Gutted Northwood property worth twice as much after suspicious' fire

The $24million waterfront property that was gutted in a ‘suspicious’ fire may now actually be worth more than twice as much in the wake of the blaze.

The 20-metre-high flames that destroyed the 1915 mansion at Northwood on Sydney’s exclusive lower north shore on Saturday unlocked significant value in the prestigious property, according to a local property expert.

The shock increase in the property’s value comes as arson investigators confirmed a fire accelerant was detected in the ruins.

Specialist Fire and Rescue NSW sniffer dogs picked up traces of an accelerant on Monday, a development certain to become a key part of investigations.

The property expert told Daily Mail Australia how the block’s value would now surge despite the destruction of the mansion on the Cliff Road site.  

‘Now the heritage house has gone up in smoke the property could be worth $60 million,’ said the expert, who declined to be named in order to speak candidly.

‘It is one of the largest properties with water frontage in Sydney and there was previously a development application to put two additional houses on the tennis court.

‘That DA was objected to by neighbours and didn’t go through. (But) there’s no heritage impediment any more.’

The prestigious street in the ‘old money’ suburb where the heritage-listed house is now just a charred wreck has been embroiled in neighbourhood property battles going back five years.

The gutted house was itself part of a failed development application by its long time owners – TV pioneer and travel business owner Mary Rossi and her husband Theo, who bought it in 1961, raised their ten children there and called it home for 60 years.

The Rossi clan recently sought to build two houses on their championship-size tennis court – a move that was opposed by neighbour and fund manager ‘Owen’ Ouyang Cheng and other locals.

The Rossi family and others then objected to Mr Chen’s own expansive rebuild plans of the home next door.

However, in a twist of fate, they ultimately sold him their own plantation-style home, some nine months before last Saturday’s fire. 

One of the largest pieces of privately-owned land in the city, 62 Cliff Road, Northwood, boasts a wide, 46m water frontage. 

The almost 5000-square metre property juts down to the Lane Cove River and is bordered by federation-style properties.

It is an area that rarely sees hellish scenes and hears ‘bomb-like’ blasts such as those caused by the fire that engulfed the home about 11pm last Saturday. 

Lane Cove Council records reveal that it was the Rossi family’s 2017 DA which first caused disquiet in the leafy neighbourhood.

That year, the Rossis put in a DA to subdivide 62 Cliff Road, Northwood, compliant with its heritage features including the stone fences, columns, the roof and the verandah.

The Rossi’s DA proposed the existing subdivision of two allotments to three allotments, partial demolition of the existing dwelling and garages, and construction of an access driveway.

Daily Mail Australia understands that several neighbours objected to the proposal, including Owen Chen, whose next door house overlooked the tennis court where two dwellings were proposed. 

One objection against the DA, by an adjacent owner, expressed concerns about encroachment of native trees on the fenceline, and the elevated driveway overshadowing an outdoor barbecue area making it less private and more noisy.

The council refused the DA, principally because of the proposed driveway, which was essential for accessing the tennis court houses. The Rossis did not pursue the application further in the NSW Land & Environment Court. 

In 2020, Owen Chen – whose family is believed to own several houses in Northwood and the adjacent suburb of Longueville – made plans to develop his own property at 60 Cliff Road, Northwood.

In August last year,  Mr Chen lodged a DA with Lane Cove Council requesting permission to demolish his house and build a $5million four-storey mansion with a swimming pool.

The house had three linked pavilions, which Mr Chen told a neighbour were intended as separate living areas for different family members. 

Neighbours made objections about their compromised privacy, substantial loss of water views, excessive height and overly large bulk and scale.

In 2021, Mary Rossi died aged 95, leaving her estate to her children, whose lawyer made a submission to the council objecting to Mr Chen’s plans, citing impacts relating to building bulk, privacy and heritage.

The Rossi submission in fact warned that the tennis court, ‘an area of high activity’ could cause noise disturbance for the dwellers of the proposed development and ‘conflict with the neighbours’ peaceful enjoyment of their future home’.

The council rejected Mr Chen’s DA in October last year for reasons including size and bulk, and it having ‘an unacceptable impact on the heritage’ house next door. 

The Rossi siblings then put up their mother’s house for sale and Owen Chen and his wife Xiao Hong Li were the successful bidders, paying just over $24m and taking possession of it last December. 

Their new property, now destroyed, had panoramic views of the river, the city and Anzac Bridge, a huge tennis court, a large orchard, parklike gardens and lawns set into cascading sandstone terraces down to a boathouse with launching ramp. 

Neighbours say the house has not been lived in since being vacated by the Rossis, and that Mr Chen stayed occasionally in the next door house at 60 Cliff Road, with his beloved pet Rottweiler. 

After his DA was rejected last year, Mr Chen put in a modified proposal in July this year, which also drew objections from neighbours.

It is not suggested that any of the development applications referred to in this article had anything to do with the fire, simply that it is the recent history of the street. 

Last Saturday night as members of the Rossi clan were enjoying a family wedding, 62 Cliff Road, Northwood caught on fire. 

Neighbours heard an explosion at 10.55pm, followed by further blasts for the next 40 minutes as the old house began to burn fiercely and firefighters evacuated neighbouring residents and used a crane to try and douse the flames.

Emma Rossi, the ninth of Mary Rossi’s ten children, who lives nearby, said she had arrived home from the wedding and let the dog out when she became aware that her old family home was ablaze. 

Detectives from the North Shore Area Command and the Financial Crimes Squad’s arson unit were in the area on Monday, speaking to neighbours and trying to work out what happened.

Police believe the fire was deliberately lit. Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting Mr Chen or any of the persons referred to in this article had anything to do with the blaze at his house. 

Neighbours reported that the dog had been home alone at  60 Cliff Road at the time of the fire and was taken from the house for safety reasons and tethered to a fence five door up the street.  

Despite the best efforts of two trucks and 50 firefighters, the house was gutted by the huge fire, one of the neighbours saying that by the time they got out on the street ‘you could se the house was gone’.

‘There were kids in their pyjamas, embers in the air and they had to get the hydrant from the top of the street going, but it was too late,’ the neighbour said.

Emma Rossi said that friends and former neighbours had been ringing her since the fire offering ‘their support and love’ and that they along with the Rossi family were grieving the house’s loss. 

‘It’s funny seeing it written up in the media as a mansion,’  said Ms Rossi, 55, a communications consultant.

‘We never thought of it as a mansion, it was just a home.

‘It was a home you walked in and just got this sense of love the minute you walked in the front door. It was palpable.

‘It’s the end of an era. That’s for sure.’