Wayne Residence Is a Heritage Mansion With a Very Glamorous Secret: A Batcave Garage

And wowing is exactly what his private garage was designed for, though you might have a hard time spotting it at first glance.

This is Wayne Residence, a 1928 heritage mansion located in Melbourne, Australia, remodeled in 2014 by architecture firm Molecule Studio as a private commission. As such, details and photos of the property are scarce, down to the identity owner.

Reports online say that Dennis Bastas, one of the country's richest men with an estimated fortune of $1.3 billion, bought the place in 2012 for $17 million and then spent about the same amount on renovations. The mansion is valued at $32-34 million, though there's no official data to confirm these figures. There won't be any confirmation unless the property re-lists on the market.

What we know for sure is that whoever owns it commissioned Molecule to bring it up to date with more modern features, but in a way that wouldn't affect the history and the aesthetics of the place. That's a difficult and seemingly impossible task, but the studio aced it by inserting a subversive element in the form of a hidden garage.

Put differently, Molecule countered the very "well-mannered," classic styling of the manor with a sleek, comics-inspired underground garage and very modern amenities. In the process, they created one of the world's most famous Batman-inspired homes. They called the project Wayne Residence, which is the number-one giveaway that the overwhelming, very uptight exterior hides a most surprising secret.

And it starts with the entrance to the garage. We've seen hidden garages and hydraulic car lifts and custom auto galleries before, each with its very own "something special," but this one still stands out. It's not just because of the Batman inspiration, either, but also its execution and the contrasting aesthetics of the two parts of the property: the mansion itself and its well-kept secret underneath.

Because the owner had asked for a place to store at least 12 cars from his private collection, and Molecule didn't want to disturb the beauty of the house and its grounds, they decided to put the garage under the tennis court. The entrance is also hidden under the tennis court and comes up on hydraulics at the press of a button.

Getting from street level to the garage takes less than two minutes: one minute to lift the hidden door and another one to lower it.

A concealed ramp leads down to the garage, a cavernous space 6 meters (20 feet) under the property, styled to resemble the Batcave in Chris Nolan's Dark Knight movies. If you ever want to style your home or any other livable space after a comic book superhero, Batman is always a safe choice without falling into ridicule.

This garage is a perfect example. With black marble floors, custom lighting, and a white ceiling, it's the closest thing to feeling like the Caped Crusader after living in Gotham City, and it doubles as a unique showroom. It doesn't have a Batmobile, it's true, but a Maserati Gran Turismo, a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, and an Aston Martin DBS are striving to make up for it.

Further adding to the Batcave vibes is Batman-inspired art on the all-black walls. Batman himself would probably be impressed, if fighting crime didn't take up so much of his time.

A staircase leads up from the garage into the heart of the mansion, arriving first at a 12-person private cinema, which is also underground. You can continue living the Batman fantasy, if you want, before stepping into the actual manor.

As noted above, Wayne Residence is a private property, and details about the interior were never made public. Molecule says that the total living footprint is 1,500 square meters (16,146 square feet) and offers a few photos that probably barely do justice to the luxurious interior. Highlights include his and hers walk-in wardrobes styled in all-black and all-white, respectively, next to more classic-looking common living areas with custom finishes.

The property constantly hovers between past and present, according to the architecture firm, and that was done on purpose. The "highly contrasted world of new and old" are linked through various surprise, disruptive elements, including the showroom-grade garage that would make any budding car collector (or Batman fan) proud.

Since we don’t have access to the underground garage in Wayne Residence for a more detailed look than what we're getting in the handful of official photos in the gallery, here's the Batcave in the fictional Wayne Manor Estate that inspired it.