The Art Deco $66 million Sydney CBD penthouse for sale

A new national apartment record could soon emerge with the marketing of a sky-high Sydney CBD penthouse.

Property developer John Boyd and wife Marly - now parents of two children under three years - have decided to move on from their three storey space which has been their abode since 2015.

They're asking $66 million for the penthouse atop the Grocon's Liberty Place, ANZ tower on Castlereagh Street in the Sydney CBD.

It's the highest apartment in Sydney. 

It was was ranked last year as the world's finest residence in the International Design & Architecture Awards.

An express elevator leads to the 43rd floor, where the Boyd's commissioned interior designer Blainey North to decorate the near 2,400 sqm space atop the office tower designed by Richard Francis-Jones, the design director of the architecture practice Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp.

Francis-Jones was responsible for the striking crescent shaped roof design that takes light deep into the apartment.

Jones said he would be very surprised if the apartment was ever repeated again.

Taking nearly four years to complete, the bespoke sky lounge captures 360 city skyline views, with the Westfield Tower just a stone's throw away.

North privately commissioned more than 200 pieces of Art Deco-inspired furniture, from the unique armchairs to the largest custom rug in the Southern Hemisphere.

There's a marble kitchen, wine cellar and four bedrooms, each with a marble ensuite.

A private rooftop level features a cabana lounge, swimming pool and an observation deck.

Christie's International agent Ken Jacobs is marketing the apartment in conjunction with LJ Hooker Double Bay agent Bill Malouf.

"The buyer will be brought to the market, because they wouldn't have imagined an apartment like this existed," Ken Jacobs suggests.

Malouf thinks a corporation could be its buyer for its chief executive or company president.

Sydney's apartment record has seen dramatic growth in recent times.

The spurt began in 2016 with a $26 million sale of one of the penthouses in the off the plan Opera Residences at Circular Quay.

A few days later another penthouse in the same development sold for $27 million.

The record was then more than doubled when Crown Resort's revealed casino tycoon James Packer spent $60 million on two levels in the yet to be built Crown Resort complex at Barangaroo South.

A $40 million whole floor One Barangaroo sale to former bookmaker Bob Blann was revealed last month. 

The apartment on the tip of the top floor of 1 Macquarie Street, the closest home to the Opera House anyone can buy, has been listed by the veteran property developer, Keith Johnson and his partner Natalie Habib. They are in the midst of gutting and fitting out the 360 sq m space to a design by the noted architect Koichi Takada.

Dominic Ong at Knight Frank Prestige Residential has had two recent offers between $25 million and $30 million of the space in The Toaster.

The Boyd's apartment sits 43 storey's high above the ANZ Castlereagh Street office block which John Boyd sold to Grocon in 2013, while keeping the penthouse space that overlooks Hyde Park.

Everything inside the three level apartment is custom made, including what's been described as the biggest rug in the southern hemisphere which was hand-sew back together as one piece.

North had only been contacted by Boyd with the intention of buying some of her custom-designed furniture, but after seeing the bare space she convinced the Boyd's to let her design it.

“I feel really comfortable designing this scale,” she told The Australian's Wish Magazine.

“The idea I tabled with them at [the first meeting] is that I felt there needed to be some sort of connecting [Motif] and so we developed this idea of the black ribbon.

"It outlines and connects all of the different levels,” North explains.

She reckons the apartment even has a Batman feel to it, with the black ribbon effect which is made of wood with six coats of lacquer.

It comes down from the ceilings, traces the windows, turns into the bar unit, becomes the balustrade of the staircase and runs into the bedrooms where it becomes the bedside tables.

It ends on the top floor with its pool and cabana.

“We have been talking about Batman all through the design process,” North added.

“When you drive into the basement, you come into your own private lift and ride up into your apartment above a bank, which has views all around the city. 

"It is totally private, it’s totally secure and it’s kind of like this life in the sky in the middle of the city.”

The project adds to North's already impressive portfolio, having previously been commissioned for Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's 798 sqm amalgamated penthouse high above Lavender Bay.

She's also designed office space for actor Russell Crowe.

She’s also been billionaire James Packer's preferred decorator overseeing the re-opening of the Conservatory buffet restaurant at Crown Casino in Melbourne. 

North, who married Russell Crowe’s personal assistant, Keith Rodger in 2011, is a fan of art deco.

Indeed her first home – sold in 2010 to model Lara Bingle at $882,000 – was in an art deco Darling Point apartment complex.

This article was first published in the Saturday Daily Telegraph.