Mr Crawford – who retired as Lendlease chairman in 2018 – and his wife Maureen have opted to downsize from the 3566-square metre landholding now their adult children have well and truly flown the Camberwell coup.
David Crawford lived at Fairholme for three decades before selling it for about $13 million. Lisa Maree Williams
Mr Crawford, who had served on the Lendlease board since 2001, is one of the few Australian directors to have two chairmanships of ASX-listed companies, following his chairmanship of BHP Billiton spinoff South32 between 2015 and 2019. He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 2009 Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Meanwhile, the record-setting buyers are understood to be an upsizing family from nearby Armadale whose young children are set to enjoy the sprawling gardens, which the Crawfords would occasionally open to the public.
The mansion retains many of its period interior features.
The three-level, five-bedroom Georgian-style mansion was originally designed by architects Thomas Crouch and Ralph Wilson – the firm behind MLC’s historic Tiddeman House and Prahran Town Hall.
Featuring four-metre-high ceilings, the grand home was completed in 1874 for an Irish migrant and warehousing boss, James Copeland. Now, three-lift-connected levels retain many of the period features including stained-glass windows, marble fireplaces and a grand staircase.
Other features include a bluestone basement – once used as a boxing ring, and now converted into a wine cellar – and a chef’s kitchen with butler’s pantry, along with sprawling gardens complete with a gas-heated swimming pool and an original 19th-century hothouse, now converted into an artist’s studio.