Member -
John (Vic)
Sorry mate, tomorrow it will be no more - you should never have left WA
Prix D'Amour to face bulldozers
March 24, 2006
IT has been one of
Perth's most ostentatious homes, but tomorrow Prix D'Amour will be no more.
The Gone With The Wind-style mansion built by late mining magnate Lang Hancock for
young wife Rose will be flattened by bulldozers brought in by her fourth husband.
Love it or hate it, the opulent, white pillared, Prix D'Amour has become a landmark in
Perth, with tour buses regularly stopping outside the
home of the socialite now known as Rose Porteous.
But now the lavish
home in Mosman Park, overlooking the Swan Rover, will be levelled at 8am (WST) tomorrow, to be subdivided into 10 blocks worth about $3.7 million each.
Lang Hancock built Prix D'Amour in 1990, at a cost of $7 million, to gratify one of his wife's whims.
He died two years later in the mansion's guesthouse, and 150 days later, the then Rose Hancock married his long-time friend, real estate agent Willie Porteous, who is selling the land overlooking the Swan River.
Mr Porteous says his wife is upset about bulldozers moving in on the house she helped design.
But, he also said, she had been busy designing a "very interesting" new house to be built on three of the 10 blocks.
"It should be ready in about 18 months, to two years," Mr Porteous said.
"It's a very interesting house that she has designed."
The couple's new
Perth abode did not have a name, Mr Porteous said.
"But I'm sure, knowing her, that there will be one.
"I told her I would call it mini-Amour."
Set on 8117sq m, Prix D'Amour has three street frontages, six bedrooms, five bathrooms, four living rooms, two kitchens, an eight-car garage and a multitude of fireplaces.
The land also holds the guesthouse where Mr Hancock died.
His death prompted a decade of speculation by many, including the tycoon's daughter Gina Rinehart, that Ms Porteous might have killed her late husband.
The WA coroner finally cleared Ms Porteous – 10 years after the 82-year-old mining magnate died on March 27, 1992.
In recent times, Mrs Porteous has been involved in several more court battles, with lawyers Slater and
Gordon claiming and eventually receiving $13 million to clear debts.
She is still facing charges she fraudulently altered a prescription for the painkiller Hypnovel last June.
Illness prevented her from attending trial in January and another court appearance this week.
But it did not stop her attending a charity shoe auction in
Sydney a few weeks ago, where she reportedly said: "I wear out my shoes like I wear out my men".
The
Perth Magistrate's Court has ordered her lawyer to present medical evidence supporting her claim to have been suffering a suspected stroke or other illnesses severe enough to keep her out of court.
Prix D'Amour has a website with a direct link to its view from space, and, along with its owner, is mentioned in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.