Brisbane couple loses turbulent battle against high-rise in ritzy suburb

A glamorous young Brisbane couple have lost their legal battle with a celebrity architect over a massive luxury high-rise in an exclusive riverside enclave.

A view of the Brisbane CBD and Story Bridge from New Farm, close to where the property in question is located.

A glamorous young Brisbane couple have lost their long-running legal battle with a celebrity architect who has the green-light from council to build a massive luxury high-rise next door to their historic home in their exclusive riverside enclave.

Barrister Daniel Clarry, 39, and his wife Sarah, a lawyer and high-flying Rio Tinto executive, took their case to the state’s highest court last year after they failed to overturn the Planning and Environment Court’s confirmation of the Brisbane City Council’s decision to allow a development company co-owned by architect Joe Adsett to build a six-storey building in New Farm.

Brisbane barrister Daniel Clarry and wife Sarah Clarry, a Rio Tinto executive. Picture: Facebook.

In a decision handed down on Friday by Court of Appeal Justices Debra Mullins, John Bond and Peter Flanagan, they refused to overturn the decision of Planning and Environment Court Judge William Everson, who only imposed minor conditions on the construction of the eight units at 28 Maxwell St New Farm.

4005 Properties Pty Ltd, a partnership between Mr Adsett and developer Craig Purdy, were given development approval to build the Spanish Mission-inspired building named Arcilla at 28 Maxwell St in September 2021.

Mr and Mrs Clarry, who bought their heritage home, built in 1937, for $3.7m in 2020, argued that Arcilla is too big for the neighbourhood and has crammed too many bedrooms and carparks onto the site.

32 Maxwell Street, New Farm

The site sits in the low-medium density residential (two- or three-storey mix) zone, the decision states.

Arcilla will be 4.7 metres higher than the existing building, and is set to include six three bedroom units and two four bedroom units with a site coverage of 65 per cent and includes basement level carparking and gym, lounge and swimming pool, the decision states.

The site fronts Maxwell St and it is bounded at the rear by Raff Lane which is parallel to Maxwell St.

Architect Joe Adsett and wife Hayley Adsett. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

Owners of properties on Maxwell St include Pierre-Axel Paoli, a French businessman who owns luxury handbag store Cosette and lives in the Sydney harbourside suburb of Vaucluse.

Judge Emerson noted that the Clarry’s house was already overlooked by several high rise buildings to the northwest.

Mr Adsett and Mr Purdy’s company paid $4m for the block and the Arcilla is aimed at satisfying the demand for large luxury apartments with expensive finishes located close to trendy James St restaurants and Howard Smith Wharves entertainment.

Arcilla, architect Joe Adsett's latest project in Brisbane. Image supplied by Joe Adsett Architects.

Arcilla will replace a four-storey brick apartment block built in the early 1970s.

The penthouse at the Argyle building, a few doors away at 49 Maxwell St, sold for $16.5m to

Peter Taylor, a founder of international security-mesh maker Meshtec, and his wife Christine.

Maxwell St ends in a cul-de-sac at its western end, and contains mixed zoning.

All of the land on either side of Maxwell St, from the intersection with Merthyr Road to the east to the head of the cul-de-sac, is zoned low to medium density residential (two or three storey mix) under the council’s planning scheme but the head of the cul-de-sac and to the west, and all of the land on the northern side of Raff Lane at the rear of the site, is medium-density residential.