UPDATE: Cate Blanchett's Aussie eco-mansion sells in just three weeks for record-breaking price
UPDATE, Sept. 9, 2015: The estate known as Bulwarra -- Australian actress Cate Blanchett's suburban eco-mansion just outside Sydney -- sold in just three weeks for its asking price of $20 million Australian, or about $14.1 million in U.S. currency at today's exchange rates, Yahoo Homes can confirm. This post, originally published Aug. 17, 2015, has been updated throughout to reflect the sale.
It's a modern classic owned by a modern classic.
Actress Cate Blanchett has sold Bulwarra, the 1877 estate she owns with her husband, Andrew Upton, about six miles from downtown Sydney in Australia's oldest "garden suburb," Hunters Hill. The sale price broke the record for the suburb: $20 million Australian, the couple's asking price. (Click here or on a photo for a slideshow.)
The couple bought the home a decade ago for half the price, then undertook a years-long eco-friendly renovation that reports at the time estimated at $1.5 million Australian — but that current reports claim added up to more than $8 million Australian.
Bulwarra wasn't easy to settle on, according to one real estate agent who spoke to the Sydney Morning Herald but declined to be named. "She is fussy as anything," the agent said. "She is too fussy and nothing suits her."
However, the same agent also claimed that "she likes traditional homes, nothing too modern" — yet her renovation of Bulwarra looks quite modern indeed. And another listing agent, who was happy to provide his name (Bill Bridges of Cassim Real Estate), said: "I thought she was quite charming, and she charmed some vendors so much that I think they reduced the price."
She and her husband are moving with their four children — sons Dashiell, Roman and Iggy and newly adopted baby daughter Edith — to Los Angeles, "really just to see what's out there," Upton told the Daily Telegraph. "To put our head above the parapet and look around over there."
But the plan is to return to Australia, he told the Australian paper: "We will definitely come back because the schooling here is what we want our boys and our girl to experience. This is our home."
Also on Yahoo Homes:
• Billionaire buys Australia's most expensive mansion without ever seeing it (16 photos)
• 'Worst house in Australia' hits market, unleashing onslaught of interest (16 photos)
• Elderly heir knocks $60M off price of mansion, even agrees to move out (36 photos)
Blanchett made waves this past spring with an interview in Variety:
She also proved a bit of a tough interview subject with an Australian news outlet:
