52 Mugga Way: Red Hill manor with a Georgian take. Photos: Blackshaw Manuka.
It had all the makings for a record sale – a prime location, a palatial home and the sellers being high-profile Canberrans. But without the quality and resilience of the build, the result may have fallen short.
A decade ago, young carpenter Nick Rowe and his company NJR Homes took on a multi-million dollar project on the Golden Mile in Red Hill for Michael and Lynne Pezzullo, who wanted to do a knock-down rebuild.
Last week, the 850 square metre, five-bedroom, six-bathroom manor with a Georgian take at 52 Mugga Way sold for $8.05 million. A result selling agent Blackshaw Manuka is calling the highest result of the year and a Red Hill record.
The nearly 3000 sqm property also includes a centrepiece spiral staircase, parents’ wing, an artist’s studio, study/library, four-car garage, pool and spa, tennis court, al fresco and landscaped grounds.
Nick said it was a fantastic result for Canberra, and he could look back with pride at how it had stood the test of time.
“It’s great to see that they’ve enjoyed it for that length of time and enjoyed having many memories in the place,” he said.
“The quality is still there. It still looks as it was when we first built it 10 years ago.”
A client recommended Nick to the Pezzullos, and he admits that it was a daunting brief for a young builder, but with the confidence of youth, he embraced the challenge.
“When you’re in your 20s, you think you’re invincible, and that you can tackle the world,” Nick said.
“So the confidence level was very high. I just had faith and trust in myself and my expertise that I would be able to achieve it.
“And we did, but it was definitely a huge project to have a multi-million dollar home to build for some very elite clients.”
From demolition to completion in 2015, the project took about 15 months and cost more than $3 million. Do that today and the bill would be double that, Nick said.
The Pezzullos were great clients and heavily involved in the project, “very professional and matter-of-fact with their requests”.
“We love our clients to come on site regularly and inspect the stages so it is no surprise to them,” Nick said.
“It wasn’t like they rocked up one day and found a brand new car in the driveway. It was like a mother carrying a child for nine months.
“We both reared it, and then, I was the surrogate that handed it over at the end of the day, and they loved it.”
At the time, both Pezzullos were under stress at work, and they just loved having a very large home for their four children to enjoy many Christmases, Easters, and weekend parties there, Nick said.
Mr Pezzullo served, sometimes controversially, as the Secretary of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection from 2014 and then as Home Affairs secretary from 2017 to 2023, when the Albanese Government sacked him.
It was an enjoyable build, but not without constant challenges. The biggest was the cantilevered central spiral staircase, which is also one of Nick’s favourite elements of the project.
“That took a lot of thrashing out with engineers,” he said. “Engineers and architects can draw something, then it’s up to the builder to work out how to actually build it.
“I love that central staircase, having that curved, cantilevered staircase, and it feels as solid as a rock.”
As a carpenter, Nick also loves the traditional Georgian-style methods used for the home’s corners and the bay windows with their lead-lined ceilings.
Since COVID, supply chain issues have dominated the building industry. While it was nothing like this a decade ago, there was a shortage of structural timber, which necessitated a switch to steel.
Many materials were imported from Spain and Turkey, including a great deal of marble, and these supply chains had to be carefully managed to ensure no delays on site.
“It was just making sure that we had an order of sequence and ordering those materials three to six months in advance on some products so that they would turn up when we needed them,” Nick said.
NJR Homes has built 150 homes in Canberra, and while this one is a standout, Nick loves driving past them all to see how they are faring.
“When you drive past that one at Mugga Way and the other homes we’ve built, I love to see if there’s any defects,” he says.
“I really love to check and make sure that the quality is still as good as what it was when we handed the keys over originally.”
The only issue with the Red Hill project was having to replace fuses on the front automated gates twice.
It was a project fitting for an episode of Grand Designs, but Nick said he missed the boat with that.
“It would definitely qualify for a Grand Designs,” he said.
“You don’t get too many builds like that that are traditional carpentry with cornering, skirting and architrave, and different imported products. You’ve got to have really good quality craftsmanship to perform like that.
“But at the time, I was young and should have reached out to Grand Designs, but I didn’t think of that.”
The property will start its new life with an embassy. 15 Tasmania Circle, in nearby Forrest, sold for $6.5 million last month.
The Pezzullos bought the original property for $1.95 million in 2011. They are believed to be downsizing, now their children have grown up.
