Toorak tribute to Tuscany
The Age
Saturday February 6, 2010
THE MAN who in 1997 rescued the AFL club now known as the Western Bulldogs from a merger is selling his Tuscan-inspired Toorak mansion, Toscana.Popular Western Bulldogs president David Smorgon OAM (pictured), who spreads his time between Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula, will downsize to another city home, after the death of his wife Roslyn about two years ago.Toscana was modelled to emulate the look and feel of Italy's Tuscany and includes four bedrooms, a 24-seat dining room, gymnasium, playroom, cellar, lift and underground parking for four cars.The 2694-square-metre estate, at 10 Heyington Place, also has a tennis court, swimming pool and formal gardens.Mr Smorgon says the home "has seen a lot of enjoyment" over the years, and estimates thousands of people have visited as part of fundraisers and philanthropic events. Two of his sons were married there.Kay & Burton's Michael Gibson is marketing Toscana, with a private sale price tag of $15 million.The Toscana listing comes months after David's cousin, Graham Smorgon €” a former president of the Carlton Football Club €” put his sprawling Linlithgow Road home on the market, in an expressions of interest campaign also expected to yield about $15 million.Elsewhere in the area, another Smorgon, Rodney, is developing a ritzy apartment complex in Trawalla Street, Toorak, with units ranging in price from $5.3 million to $14 million.
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