Luxury Sydney mansion with a grisly past and home to film stars such as Rose Byrne sells for over $15 million

Luxury Sydney mansion with a grisly past and home to film stars such as Rose Byrne sells for over $15 million

The luxury Sydney mansion which was the scene of a grisly unsolved murder of a wealthy doctor, whose sister was also brutally murdered, has sold for ‘well over’ $15m.

The palatial white home – ‘a piece of Hollywood in Woollahra’ with swimming pool, sumptuous terrace and lush, manicured gardens – was the site of Dr Michael Chye’s execution-style murder more than 30 years ago.

Known as Attunga Lodge and set on 1100sq m with exquisite park-like grounds, it became a house of horrors on the night of on the night of October 16, 1989 when Dr Chye’s body was found in a pool of blood and brain matter.

The doctor had steered his bronze Mercedes Benz into the house’s garage where a gunman lay in wait.

The shooter fired three times at close range, striking Dr Chye in his head and chest.

The 1868 property hidden away at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac was soon crawling with police who learnt Dr Chye was planning to sue Sydney restaurateur Mark Caleo over a failed $3.6m property deal.

Mark Caleo was the husband of Dr Chye’s sister Rita, who would meet her own violent death just 10 months later when she was stabbed 23 times. Actress Rose Byrne stayed last year while in Sydney at the property set on 1100sq m with exquisite park-like grounds, a swimming pool and five bedrooms Rita Caleo (left) was stabbed 23 times and bled to death a suburb away and 10 months after her brother Dr Michael Chye (right) was shot assassination-style by a lone gunman

Ms Caleo had left a mysterious handwritten note before her death, sealed in an envelope on which she wrote: ‘To be opened only if my death has been deemed unnatural’.

Dr Chye’s death house was originally called Dodington and had been rebuilt in 1939 by District Court judge Humfry Henchman and his wife, Nancy.

They lived there until the 1980s, with subsequent owners including Peter Weir, the legendary film director of Picnic At Hanging Rock, Dead Poet’s Society, Witness and The Truman Show.

Last year, actress Rose Byrne and her US actor husband Bobby Cannavale stayed in the five bedroom, four bathroom house which has a secluded dress circle position.

The home had been ‘reimagined’ by one of its owners, the property developer, Bill Shipton, who transformed it into an exquisite family estate of magnificent proportions and masterful architectural design.

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