Sydney doctor to The Police, Kurt Cobain and Mick Jagger sells Darlinghurst GP practice
If the walls of ‘Dr Rock’s’ Darlinghurst GP clinic could talk, oh the stories they’d tell after treating the who’s who of rock ‘n’ roll over six decades.
As the go-to doctor for global megastar musicians – including Kurt Cobain, Frank Sinatra and Mick Jagger, to name a few – Doctor Ian ‘Rock’ Chung has seen it all, and then some.
Now, after caring for the rich and famous during Darlinghurst’s bohemian years from the ’60s up until 2020, the recently retired Chung, now aged in his late 80s, is moving on.
With the help of family, he’s selling the modest medical practice where he spent 60 years practising.
The three-storey Federation-era freehold terrace – with a lock-up garage, rear access and rooftop – at 141 Riley Street, Darlinghurst, is expected to sell for more than $3 million at auction next month.
Other artists to casually walk through Chung’s doors include Liza Minnelli, Bono, Johnny Cash, David Bowie, Michael Parkinson, the Eurythmics’ Annie Lennox, Matchbox Twenty, Tina Turner, Sammy Davis Jr. and Pink.
As a trusted personal physician, Chung toured with The Rolling Stones in 1972, as well as with The Police on their world tour.
Now investors, developers or creatives can secure a slice of this “time-capsule of rock history” in one of Sydney’s most eclectic and sought-after neighbourhoods, just footsteps from Hyde Park and Oxford Street, and two kilometres from Sydney’s CBD.
His patients loved him because he was a normal human who didn’t recognise them as celebrities, says listing agent Dominic D’Ettorre of D’Ettorre Real Estate.
“I think that’s what they liked about him – he didn’t recognise who they were,” he says. “And word spread.
“There was no, you know, curtsies. Apparently, once he met Raquel Welch, and he didn’t know who she was, he was blasé. I think for people who are famous, when they get that type of service, they respect it.”
The property includes rich period features throughout the commercial office or creative ground-floor space used as the former medical clinic – which only ceased operation two years ago – plus a nine-room residence on the top two floors.
Other standout features include that sun-basking rooftop terrace which takes in the local treetops, plus the rare lock-up garage.
The sale has garnered significant interest, with 50 inquiries and 10 calls received within a few days of launching.
“These types of properties are run as a business, or if someone wants to do the same as the doctor did, they could,” D’Ettorre says.
“To have those budget rooms above was a little cash cow for them. And they still are.
“They’re good little businesses, and he had a pretty good business being a local GP.”
D’Ettorre says Dr Rock’s reputation initially spread like wildfire through promoters who lived in Darlinghurst during its Bohemian heyday in the 1950s and 1960s.
“A lot of the music promoters were around there,” he says. “When one of their artists was sick, they’d say, ‘Go around and see Dr Chung … he’s just down the road.’ So he built momentum with the rock ‘n’ roll stars.”
The property is being sold via an on-site auction at 12.30pm on Saturday, August 16.
