Abandoned Oz - Morella - A Look Inside Sydney’s Once Prestige Mansion
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ส.ค. 2024
- Abandoned Oz
Morella
This beautiful yet dilapidated Mosman mansion named ‘Morella’ has hit the market for a price tag of $10M+.
This video shows you the interior and exterior of this beautiful house filmed in this year (2024) in March.
Built in 1939 by Eric Nicholls of Burley Griffin.
The building has local heritage status.
Morella was commissioned by Leo and Helena Parer just before WW2.
Their son Anthony lived in the home, he died in 2015 and the property was passed down to his carer who sold it to a young Chinese student and architect Edward Wei for $6.6M in 2016.
I actually attended that auction as i was following the fate of Morella closely as it’s such a beautiful place!
Now the property is for sale attracting over 97 enquiries within 24 hours of listing with buyer feedback already in the $10million(s).
The listing also comes with a fresh DA for the construction of a 4 storey house on top of the current foundations.
#urbex #abandoned #urbanexploration #abandonedplaces #morella
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It's truly just a shell now .. Would be nice to know what it looked like when it was habitable.
If you google it there are photo's online.
Reading the Australian Home Beautiful article from April 1943 (available through Trove) it seems the house was never completed. The huge area under the balcony was supposed to be a ballroom. Excavations had begun and it was to be completed after the war. The article also provides a detailed description of the interior, no pictures, but does have a floor plan. It must have been quite something and shows how much our world has changed when a "mansion" would have one family bathroom and a tiny kitchen.....and an almost ballroom.
In another article there is mention of Leo Parer having a room he accessed by a ladder through a trap door where he would hide away ftom the family....possibly the ladder that remains.
I'm hopeful though....the pictures of the planned building at least retain the look of the current house.
What a great story, both personal and of our society this house tells. Thanks for inspiring me to find out more about this beautiful house and the family. History can teach us so much.
Thank you for the updated video. I was just showing an old video of this to a friend on wednesday. I hope someone does something with Morella, its in a beautiful location.
A listed building would need council approval to demolish. A building which is dangerously unsound or not habitable could be demolished even if listed. In such a case, recording of the building by photograph and floor plan, noting materials would be required.
Local heritage listing does encourage owners to retain and enhance the building or site. In some cases, a plaque noting the history can help to retain the memory of the place.
It is my opinion that this building will sadly be demolished because of the state of disrepair it is in.
While it is listed as a heritage item under Mosman’s Local Environment Plan, the property was never added to the NSW Heritage Council register, despite efforts stretching back 20+ years.
Thanks Phil. What an amazing place. Look's like a bomb went off inside. It will cost a motza to restore, but would be worth it.
All good mate!! :)
I’m so excited to see what comes of this place :)
If its heritage listed, you can't knock it down...the new owners would need to have very deep pockets to get this place looking habitable, hopefully some filthy rich Australian wants the place...thanks keep us informed and wear a hard hat & work boots to risky in that derelict place
Unfortunately safety over-rides heritage listing's around the country, and more often than most realise, heritage listed buildings are demolished for a variety of reasons.
If a developer shows that it's not economically feasible to restore a building, then they can seek permission to start again. You see it all the time, often without realising what's happening. A property owner dies, a building gets sold, then it's left vacant for a variety of reasons, only to suffer at the demise of the building by aging and damage with time and weather/storms, then squatters, theft and vandals totally destroy the place. Sometimes, this is a deliberate tactical approach by the investor, as they know that the worse it gets, the easier it will be to have the heritage listing overturned, allowing them to build exactly what they want on the property.
A house near me was heritage listed because the way that it was built was a one of a kind. The family lived in it until they died and then was sold. When the new owners told the council (or whichever body it is that manages this) the costs for repairing the home they agreed that it was prohibitive and allowed them to knock it down and do a new build.
They should restore it
The approval of a 4 story DA should show you that the current building is doomed. Sadly, economically, it makes no sense to restore this building, because of the extensive work that would need to be undertaken. It is actually far more economically viable for the purchaser to demolish it completely and build that 4 story building. The new building would be better purposed, being more likely to be used for its intended design. It will obviously have more floor area, allowing a greater number of occupants to utilise the property. It will instantly place the property value at $10M to $20M. It will remove an ugly building from an expensive part of our waterfront. Finally, a modern large building/mansion in the immediate area, will raise the value of surrounding properties.
Don't get me wrong, I'm part of the "Don't tear it down" generation (Because you're young, I'll elaborate), In the eighties, Sydney had an outspoken, politically threatening, high energy, and very popular rock/pop band named, Spy V's Spy. They had a huge hit with a song called, Don't tear it down, a song about preserving old Sydney buildings for their history to be respected. I am still a believer in that message, and (where it makes sense) like seeing old historical buildings restored, or repurposed for more life and to preserve them for future generations. However, it's not smart to keep everything, and it's likely this building will eventually go rather than stay, unfortunately.
So sad to see the building in this state.
Lets " sus " it out : " oh shit" the " place is a mess !" " lets have. " a sniff " oh. " oh my god 😳 "the floor has fallen in ?" " oh my god 😳 !" ( gardens look " nice ! ) the end
Have you ever returned to the mansion every now and then between 2016 and 2024?
I have been once in about 2018 or 2019 but didn’t go in
Hey Abandoned Oz Google Morella house your video is already listed.
Good bones 😂😂😂