Five minutes was all it took for the Coogee home of the late Cecily Backhouse, one of the first female judges in NSW, to be sold at auction for a cool $4.77 million.
Cecily Backhouse, who passed away in September 2022, was one of the pioneers of the Women Lawyers Association of NSW. She was also a horse racing enthusiast and would frequent David Jones food hall to order some evening meal before she retires for the night at her hilltop retreat where she lived for 43 years.
Ms Backhouse along with fellow lawyer Peggy Crawley, may be best remembered for challenging the Australian Jockey Club for not accepting female members. They won and became the first female members of the Club in 1982. She retired in 2004.
Located at 5 Thomas St in Coogee, the late judge’s home went under the hammer for the first time in four decades through Belle Property, with 12 groups vying for the right to own the freestanding mid-century house sitting pretty in its original condition on a 702-sqm land.
Advertised as a bright and breezy coastal home offering ocean views, the Coogee residence features three bedrooms with built-ins and views, and a study that doubles as a fourth bedroom, which can also be used as a home office, with its own separate entrance.
It also features a large living room with an Art Deco fireplace, a dining area, a glass-framed sunroom, terrazzo floors, a sunny kitchen with a breakfast bar, an Art Deco family bathroom and a large internal laundry.
The bidding opened at $4 million but after five minutes the property was sold to a local builder who plans to build his own home at the site.
