The boys are back in town
By Stephen Lacey | domain.com.au | 12 July
Back in the 1950s and '60s, smart single gentlemen wore smoking jackets, had a decent short back and sides and listened to Tony Bennett and Henri Mancini on the stereo. Their abodes - or bachelor pads - as they were dubbed, were "swelegant" places to enjoy caviar on toast and drink vodka martinis.
Except for a few tweaks to the decor - such as the proliferation of chrome and black leather furniture in the '80s - the fundamentals of the bachelor pad remain the same. It has always been a place to entertain young ladies and be a showcase of cutting-edge technology.
As early as the mid-'60s, Peter Sellers's bachelor pad in London was fitted out with electric bathroom taps and remote-controlled curtains. And when race car driver Stirling Moss went to the loo in his 1962 Mayfair "man-pad", he sat on a gloriously heated dunny seat. He also traversed the apartment's six floors via a carbon-fibre elevator made by the Williams race team.
Now the bachelor pad is back as developers begin to recognise the growing number of single blokes looking for a man-zone to call home.
Census data show that there is an oversupply of single men in Australia among people aged between 15 and 33 (1,565,000 single men to be exact). In this age bracket there are 105 single young men for every 100 single young women (though, especially in Sydney, not all men are chasing women of course).
"There's now a serious market for bachelor-type pads," says property agent John McGrath. "And not just for bachelors but also for single career females or bachelorettes. Ten years ago you'd put a few token one-bedders into a project almost because you thought you had to as a developer. Nowadays they're generally the first things to sell and they often sell for the highest price per square metre of the whole building."
McGrath, a bachelor, once bought a three-bedroom apartment in Rockwall Crescent, Potts Point, for more than $1million. He converted it to a one-bedroom apartment, turning the second bedroom into a walk-in dressing room-cum-study.
The third bedroom became a media room with a home cinema. "The configuration gave me a lot more living space because I didn't need three bedrooms," McGrath says. The apartment, which he had professionally decorated, had a fairly masculine aesthetic, he says, partly due to the extensive use of walnut timber throughout.
"But no James Bond stuff. I'm a man of fairly simple tastes. And no black leather furniture either - I'm not a black leather sort of guy."
How about mood lighting to tempt the ladies? "Not in my place, no," he says, laughing.
A bar with orange vinyl facade and a copper toreador on the front? "No. I'm not a drinker [more laughs]. The apartment was really nice!"
Teetotalling McGrath spent a lot of his time in the media room watching rugby league, especially his favourite teams: the Roosters and Rabbitohs. "I'm a friend of Russell Crowe," he says.
McGrath sold the 16th floor apartment in 2003 for $2.2million - setting a record for one-bedroom units - and moved to even swankier digs at Walsh Bay. However, he still has fond memories of his days at Potts Point. "The area is a great spot for bachelors. There are hundreds of restaurants within a few blocks and you can walk to the CBD. It's not only apartments but specific locations which suit the bachelor lifestyle as well and Potts Point is a great example of that."
Where to find them
If you want bachelors, you might want to check out Pyrmont. A 2001 study found Pyrmont had Sydney's highest ratio of single men to women. Which might explain why Pyrmont's Sydney Wharf, due for completion this month, has sold about six apartments to prominent Sydney bachelors. "It's certainly a sexy location for bachelors," says John-Paul Markopoulos of Colliers, the agent for Sydney Wharf. "We had bachelors snapping up the large one-bedders (115 square metres) for $1million to $1.4million."
Rudy Sisic, who works in the construction industry, opted for something a tad larger, paying $6million for the bare shell of a 300-square-metre apartment on the end of Sydney Wharf. The 48-year-old bachelor bought the property off the plan in 2005 and intends spending more than $2million turning it into the ultimate bachelor bolthole. "I have lots of boy's toys," he admits.
Thankfully, the apartment comes with a three-car garage. Sisic will need it to park his Aston Martin DB9, Porsche Cayenne and Ferrari Spider.
And the apartment itself? "It won't have black walls or anything like that," he says, "but everything will be electronic, with a smart home system to control the entertainment systems, heating and blinds. And of course there'll be mood lighting." To attract women? "That's what it's all for," he says, laughing.
Bachelor pads are becoming so popular that there are websites devoted to the subject. You can listen to the likes of Wayne Newton and Dean Martin on the Bachelor Pad Radio Show (www.javasbachelorpad.com) and get bachelor pad design tips at www.bachpads.com.
First published by Domain.com.au on July 12 2008
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