Bluestone beauty tipped to fetch $5 million

Philip Hopkins February 15, 2012

A HISTORIC central business district property - one of the finest bluestone warehouses in the city and dating from the earliest days of Melbourne - is expected to fetch about $5 million at auction next month.

Seabrook House, at 573-577 Lonsdale Street, was last offered to the market 29 years ago, when it was bought by a group of barristers. Built in 1858, it is listed on the Historic Building Register.

Between 1968 and 1979 it was home to Seabrook Wines, hence the name, before being substantially refurbished as a barristers' chambers. The land on which the three-storey warehouse is sited was originally bought by D. H. Cleve in April 1855. Construction started and three years later the bluestone store was completed for Cleve Bros & Co.

According to Heritage Victoria, Seabrook House is architecturally significant as an intact example of the palazzo style of warehouse. Palazzo-style warehouses - a style usual in Melbourne for the mid-19th century - were typified by their large windows, rusticated quoins and projecting cornices.

''The style of architecture, which alludes to imposing Italian palazzos, and the fine decorative execution of the bluestone, demonstrates the wealth and prestige of Cleve Bros and their peers in the rapid economic expansion in 1850s Victoria,'' Heritage Victoria said.

Seabrook House is also regarded as a fine early example of the personal style of noted architect Leonard Terry, who favoured the palazzo style and developed his ideas later in his many bank buildings.

Now, the freestanding building on a rare ''island site'' includes a formal reception area, about 979 square metres of lettable office space, and a basement featuring a wine cellar, spa, shower and changing room, full commercial kitchen and conference rooms and a courtyard.

It is being sold with vacant possession. Selling agents are Knight Frank's Marcus Quinn and Langton McHarg.