Kilmory – 6 Wentworth Street – Point Piper – NSW
Built 1913–1914 · Manson & Pickering / Stuart Bros · Arts and Crafts · Standing (apartment conversion)
Surgeon Sir Alexander MacCormick planted a Scottish Arts and Crafts landmark on the highest Point Piper ground; the RAAF ran Eastern Area from the ballroom years; Jesuits and Franciscans followed; the mansion still commands Wentworth Street as converted apartments. The live post is a blank title — Woollahra’s plaque and DCP carry the facts.
At a glance
- Name: Kilmory (also Campion House in Jesuit Prep years; Ave Maria / Franciscan retreat chapter)
- Address: 6 Wentworth Street, Point Piper
- Built: 1913–1914 for Dr (later Sir) Alexander MacCormick; architect J. W. Manson (Manson & Pickering); builder Stuart Bros.
- Style: Arts and Crafts — harled walls, slate roofs, robust chimneys; timber panelling / built-ins (Woollahra / DCP)
- Land: Point Piper Estate lots consolidated 1898–1909 (purchase £2,465 for four lots; later reduced/consolidated)
- WWII: RAAF Eastern Area Headquarters from May 1942
- 1946 – Jesuit Fathers / Riverview Prep (Campion House)
- 1954–55 – Franciscan Missionaries of Mary — retreat house / convent
- 1998+ – Sold; residential conversion within heritage controls (DCP G2)
- Heritage: Woollahra LEP heritage item; site-specific DCP Chapter G2; CMP 1998
- Fate: Standing — apartments within conserved mansion + controlled new dwellings in grounds
Site & setting
Largest remaining grand-estate footprint on the Point Piper peninsula (DCP): elevated site with harbour / Rose Bay / Bondi views; formal Wentworth Street gates and winding drive; significant trees and garden structure identified in CMP. Aboriginal Country: Cadigal / Birrabirragal harbour foreshores (use local preferred naming).
Timeline
- 1898 – MacCormick buys Point Piper Estate lots at Wentworth / Hill Streets.
- 1909 – Consolidated title on remaining lots.
- 28 Apr c.1913 – Building application; 1914 completion; Sands/rates 1915.
- 1914–18 – War service abroad; family returns to Kilmory 1918; entertainments / ballroom noted by Nesta Griffiths.
- c.1931 – MacCormick retires to Channel Islands; house to Craignish Ltd c.1934.
- 15 May 1942 – RAAF Eastern Area HQ forms at Kilmory (ops book Edgecliff wording — verify vs Craig-y-Mor mess).
- 1946 – Jesuits; Prep for Riverview; Campion House.
- 1954–55 – Franciscan Missionaries of Mary; retreat / convent / Ave Maria Centre chapter.
- 1998 – Offered for sale; later apartment / estate redevelopment under heritage DCP.
- 29 Jul 2022 – Woollahra plaque to Sir Alexander MacCormick unveiled at Kilmory.
Architecture & interiors
Arts and Crafts mansion by Manson: panelling, built-in furniture, slate roofs, strong chimneys — Scottish vernacular echoes (Mackintosh/Voysey comparisons in secondary writing — stylistic comment only). Ballroom later chapel in religious chapter. Conversion retained mansion envelope under CMP/DCP — describe publicly known exterior/setting; avoid inventing unit interiors.
People & anecdotes
Sir Alexander MacCormick (ADB) — Edinburgh-trained surgeon; University of Sydney; Prince Alfred / St Vincent’s; Listerian antiseptic pioneer in Sydney; Boer War & WWI consulting surgeon; KCMG 1926; yachtsman (RSYS commodore; Thelma, Morna, Ada); built Craignish chambers and gifted The Terraces / Scottish Hospital, Paddington.
Religious communities — Jesuit Prep then Franciscan retreat reused the house without demolishing the landmark.
What stands today
Kilmory’s mansion stands, adapted to apartments, with heritage landscape controls on the historic allotment. Private residences — street presence and plaque are the public face. Cross-link Point Piper estates hub post.
Sources & further reading
- Live stub: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2021/06/kilmory-estate-point-piper.html
- Woollahra — Sir Alexander MacCormick plaque page (Kilmory history): https://www.woollahra.nsw.gov.au/Library/Woollahra-Plaque-Scheme/sir-alexander-maccormick
- Woollahra DCP Chapter G2 — Kilmory PDF
- ADB — MacCormick, Sir Alexander: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/maccormick-sir-alexander-7322
- Griffiths, G. Nesta — Point Piper, Past and Present (1970)
- ozatwar.com — Eastern Area HQ Kilmory note
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