Andy Lee’s epic $13 million home build stretches onto the Yarra

October 27, 2026 — 5:00am

Celebrity pub owner Andy Lee must be wondering when the multi-million dollar restoration and reimagination of the derelict Hawthorn mansion he and his new bride, Rebecca Harding, dropped a bundle on in 2021 will be completed.

The big build on the couple’s dream home, which Lee and Harding bought for $8.5 million before embarking, in 2024, on a $5 million-plus renovation of the original building and construction of a second, modern wing,  continues at pace with work now moving onto the Yarra River.

A barge moved into place at the property’s river frontage early last week to enable landscaping to be safely undertaken on the steep embankment that leads from the waterway to the massive construction project.

This latest stage in the epic undertaking to revive Ravenswood, the name of the historic 150-year-old home, came to CBD’s attention when the property was listed in a recent Parks Victoria waterways notice.

The notice detailed a barge would be moored on the river from October 19 to December 15 so the landscaping works could take place.

We are happy to report the private works are not causing any disruption to the marine traffic in the area.

CBD reached out to Lee and Harding to find out how the dream home build was going, but the newlyweds were still in the US following their picture-perfect nuptials in New York earlier this month, where guests included old mates such as Hugh Jackman, Hamish Blake, Lauren Phillips, Nikki Glaser, Lucy Nettlefold, Elliot Garnaut and Michelle Battersby.

Lee– a radio and TV host, children’s book author, animation studio founder and New York pub owner – and Harding’s not-so-humble home-reno project has been the subject of great curiosity since the pair were revealed as the purchasers of the unique property.

The home even has its own fans with its Instagram account boasting more than 221,000 glued-on followers.

In December 2024, CBD reported Ravenswood’s neighbours were pretty sick of the “horrendous” noise created over 26 weeks, during which significant excavation and drilling work took place on the creation of a tunnel to connect the heritage house to its new modern wing.

Harding and Lee distributed a gourmet hamper to neighbours at the time in an attempt to keep the peace.

The dates on the waterways notice suggest work, at least on the river-facing garden, will continue until December.

The home, when it eventually is finished, will be one of Melbourne’s trophy properties with luxury accoutrements including a private bedroom for their pampered Welsh Terrier, Henri, and a man cave for Lee with a custom golf simulator.

We imagine a jetty will one day be added, but we hear, at this stage at least, that has not been included in the plans.

Gai Waterhouse on catnaps, Carroll and a ‘quick tart up’

Legendary racehorse trainer Gai Waterhouse has backed Premier Ben Carroll should he want to catnap in his office.

Waterhouse, a long-time proponent of a quick 15-minute power nap – which is fair enough given her day starts at 3am – said she didn’t see the problem if Carroll caught the occasional snappy 40 winks during daylight hours.

In fact, she drew on history to make her point, noting Carthaginian general Hannibal encouraged rest breaks for his troops when they were crossing the French/Italian Alps in 218BC.

“If it was good enough then, then it’s good enough now,” she quipped.

Reports over the weekend, apparently stemming from disgruntled staffers, claimed Carroll had on occasion had a kip in his parliament office.

The claims were shot down by the premier, who in a startling but refreshing example of ‘plain speaking’, told 3AW’s Tom Elliott the story was “a lot of crap”.

His plain speaking even extended to describing the notorious, now scrapped, Daniel Andrews’ statue as “a silly statue”.

“I am getting up every morning and trying to squeeze two days into one,” Carroll declared.

Back to Waterhouse, there is no doubt she remains the queen of the sport of kings.

Having come straight from trackwork and her stables, a time-poor Waterhouse washed her hair in a sink in the Flemington grandstand before taking part in the launch of the Melbourne Cup Carnival on Monday morning.

“I had to. I did not want to appear and terrify everyone,” she told CBD.

“We had been to the track this morning, and, you know, it was a quick tart up. This is the time of year when there’s no time to muck around.”

We couldn’t agree with you more, Gai.

Has King Charles pulled the wrong rein?

Keen racing enthusiast King Charles III might have pulled the wrong rein when he sold his promising stayer Point of Law to the stable of top Melbourne trainer Ciaron Maher just a matter of months ago.

Maher asked the King if he fancied keeping a share in the horse when the purchase took place in August this year.

“It was a bit cheeky,” Maher said while recounting briefly the conversation with the top royal on Monday.

The King ultimately declined the opportunity – imagine finding yourself in an ownership group with the King of England.

But, it might be a decision the King ends up regretting with Point of Law currently favourite for the $10 million race at Flemington on November 3 after winning last week’s Geelong Cup.

It was a race Maher was keen to collect with the horse given the King had been a boarder at Geelong Grammar in 1966.

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