Grand new designs have been revealed for what promises to be Australia’s most expensive waterfront home – but not everyone is impressed with the radical plans.
New York-based Australian advertising guru David Droga, 54, and his wife Marisa spent a record $45 million early last year on the 11,000-square-foot 1990s brick home. 1920s overlooking Tamarama Beach in Sydney’s east.
The former bungalow, known as Lang Syne, has since been demolished to make way for the construction of a holiday home for the new owners.
Luigi Rosselli Architects this week Images shared of the stunning new home. to be built on the site, which will feature “cocoon” structures made from repurposed sandstone, brick and slate.
Plans have been revealed for the house to replace Lang Syne (pictured) which overlooked Sydney’s Tamarama Beach before it was demolished.
“The main brief that David and Marisa provided was simple: design a family home worthy of such a special and impressive location,” the architect’s website reads.
“Something beautiful and organic, existing in harmony with its natural environment and its occupants.”
“The goal is to preserve the organic beauty of the site, with its wind-carved rocks, through an organic plan with a counterpoint play of eroded horizontal slabs and cocoon-shaped vertical breaks.”
The eye-catching design called Tamarama Headland Sea Change is expected to be Australia’s first $100 million home on the coast.
But not everyone on the street is happy with the plans.
One neighbor called the proposed structures “horrible.”
“A plague on the landscape,” they said news.com.au.
‘Monstrosity. What the fuck?
Plans will be submitted to Waverley Council for what has been hailed as a “wonderful and impressive” new residence.
The previous four-bedroom, two-bathroom home was occupied for 64 years by Dimity Griffiths with her 1940s and 1950s comedian and radio star, Harry, along with their four children.
The couple paid £9,750 for the property, about $18,000 today without adjusting for inflation.
The former house known as Lang Syne has since been demolished to make way for a holiday home (artist’s impression pictured) to be built for the new owners.
Australian advertising guru David Droga, 54, acquired ownership of Lang Syne last year for a whopping $45 million.
Lang Syne was on the market for seven months before Droga made what he later described as a “wonderfully irresponsible” purchase early last year.
“I always thought it was the best ground in Sydney,” he told AdNews in October.
“When it came out, the stars were aligned and it seemed wonderfully irresponsible to me.”
Top local agent Simon Exleton told The Wentworth Courier this week that once the house is completed in 2026, “it will be the first $100 million home on the coast”.
Pillinger’s agent also predicted this would mean Tamarama “rises to the top as Sydney’s most desirable beachside real estate.”
The Drogas currently live in Manhattan, where they have raised four children.
The new residence called Tamarama Headland Sea Change will be the most expensive seafront property in Australia.
Droga has become a billionaire thanks to his stratospherically successful advertising business, Droga5, which he founded in Australia in 2006 and sold in 2019 for $650 million.
Accenture bought the company and Droga became CEO of the global IT and consulting giant.
Throughout his more than 30-year career rising to the top of advertising, Droga, who likes to call himself the “Dingo of Wall Street,” has worked with the likes of former U.S. President Barack Obama, Beyoncé and the United Nations.
He grew up in Perisher Valley in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales before moving to Sydney, then Singapore and London.
He landed in New York in 2003 to run a billion-dollar advertising agency.
The new home overlooking Tamarama Beach is expected to be completed in 2026.