Elaine estate: Former Fairfax mansion in Point Piper could become seniors housing complex

A push to meet soaring demand for seniors housing in Sydney has reached one of the city’s most exclusive suburbs, with a group of investors planning to turn a historic mansion that was once Australia’s most expensive home into a multi-storey seniors living complex.

Once owned by the Fairfax publishing family, and then tech titan Scott Farquhar, Point Piper’s Elaine estate could soon be home to up to 90 senior residents as part of “state significant” housing development plans lodged with the state government.

A photo of the Elaine mansion at 550-550A New South Head Road, Point Piper. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

The seven-bedroom building on the site dates back to 1863. It was acquired by the Fairfax media family in the 1890s, who held it for more than a century.

In 2017 Atlassian co-fo