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THE PORTER family, the quiet achievers behind the pie-making powerhouse Yatala Pies, have just purchased 55 Beresford Terrace, Coorparoo to be closer to their eight grandchildren who all live in the southside suburb.
Graham and Christine Porter say they want the grandkids to run down from nearby Sirius Street to Beresford Terrace each afternoon for swims and plays at their new home, the stunning Casa Villa, a landmark estate on a large 2165sqm corner block in Coorparoo.
The owners of 55 Beresford Terrace, Coorparoo of 16 years, Stevan and Cettina Bogdanovic, sold their home for an undisclosed amount prior to its auction before moving into their newly built home on Oxlade Drive at New Farm.
Ray White New Farm sales duo George Petavrakis and Hamish Bowman who marketed Casa Villa, have been appointed to sell the Porter’s family home at 27 Hampstead Road, Highgate Hill which has been in their family for 20 years.
Mrs Porter said their daughter Heather first spotted Casa Villa was for sale and called her parents to go and inspect it. “We hadn’t been looking at all but we did want to move back to Coorparoo. Graham loved the house instantly. He fell in love and said it was magnificent at the first inspection. So we are heading home, and it feels great, as we always lived on the southside,” Mrs Porter said.
“It’s a landmark house and we are moving from one spacious house to the next. We seem to have missed the downsizing stage,” said Mrs Porter with a chuckle.
Their heritage-listed home called Wairuna at 27 Hampstead Terrace, Highgate Hill was constructed as the residence of James Allan between 1896 and 1900, to the design of fine Brisbane architect Robin Dods. James Allan was the co-founder of the drapery and outfitting firm, Allan and Stark who had outlets in South Brisbane and Queen Street. Allan and Stark were operating from the mid 1880s and remained in business as a major Queensland department store until they were taken over by Myer in the later half of the 20th century.
“In fact our former business partner in the plastics industry said he was looking to look at a house in Highgate Hill and we went along with him. I immediately said ‘this isn’t a house this is a home’ and we ended up buying it at a Ray White auction as he wasn’t interested. It really has got a lot of history and it’s been a wonderful home, full of ambience,” Mrs Porter said.
Yatala Pies is the much loved iconic pie shop on the highway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. The Porters famously tested every pie in south-east Queensland to come up with a formula for today’s winning taste and switched to a puffed pastry top instead of the old hard crust when they bought the business 34 years ago. These days their daughters Susan and Heather run the business day to day, while their son David handles property maintenance and construction.
Mrs Porter called Ray White New Farm agent George Petavrakis a friend.
“We love George. We have bought through him before and he’s a very smart young man, so relaxed and no pressure, he’s a friend.”
Mr Petavrakis said a total of 85 groups inspected Casa Villa during its 38 days on the market. “We had between up to 15 people through every open home and they were all genuine, good quality buyers. The market is very active right now.”
