’s understood there’s been a marginally higher offer since the auction from one of the three bidders. It’s listed through Sally Hampshire of Laing+Simmons Double Bay and Victoria Morish of Di Jones Real Estate.

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Former model Simone Callahan didn’t sell her clifftop Mornington Peninsula retreat, Clahane (pictured above), when it went to weekend auction. The former wife of cricketer Shane Warne, who wants $1.5 million plus for the four-bedroom, 332-square-metre Arthurs Seat house, placed a $1.4 million vendor bid. It was last traded in 2008 at $1,225,000. She’d initially sought $2 million in early 2010, which was subsequently revised to $1.59 million-plus hopes for the 4,700-square-metre property, which comes with self-contained guest accommodation, tennis court and swimming pool. There are views towards the CBD and over the Mornington Peninsula from the renovated single-level Scenic Place house, which had its Fasham-Johnson-makeover done before its last sale. It’s listed through Harcourts Rosebud agent Grant McConnell.

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Normandie, a French-inspired castle estate at Dural (pictured above), has been sold. Offers of $3 million plus were most recently being sought by Sandy Ward at Ray White Dural, who posted its sale announcement on realestate.com.au this week. No sale price was given. It was a mortgagee-in-possession sale, having been initially listed in September 2009 by its owners with $6.25 million-plus hopes. The imposing sandstone residence was built in 1985 by Bronte Douglass – a founder of Douglass Pathology – and his wife, Darlene. The manor house was built after the couple bought the almost-bare block in the early 1980s for $130,000. They had studied books on French chateaux before finalising their concept for the house with the assistance of designer Darryl Lock, who drew the plans. Lock also created many of the interior finishes, such as the four chandeliers suspended from the 10-metre-high cathedral ceiling in the great hall at the centre of the residence.

The house has a slate roof imported from the Pyrenees, external walls made from Sydney sandstone and interior walls of rendered brick. Designed to maximise its north and easterly aspects, it has forest and rural vistas from every room. At entry level is its great hall with a minstrel's gallery, a huge formal sitting room, banquet-sized dining room, large study panelled with American oak, family room, open-plan kitchen and breakfast area. It comes with four bedroom suites. Its 2.2-hectare grounds have sweeping lawns, ornamental trees, a tennis court and swimming pool. A recent search of the property’s title revealed mortgages to St George Bank and the National Australia Bank. Considered the most exclusive street in Dural, Jane Place has eight properties of 2.2 hectares each. The most recent sale was sold by car dealer Phil Gilbert for $3.75 million. The Douglass house was almost sold last April to the Belmonte family but they bought eslewhere instead.

And Title Tattle aims to tell readers first – even if it takes times before the official confirmation – so it was the McGrath upper north shore principal Shane Smollen who has emerged as the mystery $6.45 million buyer of the palatial residence (pictured above) of Perth-bound lawyer Amanda Kailis, of the MG Kailis Group, and her former husband, George Frazis, the Auckland-based chief executive of Westpac New Zealand who is almost famous across the ditch for being New Zealand's highest-paid executive. It had been listed with price hopes of more than $7 million through McGrath agent Simon Exleton, with the December purchaser details being kept tightly under wraps. Built five years ago on a 530-square-metre block in Pacific Avenue, the four-level house has seven bedrooms, a climate-controlled 1,000-bottle wine cellar, a home theatre and large living areas overlooking the beach. The property last traded for $1,367,500 in June 1998. Tamarama’s most recent sale was the residence of Peter Scutt, a former partner of Bankers Trust in New York, which sold at an undisclosed price the day before its scheduled auction. Title Tattle estimates $7.55 million. But despite the four-bedroom, four-bathroom house having been renovated since it last traded for $4.8 million in 2003, the Thompson Street house is set to be rebuilt by its mystery eastern suburbs businessman buyer.

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And don’t say that Title Tattle told you but singer Natalie Bassingthwaighte and husband, the former Rogue Traders drummer Cameron McGlinchey, are now set to upgrade homes in Melbourne to accomodate their young daughter, have secured $830,000 for their redundant 48 sq m Elizabeth Bay apartment through Scott Aggett from Belle Property. It had cost $749,000 in 2009. Apparently its buyer was a trainee surgeon moving to Sydney from Melbourne. The one-bedroom unit had been rented, currently for $810, for most of the time. The apartment sits on the ground floor of one of Elizabeth Bay's more historic buildings, and its lower level containing the lounge room and bathroom had been converted from a tidal pool. Bassingthwaighte has been a longtime owner in Elwood, buying out Ryan Eckersley, the former Neighbours' assistant director, for his half share in 2005 for $297,500.