Billionaire tech king unveils plans for his waterfront Sydney estate – after his best mate bought the $100M mansion next door so they could be neighbours
- Billionaire Scott Farquhar will reinstate his luxury Sydney home as a single estate
- The Atlassian co-founder bought the Point Piper estate for $71million in 2017
- Estate is next door to a $100million property owned by his Atlassian co-founder
Billionaire Scott Farquhar has revealed plans to protect his historic Sydney mansion after buying the waterfront estate for $71million.
The co-founder of tech giant Atlassian snapped up the almost 7000-square-metre Point Piper estate in 2017.
The sprawling harbourside home, named Elaine, came with DA approval from Woollahra Council to subdivide it into four separate homes.
But Farquhar plans to lodge a fresh application to overturn those plans and ensure the property is preserved as one lot with a single family home.
This would protect the beautiful gardens, century-old trees and stables from an earlier planned subdivision involving two view-obstructing homes by the water.
‘I couldn’t let this beautiful piece of Australian history be turned into a development site,’ he told Domain.
Co-founder and co-CEO of Atlassian Scott Farquhar is pictured with his wife Kim
Farquhar will reinstate the luxurious Sydney home he bought for $71million in 2017 as a single estate (pictured)
The Elaine estate is next door to a 1.12-hectare property owned by Farquhar’s Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes.
Cannon-Brookes in 2018 bought the $100million property, named Fairwater, which was formally owned by Lady Mary Fairfax.
The purchase broke the record for Australia’s most expensive residential mansion, overtaking Farquhar’s $71million price tag by almost $30million.
Former chair of the Heritage Council of NSW and heritage architect Howard Tanner stressed the importance of Elaine estate’s open space.
‘The most important thing for heritage in this part of Woollahra is the continuum of open space with runs from the council chambers, through the foreshore gardens of this property and to Fairwater next door,’ he said.
‘It is the site and the gardens where the real heritage value lies and if there’s one thing that the council should be urgently assisting with, it is keeping this open space.’
John Brehmer Fairfax announced he would sell the Elaine estate in September 2013 and it hit the market in 2014.
The Elaine estate is next door to a 1.12-hectare property owned by Farquhar’s Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes
The duo, who founded software giant Atlassian in 2002, come in at fifth and sixth on Forbes’ list of Australia’s 50 richest people
It had been in the family since 1891, when Geoffrey Evan Fairfax bought it for £2100.
In 2015, the Woollahra Council approved plans for four new homes to be built on the estate.
The neighbouring properties owned by the two Atlassian CEO’s front New South Head Rd and back onto Sydney Harbour.
The duo, who founded software giant Atlassian in 2002, come in at fifth and sixth on Forbes’ list of Australia’s 50 richest people.
A birds eye view of Cannon-Brookes’ Point Piper property which is next door to the Elaine estate