Point Piper, New South Wales

Point Piper Sydney, New South Wales
File:Pointpipermain.jpg Seven Shillings Beach
Coordinates
Population	1,404 (2011 census)
Postcode(s)	2027
Location	6 km (4 mi) east of Sydney CBD
LGA(s)	Municipality of Woollahra
State electorate(s)	Vaucluse
Federal Division(s)	Wentworth
Suburbs around Point Piper: Port Jackson Darling Point Point Piper Rose Bay Double Bay Bellevue Hill Bellevue Hill

File:LadyMartinsBeach.PointPiper.jpg

Lady Martins Beach

File:Fairwater.JPG

Fairwater, New South Head Road, designed by John Horbury Hunt

File:John Symond House Point Piper.jpg

Rear view of John Symond's Point Piper mansion

Point Piper is a small, affluent harbourside eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 6 kilometres (4 mi) east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area known as the Municipality of Woollahra.

Point Piper is generally regarded as the most exclusive residential suburb in Australia. Wolseley Road, Point Piper, is currently ranked the 9th most expensive street in the world, at $38,900 per square metre.

Location

The suburb of Point Piper sits on Sydney Harbour, beside the suburbs of Rose Bay, Bellevue Hill and Double Bay. The streets in Point Piper are: Buckhurst Avenue, Longworth Avenue, New South Head Road, Redvers Street, St. Mervyns Avenue Wolseley Road, Wolseley Crescent, Wingadal Place, Wentworth Place, Wentworth Street, Wunulla Road, Wyuna Road.

History

Point Piper was named after Captain John Piper (1773–1851). Piper was a Scottish-born military officer of Cornish parentage, who arrived in the colony in 1792 and built a neo-Palladian mansion on the point, on 190 acres (0.77 km²) of land granted by the governor in 1816. After a review of Piper's performance as head of the Customs Department showed that he had mismanaged funds (although he was not actually accused of being corrupt), Piper attempted to drown himself in Sydney Harbour. He subsequently sold his holdings at Point Piper, Rose Bay, Neutral Bay, and Petersham, for £5,000 and moved to the country.

In 1834, Piper's former residence was leased by Colonel John George Nathaniel Gibbes (1787-1873), the newly arrived Collector of Customs for New South Wales and a Crown appointee to the colony's Legislative Council. Colonel Gibbes and his family resided at Point Piper House (also known as Henrietta, or Naval, Villa) until 1844, when they moved to "Wotonga" on Kirribilli Point. Wotonga now forms part of Admiralty House. Unfortunately, Point Piper House was torn down in the 1850s and the site redeveloped.

Commercial area

Point Piper does not have a commercial area, and has few amenities or public facilities. The closest commercial areas are in nearby suburbs such as Rose Bay and Double Bay.

Beaches and reserves

• Duff Reserve - off Wolseley Road, deep water point, popular for weddings and picnics
• Lady Martin's Beach - off Wunulla Road
• Seven Shillings Beach - off New South Head Road
• Redleaf Pool - off New South Head Road, on Seven Shillings Beach

Clubs

• The Scots College rowing shed - off Wolseley Road
• Royal Motor Yacht Club - 21 Wunulla Road
• Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club

Population

Point Piper, in combination with Darling Point, Edgecliff and Rushcutters Bay was named as the wealthiest area in Australia according to information with the Australian Tax Office in 2013.

Housing

Point Piper is home to some of the most expensive and exclusive homes in Australia. There are only eleven streets in Point Piper; the main road is Wolseley Road. The price per sqm of real estate in Point Piper is one of the most expensive in the world; property writer Cindy Martin calculated in 2002 that the total value of the properties on the 1 km waterfront section of Wolseley Road was A$720 million.

John Symond's mansion on Wingadal Place, reportedly cost over $70M to build (excluding land), easily making it Australia's most expensive, privately owned residential home. In 2007, Altona, located in Wunulla Road and Australia's second most expensive house, was listed for more than A$50 million. It was sold in 2013 for a price thought to be more than $50 million, which was a Sydney record.

Craig-y-Mor is a non-waterfront house on Wolseley Road. Australia's second most expensive residential property, it was sold in 2008 for $32.4 million to the Chinese buyers Zeng Wei and Jiang Mei. It was previously owned by Rene Rivkin, who sold it to businessman Ben Tilley in 2004 for $16.15 million. The house has six bedrooms and a nine-car garage. The property was demolished in 2014 after the decision by the local municipality to deny this was overturned by a state judge.

Wolseley Road is the world's 9th most expensive residential street at up to $38,000 a square metre.

Notable residents

Point Piper is an affluent residential area, home to many prominent Australians including:

• Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minister of Australia and Member for Wentworth
• Frank Lowy - The Westfield Group founder and boss
• John Symond - Founder of Aussie Home Loans
• David Penn - Southern Cross Dental Laboratories founder, medical innovator and dentist
• Julia Ross - Recruitment executive, Ross Human Directions Ltd.
• Denis James O'Neil - Developer and former Olympian
• Jonathan Spicer - Architect and founder of the Pure Series Music events.

Notable former residents

• Bruce Jackson (deceased) - Audio engineer, lived in his youth at the mansion Altona
• James Haydon Leslie Arnott - CEO Arnott's Biscuits (deceased) William Arnott's eldest son lived in Wyuna Rd
• Rene Rivkin - Stockbroker (deceased)
• Sir Frank Renouf - New Zealand financier (deceased)
• Lachlan Murdoch - Elder son of media mogul, Rupert Murdoch
• Dr Frank Tidswell and his wife Edith lived at Deloraine next to Duff Reserve

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View of Point Piper from the harbour