Heath's Home Is Away
By ADAM HARVEY
February 13, 2006



THE $4.7 million New York house Australian actor Heath Ledger will call home as he flees Sydney's Bronte in search of more privacy is in a once-gritty Brooklyn neighbourhood, has four floors, a three-car garage, a ground-floor tenant and a solid Australian connection.

The actor and his fiancee Michelle Williams bought their 150-year-old house in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, from Sydney-born writer and actress Nell Campbell.

The 1860s house was completely renovated by Campbell's former partner Eamon Roche before it was sold to Ledger last year for $4.7 million ($US3.5 million). Ledger and Williams had been renting a smaller home just a few blocks away.

Over the past year the Brokeback Mountain actors have become a familiar sight in Boerum Hill.

Locals say they often see Ledger on his skateboard or walking to local cafes and restaurants with Williams and their baby daughter Matilda.

"Michelle has come in here," said Caroline Hill, a waitress at the Boerum Hill food company. "She's quiet and always very nice."

Ledger 's Bronte beach house is up for sale. "You don't want to go with your wife and kids down to the beach and swim when there are 10 people photographing you," he said.

And while Ledger and Williams are regularly photographed in Brooklyn they have not so far had any public run-ins with US paparazzi.

The softer atmosphere in Boerum Hill seems to sit well with Ledger, who is already making a good impression with his new neighbours.

"He's very nice and they're very sweet people," said his neighbour Margaret Cusack. "We got to go to the premiere of Brokeback Mountain – he gave us tickets," she said.

Ledger's corner brownstone is on a fairly quiet street. It has high ceilings, thick walls, a backyard garden, a deck on top of the garage and two entrances.

Boerum Hill's character changes about 200m from Ledger's house, where expensive brownstones give way to public housing projects, grafittied walls and derelict buildings.

It's a reminder of how quickly Brooklyn changed, Ms Cusack said. Boerum Hill real estate only became valuable in the past few years.

"In 1973, when we moved in, my father thought this was the most foolish place in the world to move to. It was pretty rough – there was more of a drug problem in New York then."



Article edited by HH Administration for relevance & security purposes.

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Sydney Herald Tribune