High-profile Jewish immigrant, Olga Horak, who fled Germany after WWII is selling her Rose Bay home, with a $6 million price guide.
According to realestate.com.au, the P&O style property with stunning harbour views at 70 Liverpool St, was bought in 1952 for £10,500 by Olga and her late husband, John Horak.
Olga and John emigrated to Australia in 1949 and established a blouse factory called Hibodress.
Daughter Susie Berk says her parents, who’d been living in a flat in Bondi, had been driving around the streets in the Eastern Suburbs looking at homes with a real estate agent.
She said that £10,500 was “a lot of money at the time and the house was in a very raw state”, but her parents set out to make it their own.
“They did the manicured gardens and put in a lot of what is now highly sought-after inbuilt furniture in the bedrooms by (Paul) Kafka, a well-known cabinet maker at the time,” Ms Berk told realestate.com.au.
“My mother is very artistic and creative and my father was as well, so they created a very elegant home over the years, with another renovation in 1969 by the well-known architect Henry Kurzer.”
She said the kitchen features floating cupboards, coloured enamel stove and stainless steal accents.
“And the lounge room was opened it up, and my parents decked it out with the most bespoke furniture at the time, from a company called Decor in Rushcutters Bay,” Ms Berk said.
“They just had such impeccable good taste.”
Ms Berk said they spent the next 70 years maintaining it the way they liked it.
“My parents maintained their home beautifully, and my mother is an artist, so her sculptures and paintings are on display throughout the home, internally and externally,” she said.
She said her and her sister have wonderful memories growing up there.
“It was a real home, in a great location, and I was taught to cherish the things that you work so hard for, to look after them,” she said.
“My mother was always very particular about maintaining all of the original features of the home because she knew how popular it was.
“Over the years, we had lots of people knocking on her door to photograph it, buy it, or just to have a look at it.”
Ms Berk said her mother’s wish is that the new owner appreciates just how special the property is.
“My mother is so attached to it, and put so much love and care into maintaining it … she would like to see it renovated or added to and made even more grand!,” she said.
