According to police, a ferocious fire that destroyed a $24 million heritage-listed property is being investigated.
Just after 11 p.m. on Saturday, a fire started at the mansion at 62 Cliff Road in Northwood, on Sydney’s lower north shore.
On Monday, detectives from the North Shore Area Command and the arson unit of the Financial Crimes Squad were in the region, chatting with locals and attempting to determine what had occurred.
Mary Rossi, a pioneer in the travel industry, her husband Theo, and their ten children once lived in the 1915-built house with a tennis court, a boat house, and a separate cellar.
When Mrs Rossi died, her family were reluctant to sell it, but eventually it was sold to their nextdoor neighbours – fund manager ‘Owen’ Ouyang Chen and his wife Xiao Hong Li.
Pictured: The charred remains of 62 Cliff Rd in Northwood, in Sydney’s lower North Shore
Firefighters raced to the burning home (pictured) at about 11pm on Saturday night
The home was built in 1915 and sold last year for $24 million (as shown in the before-fire picture).
The Daily Mail Australia is not implying that Mr. Chen was involved in the fire at his home.
Three months prior to the house being sold, in August, Mr. Chen submitted a development application to Lane Cove Council asking for permission to demolish his home and erect a $5 million, four-story mansion with a swimming pool in its place.
The application was turned down in October due to a number of factors, including the enormous scale of the construction and “an intolerable impact on the heritage” property next door.
Mr Chen was seen outside his house on Monday morning, and then leaving to speak with police about the fire.
Pictured: An artist’s impression of Mr Chen’s proposal, next door to the heritage-listed 62 Cliff Rd (left)
Pictured is Mr. Chen’s home in Northwood, located at 60 Cliff Road. He submitted a request to demolish and rebuild it.
Before the Rossi family sold Mr. Chen the heritage home, neighbors claimed that the Rossi family’s own members, along with a number of other close neighbors, had protested Mr. Chen’s development plans to tear down the house next door.
Mr. Chen stated in the development application that he intended to construct a larger residence for his children and other family members.
After it was turned down, he submitted a revised request in July of this year, which was likewise turned down by neighbors.
The massive fire, which started on Saturday night, destroyed the house despite the best efforts of two trucks and 50 firefighters.
Mrs Rossi, a TV pioneer and travel business owner, lived there until she passed away at the age of 95 in 2021 having raised her kids in the house with Theo, who died in 2010.
Police scoured the area on Monday, speaking with neighbours and trying to get an idea of what happened
According to neighbors, the Rossi family had a problem with Mr. Chen’s development idea.
‘It’s odd seeing it written up in the media as a mansion,’ said 55-year-old communications expert Emma Rossi, who was the eighth child born into the family.
“We never considered it to be a mansion; it was simply a house.”
When you entered the house through the front entrance, you immediately felt a sense of love. It was obvious.
“An era is coming to an end.” That much is certain.
Mary lived in the house until the end of her life and Emma said she was kept up with modern TV viewing to entertain her 40-odd grandchildren.
‘All the grandkids, including my own, used to love going up and spending the night with her and eating Maltesers and watching Game of Thrones,’ Emma told Daily Mail Australia.
Emma Rossi, second from the right, is pictured with other family members at their recently burned-down Northwood house.
As the selling deal was being finalized in December, the last significant family gathering took place there.
Emma said, “We had a really long table along that lovely verandah and all the family were there.”
There were around 100 individuals present, and we were all required to stand up and speak briefly.
It was simply hilarious and a ton of fun. Particularly considering that we have lost the house, it was a really appropriate farewell.