Stanley Melbourne Bruce's former Frankston home sells in mortgagee sale
Pine Hill, the 1926 Frankston home of Prime Minister Stanley Melbourne Bruce, has been sold for $1,225,000 by Westpac Bank mortgagee sale.
It was bought after its recent marketing campaign by John Manenti.
Bruce, who had the ignominy of being the only Australian prime minister until John Howard to lose his own seat at election, built the house at a £20,000 cost.
Pine Hill, aka Bruce Manor, was designed by the Sydney firm of architects Prevost Synnot and Rewald, in association with Robert Bell Hamilton as a Mediterranean-inspired residence with paved courtyards, Cordova patterned roof tiles, a Juliet balcony and timber panelled interiors.
The Mediterranean style house had been listed with more than $900,000 hopes with $200,000-plus potentially needing to be spent on its refurbishment.
It comes with spacious rooms, high ceilings – many timber-lined – and open fireplaces.
Wrapped around a central piazza, its ground floor includes an impressive entry leading to an open living room incorporating substantial formal and informal living areas.
There are between seven and 10 bedrooms and a library/study along with several bathrooms.
The property had out buildings used periodically as hostel accommodation for the aged.
It last sold at $895,000 in 2002, but its curtilage has been reduced from 6,000 square metres to about 4,500 square metres, with a 10-apartment subdivision that has been sold over the past three months.
The house also has an important association with The Lodge in Canberra, which was constructed in 1926-1927; both were built in a similar architectural style and both were first lived in by the Bruces.
Bruce was prime minister of Australia from 1923 to 1929 as the Depression hit.
