Palatial penthouse on Sydney’s north shore expected to break records
A landmark Mosman penthouse poised to set a new apartment record with its sweeping views, curated interiors and private wellness retreat.
2 min
A palatial penthouse on Sydney’s Lower North Shore – complete with its own wellness studio – is set to smash the apartment record north of the bridge if it achieves its $30 million asking price.
It’s just a touch over the current local benchmark of $28.25 million with the recently reported sale of a house-sized apartment at Kurraba Residences in the little-known suburb of Kurraba Point.
The impressive price tag for the Mosman penthouse comes down to the vast 570sq m footprint of the yet-to-be-built residence atop the $200 million Amara project on bustling Military Rd in Mosman.
Developer Dare Property Group has engaged DKO Architecture to create the 26-residence block, with penthouse interiors curated by award-winning designer, Fiona Lynch.
Danny Avidan, founder of Dare, said the Amara penthouse reflects the culmination of carefully cultivating design-led living philosophies that prioritise wellness and quality.
“The Penthouse at Amara is an exercise in quiet luxury – a home that feels deeply personal, contemporary and enduring,” he said.
“Our vision has always been to deliver residences that go beyond aesthetics, creating spaces that nurture well-being and longevity. The Amara penthouse sets itself apart as a singular whole floor residence, with never to be built out views.”
The decadent five-bedroom home on the seventh level of Amara has a panoramic backdrop that extends from Sydney Harbour through the Heads to the Pacific Ocean horizon.
Curated with handpicked finishes, there are Travertine and solid oak floors, polished plaster walls and ceilings, with bronze Pittella door hardware and custom joinery.
The sophisticated kitchen features Wolf cooking appliances, Sub-Zero refrigerators and Blum hardware, while the five bathrooms each have Rogerseller fixtures, smart toilets, and natural stone surfaces.
Expansive sliding doors allow the living spaces to flow through to large terraces that capture the iconic views, bespoke landscaping, natural light and ocean breezes.
A major drawcard of the glamorous penthouse is also its private wellness retreat, a rare apartment inclusion that features a sauna and a yoga or pilates studio. Additionally, there is a unique wine display wall and parking for five cars.
Beyond the grand penthouse, Amara offers 7 two-bedroom and 18 three-bedroom homes, along with resident-only luxuries such as a discreet concierge service for home maintenance, car detailing, personal chef experiences, and wellness treatments. Even the lobby makes a great first impression with an artwork by artist Ben Mazey.
In Mosman’s evolving high street precinct, Amara will be home to a 1600 sq m public wellness and retail hub, promising to be the first of its kind for the affluent Lower North Shore suburb.
“There has never been a lifestyle-focused high street address in Mosman quite like this before,” Avidan added.
The project is within walking distance of Mosman’s designer boutiques, popular eateries, clifftop trails, Headland Park, Sirius Cove and Balmoral Beach.
Construction is scheduled to commence next year, with completion anticipated by the end of 2027.
The Amara Mosman penthouse display suite, located at 555 Military Rd, Mosman, is now available for private appointment through The Agency and Colliers.
For Central Element, the start of work at Pearl represents another step in the company’s growing eastern suburbs pipeline.
All three vehicles will form part of a broader charitable initiative benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, the American Red Cross and Starlight Children’s Foundation
Jack Freeman believes the most compelling interiors are not decorated, but collected. The FREEMAN & CO founder creates layered, personal spaces shaped by art, travel and craftsmanship.
4 min
For Jack Freeman, a compelling interior should not look as though it was completed in a single shopping trip.
The founder and designer behind FREEMAN & CO prefers rooms that develop through art, travel, commissioned furniture and objects collected over time. It is an approach that treats the home less as a decorative project and more as an evolving portrait of its owner.
“I am a true believer in collecting versus decorating,” Freeman says.
That distinction underpins the international practice he has built across private residences, hotels, property developments, yachts and private aviation. Its projects stretch from Point Piper, Vaucluse, Circular Quay and Toorak to Mayfair, Bel Air and the Caribbean.
Although the locations and architecture vary considerably, the work is connected by a restrained design language. Natural stone, warm timbers and sculptural furniture establish the foundation, while art, bespoke lighting and individual objects give each interior its identity.
The objective is not to overwhelm a room with obvious symbols of expense. It is to create an environment that feels calm, layered and particular to the people living within it.
“The greatest luxury isn’t about excess,” Freeman says. “It’s about creating an oasis where you come home and feel immediately grounded — effortlessly chic and deeply personal.”
