House of luck going for $12.5 mil

/ The Edge Property |

June 24, 2015 9:00 AM SGT

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SINGAPORE: Soon after moving into their new home on Merryn Road early last year, the Wongs became convinced that the house brought good fortune to its occupants. Their two children were successful in their enrolment in the most prestigious primary school in Singapore. Mr Wong, a banker, was presented with an incredible offer overseas, thus the family moved to San Francisco before the year ended.

The good fortune even extended to their koi fish, which spawned many babies within months after moving into their new pond. “I think even my koi fish are feeling really happy and comfortable in the new pond since they gave birth to so many baby koi,” says Mrs Wong in an email. The fish pond maintenance man had claimed it was an unusual phenomenon: In his 20 years in the business, he has not seen koi fish breed so soon after relocating to a new environment.

The Wongs purchased the house within a week of chancing upon it in 2011. A main attribute of the house was the location in the exclusive bungalow neighbourhood of Trevose, off Dunearn Road in District 11. The other was that it was a corner bungalow sitting on a regular shaped piece of land with a wide frontage, which Mrs Wong says “is something that’s hard to find”.

As the old house had too many ceiling beams and odd-shaped rooms, the Wongs decided to tear it down and rebuild a new home. That process took almost three years. It was not the first time they had built a new home. “But it’s the one where we have put in the most effort in terms of supervising the contractors, seeing through every detail including selecting and checking materials, [as well as] travelling to Milan to engage an Italian architect to put together the Italian furniture and fittings for the house,” says Mrs Wong.

Italian-made furnishing Like many Singaporeans, the Wongs love to travel, and it was during one of their trips to Milan that they became acquainted with an Italian architect. He flew to Singapore to take the measurements of the new house while it was being built in order to customise the furniture as well as the fittings. During the period of construction, the Wongs made frequent trips to Europe, and especially to Italy. Therefore, “almost 80%” of the furnishing in the home, including lighting, is considered “European”, says Mrs Wong.

For example, both the wet and dry kitchens are designed by Massimo Castagna for high-end Italian kitchen manufacturer Rossana Kitchen. Other top-end Italian designer brands that can be found in the Wongs’ house include Poltrona Frau, Minotti, Meridiani and MisuraEmme. To assemble the furniture and fittings, four carpenters were flown in from Italy.

The house was designed by Lab Architects, a niche firm in Singapore. The Wongs worked closely with the architect to design a house that was both comfortable and practical. For instance, they did not want a typical rectangular- shaped koi pond, so the architect cleverly designed a curvy pond that wraps around the living room.

They also wanted to create “an island” for their grand piano in the living room. The result is what looks like a floating stage for the grand piano, with water flowing out to the swimming pool at the side of the house. The mosaic tiles for the swimming pool and the water feature around the grand piano is of Mosavit “glow in the dark” mosaic tiles. “During the day, when the sun is shining down on the pool, the tiles will reflect a band of rainbow colours,” says Wong. “And at night, the pool will light up luminously.”

Chinese-inspired art and palette The house may contain predominantly handcrafted Italian furniture and fittings, but it has a distinctive Chinese feel, with red being a dominant colour. “Red is generally a lucky colour for many Chinese,” says Mrs Wong. “We are modern in a way, but we are also traditional in our Chinese beliefs as well.”

The living room has a feature wall with a motif of “gold coins”, and the Wongs have an extensive collection of Chinese paintings displayed throughout the house. Many of them are by Taiwanese artist Steve Lu, who was a student of the famous Chinese artist Zhang Daqian, who had 24 pieces of his work sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong for a total of HK$330 million two years ago.

“Many people are surprised when they ask me about the cost of the paintings, because for the same amount that we pay for Lu’s work, we could get paintings by well-known artists who have already passed on,” says Mrs Wong. “To us, price appreciation of the paintings is not our objective. We really appreciate his skill, talent and knowledge of Chinese culture. And some of his works were done more than 50 years ago, which cannot be reproduced.” In the dining room, there is a calligraphy piece that demonstrates the evolution of Chinese characters over time, and there are at least 56 styles.

Solution for heat and humidity As Mrs Wong “cannot stand the heat and humidity in Singapore”, the gazebo fronting the koi pond is air-conditioned and even the wet kitchen and en suite bathrooms of some of the bedrooms are air-conditioned. “It’s the heat that prompted me to have many water features in the house,” adds Mrs Wong.

The house sits on a freehold land area of 4,520 sq ft, with a built-up area of 7,800 sq ft. In the basement of the 2½-storey house is the wet kitchen and the breakfast area, which overlooks a water feature. It is also where the helper’s room and storage area is. The first level contains the living room, formal dining room and dry kitchen; the second level contains the master suite, two en suite bedrooms, as well as the library-cum-children’s study, which has a double-volume ceiling height. In the attic level is a guest suite, a home office, family area and roof terrace. The house comes with a lift as well.

Since the family has moved to San Francisco and is unlikely to return for several years, the Wongs have decided to put the property on the market for sale. “It’s a pity to leave the house vacant, and we need someone to look after the koi fish,” says Mrs Wong. Their helper is taking care of the house and fish in their absence.

Wong estimates that they spent about $4 million on rebuilding the house and furnishing it. Renting is therefore not an option, she says. “And we are only interested in selling to someone who will take care of the property.”

Nancy Tey, a director of Newsman Realty, who is marketing the house on Merryn Road, says the indicative price is $12.5 million ($2,765 psf).

“There are not many new bungalows available for sale from private owners in the Trevose area,” Tey says. “Private owners pay more attention to design detail and quality when building their own home to suit their requirements, and potential buyers appreciate that.”

While the property market may be soft, Mrs Wong believes the landed property segment in Singapore will remain resilient. “Our house is the only one of its kind on the market,” she remarks. “No two landed properties are alike. In my experience with Singapore landed properties, while prices may [fluctuate] in the short term, over the long term, the next high will always surpass the highs of previous property cycles.”

This article appeared in the City & Country of Issue 679 (June 1) of The Edge Singapore.

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