Crypto billionaire Edward Craven to build Australia’s most expensive home in Toorak, Melbourne

Australia’s youngest billionaire has revealed his $145 million plans to turn a ‘haunted house’ into a sleek multi-storey home.

Crypto gambling billionaire Edward Craven, 28, bought the Toorak estate, in Melbourne’s east, less than two years ago for $80 million.

The currently vacant plot is located on the prestigious St Georges Road in the suburb’s special ‘billionaires enclave’.

The purchase of the property broke Victoria’s previous house price record of $52.5 million, but Craven’s planned rebuild will make the house the most expensive in Australia.

Craven is one of Australia’s richest people and his new Toorak mansion will cost many times more than Leon Kamenev’s renovation of four waterfront sites in Sydney’s Vaucluse into one mansion, completed last year.

Designed by renowned Melbourne architect Paul Conrad, Craven’s home boasts a stunning 8,000 sq ft of internal space, The Australian reports.

Conrad’s inspiration for the house came from a previous client he had in the Hamptons of upstate New York.

Work on the Craven site began in early February following the demolition of the previous half-built French Renaissance-style mansion that once filled the site.

The now-destroyed building played host to more than 400 influencers and young entrepreneurs at Craven’s Stake.com business partner Bijan Tehrani’s Halloween party in 2022.

The abandoned house earned its nickname “haunted house” after being vacant for 32 years.

Previously owned by late Hoyts Entertainment owner Leon Fink, who died in 1993, it was sold in 1991 for $5 million to David Yu, CEO of property developer Ausvest.

Yu left the property untouched for almost three decades after his 1992 proposal to divide the land into nine plots was rejected by local authorities.

He decided to put the mansion on the market 28 years later in early 2020, but reportedly turned down several offers before selling to Craven.

Demolition work on the Toorak site began in November, with Craven’s wealthy neighbors watching as a wrecking ball smashed its way through the mansion’s red-brick exterior walls.

Excavation is also underway for a large underground space, overseen by Melbourne construction company Davies Henderson.

Planning permission previously granted for the site in 2001 allows Craven to build a house up to four storeys high, but the current plan is only two storeys high.

The country house will have a symmetrical facade that gives a feeling of ‘harmony and balance’ from the street and tranquility from the backyard.

A large, window-filled front opens into spacious ground floor living areas that flow through to the rear of the home with a large in-ground pool and outdoor entertainment area.

However, Conrad is confident that the house will not be a ‘big house for the sake of a big house’.

Instead of size, the architect will focus on creating high-quality living spaces.

The new home is estimated to take three years to complete, meaning Craven will be 31 when he finally moves in.

However, he will be more than comfortable in his other Toorak mansion while he waits for the project to be completed.

In March 2022, the 28-year-old tycoon paid $38 million for a two-storey home on Orrong Road on almost 2,000 sq m of land with a swimming pool, reflecting pond and a light installation by Articolo Studios.

The property was rebuilt by Melbourne property developer Will Deague and also designed by Conrad.

Craven made his fortune by founding his cryptocurrency casino and sportsbook company Stake.com with Tehrani in 2017.

Because Stake.com is an online gambling platform, it is prohibited from operating in Australia.

Nevertheless, the company has made huge profits from hundreds of thousands of gamblers worldwide and has become one of the largest gambling entities in the world.