$33m sale of Point Piper mansion is Sydney's third highest price ever Harbourside splurge: Elton John (bottom right) once had his eye on the Bang and Olufsen house at Point Piper, which Bruce McWilliam (top right) has sold for $33 million. Photo: Tim Mooney (main photo), Mal Fairclough, Andrew Quilty The third highest house price ever recorded in Sydney has been notched up with the sale of a Point Piper waterfront residence for more than $33 million. Known as the "Bang and Olufsen house" due to its distinctive tinted glass design reminiscent of a hi-fi sound system when viewed from the water, the vast residence is a landmark on the harbour foreshore. The iconic modern mansion is the home of Bruce McWilliam, commercial director of the Seven Network, and his wife Nicky, who bought it for $24 million in 2006 - the highest sale that year. The property sold late last week in a bullish off-market deal through Ballard Property's Bill Bridges, who would not comment on details surrounding the sale due to strict confidentiality agreements. However, Mr Bridges confirmed the deal had taken months to negotiate. "This is excellent news for the prestige market, for it underpins the value of premier harbourfront properties, and we expect more top-end sales to follow," said Christie's agent Ken Jacobs, who specialises in the sale of luxury homes. Private from the street, the Bang and Olufsen house stands at the end of Wolseley Crescent, a small and exclusive cul-de-sac off Wolseley Road. Designed by the Bell Partnership in conjunction with John Blake of Western Australia, it has distinctive black floor-to-ceiling windows and a flat roof. Spanning three levels, the residence was constructed over a 30-month period during the 1980s by Brian Johnson of Pennant Properties who demolished Lyn-Dale, a house which previously stood on the site. Johnson bought Lyn-Dale from retired bookmaker Terry Page for $3.82 million in 1986. The nickname Bang and Olufsen house was coined during the late 1980s after rock legend entertainer Elton John, and his publicist, Patti Mostyn, spotted it while cruising on the harbour. John was so taken with the house that he expressed an interest in buying it, even though it was not on the market. After inspecting the house through Laing+Simmons Double Bay's Bart Doff, John made an offer of about $11 million to buy it, but the deal did not proceed after he changed his mind about owning a property in Sydney. In 1990, Johnson sold the property for $11.25 million to the Taechaubol family who sold it to McWilliam. The highest recorded house price in Sydney was for Coolong, the 4100-square-metre waterfront property at Coolong Road, Vaucluse, which the late David Coe sold for $45 million in 2008 to expat currency trader Ivan Ritossa and his wife Marina. The second highest recorded price is $44 million for Villa Veneto, a waterfront mansion in Wolseley Road, Point Piper sold in 2010 by Andrea Banks, the wife of head hunter Andrew Banks, to the Penn family.