Collecting instead of decorating
Decorating can imply the completion of a room: selecting the required furniture, filling the available walls and producing a coherent finished image.
Collecting is less conclusive.
A collected interior has room to change as its owners travel, discover artists, inherit pieces or reassess how they use their home. Its character comes from the relationship between objects rather than adherence to a single brand or season.
That does not mean placing unrelated pieces together without discipline. The designer must understand scale, proportion, material and provenance well enough to create a dialogue between them.
A contemporary artwork might sit beside a historic piece of furniture. A precisely detailed new interior may be interrupted by an irregular object made by hand. Smooth stone can be balanced by timber, textiles or a patinated metal surface that becomes richer with age.
The tension between those elements is part of the appeal.
For Freeman, art is not an accessory to be added once the furniture plan is complete. It forms part of the architecture and atmosphere of the room from the beginning.
Lighting is considered in the same way. Beyond its practical purpose, a bespoke fitting can operate as a suspended sculpture, changing both the room’s composition and the way its materials are experienced after dark.
A design perspective shaped by travel
International travel plays a significant role in Freeman’s creative process.
Design fairs such as PAD Paris and Salone del Mobile in Milan provide opportunities to encounter emerging designers, established galleries, new materials and collectible furniture away from the filter of social media.
More spontaneous discoveries can prove equally important.
“Sometimes it’s the simple things,” Freeman says. “That piece found on a shopping trip with a client in Paris, stumbling across an artisan’s workshop, or a special memory that forms the narrative of the story.”
Objects selected during travel bring more than visual interest into a home. They carry an association with a place, maker or experience, giving the client a connection that cannot be reproduced by ordering an entire interior from a catalogue.
Freeman’s influences are international, but his projects are not conceived as replicas of Parisian, Milanese or Californian style. Each commission responds to its architecture, setting, natural light and the daily lives of its occupants.
A waterfront Sydney residence demands a different treatment from a Mayfair townhouse. A Caribbean estate shaped by brutalist architecture and reflecting pools calls for another response again.
The designer’s role is to absorb those references without allowing them to overwhelm the individual qualities of the property.
Designing the complete experience
FREEMAN & CO extends beyond conventional interior decoration.
The practice’s stated services include interior design and architecture, project management, property acquisition, development advice, concept design, documentation, furniture and lighting design, procurement and art curation.
That breadth allows the team to become involved before a room’s dimensions and finishes are fixed.
Early participation can be important at the top end of the residential market, where architecture, landscape, interiors, technology and art must operate as one environment. Decisions about ceiling heights, wall dimensions, sightlines and lighting can directly affect where art is installed or how custom furniture is proportioned.
The practice can then carry those decisions through to procurement and final installation, maintaining the design narrative as a project moves between architects, builders, specialist craftspeople, dealers and suppliers.
Its residential portfolio includes a South Coast retreat conceived as an escape from urban life, a Caribbean estate with reflecting pools, an East Coast-inspired Palm Beach residence and a Mayfair townhouse organised around an expressive drawing room.
The studio also says it has worked on highly tailored Sydney residences with values exceeding $100 million, although the private nature of such commissions means individual addresses and clients are not always disclosed.
A home that can keep changing
The risk in creating a perfectly resolved interior is that it can become too static — a composition that looks exceptional in photographs but leaves little room for life.
Freeman sees the home as something that should evolve with its owners.
“I love the evolution of design,” he says. “We are talking about people’s lives, and as they evolve, so too should their private sanctuaries.”
That evolution might involve adding art, reupholstering a significant piece, adapting rooms as a family changes or making space for objects gathered through future travels.
The original design needs to be strong enough to accommodate those layers.
This may be the clearest expression of Freeman’s approach to luxury. It is not simply access to rare stone, collectible furniture or commissioned craftsmanship. It is the creation of a personal environment whose meaning deepens rather than diminishes with time.
Fact box
- Designer: Jack Freeman
- Role: Founder and managing director
- Practice: FREEMAN & CO
- Base: Australia, with international projects
- Project locations named by the practice: Point Piper, Vaucluse, Circular Quay, Toorak, Palm Beach, the NSW South Coast, Mayfair, Bel Air and the Caribbean
- Sectors: Private residences, hotels, residential developments, private aviation and superyachts
- Services: Interior design and architecture, property development, project management, property acquisition, documentation, furniture and lighting design, FF&E procurement, interior dressing and art curation
- Design philosophy: Collected, personal interiors shaped by art, craftsmanship, travel and enduring materials
- Website: free-man.co
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