Mayor’s ‘time capsule’ for sale

ACurrumbin home built by former Gold Coast mayor Robert Neumann and held by his prominent family for three generations has hit the market for the first time.

Built in the early 1970s, the eclectic property at 17 James St was home to the late Mr Neumann, his wife, Jeannine, and their four children.

Ownership was transferred to the couple’s daughter, Michelle, and her two sons, Spencer and Gene DeRiz, in 2016, with the one-of-a-kind home to be auctioned after Michelle lost her battle to cancer this year.

The five-bedroom, threebathroom home is being marketed by Justin Hayes, of Amir Prestige, and goes under the hammer on January 24.

Occupying an elevated 827sq m block, the hillside house has wide windows from its spacious upper and lower-level lounges which capture sweeping Pacific Ocean views.

There’s an antique bar complete with mood lighting, a cellar, two balconies, and a paved entertaining courtyard.

Spencer said the home had hosted countless milestone celebrations over the years, and its retro decor had been retained in honour of the family’s legacy as pioneers of the southern Coast.

The Neumann Group of mining and construction companies built kilometres of the city’s canal network, supplied steel for the Q1, developed five housing and industrial estates and quarried gravel for the M1.

Robert served as mayor from 1973 to 1976.

Michelle took over running the family’s steel company, Neumann International, in 1996.

“My grandmother was actually an antiques dealer and once she passed away, there were a few artefacts that were distributed throughout the family and whatever was left remained in the house,” Spencer said.

“We liked that it was still in an original condition because we felt like it was a bit of a time capsule to have it like that for us as a family.”