A landmark organic home heads to auction on Sydney’s Northern Beaches

Earlier this autumn, we featured an organic ‘seashell home’ for rent in Austin, Texas – one of Airbnb’s most popular listings. Now, its ‘long-lost’ Aussie cousin has hit the market on Sydney’s Northern Beaches with a guide price of $2.4m AUD.

Architect David Hollander designed his eponymous Hollander House in Newport between 1969 and 1971 using hand-formed ferro cement to mimic the contours of a wave. It’s lauded as a prime example of Australian organic architecture – it was even voted one of the country’s top five houses in 1973 – with living spaces ‘cascading’ over three levels, curvilinear interior spaces and one-of-a-kind design specs.

Rooms inside the three-bedroom home have elliptical, white-plastered walls and furniture and cabinetry created bespoke for the home. The main space is the dramatic double-height living room, set around a sunken conversation pit with a curvy banquette, a colossal fireplace with a concrete hearth, and an original 1971 Curtis Jeré wall installation.

Hollander installed ‘light folds’ and ‘sky domes’ to draw light into the deepest recesses of the Newport property, and sliding glass doors further amplify light flow across the home, which sits within bushland, surrounded by gum trees a short walk from Newport Beach (popular for swimming, body boarding, windsurfing and fishing.)

Previous owner, Sydney interior designer Nancy Renzi, added decking to the outside space, and the property has been upgraded with a whole-house water filtration system, electric vehicle charger and an ozone purifier.

The organic marvel heads to auction on Wednesday, 29 November 2023. Contact McGrath-Pittwater agents Laura Mears and Luke Nolan-Harris for more information.