Saturday, July 4, 2026

Innisfail – Wahroonga – NSW

Innisfail (live title: Innisfall) – Wahroonga – NSW

Built 1896 · Herbert Wardell · Standing as Ewan House, Knox Grammar Preparatory School

Tooheys beer paid for a Federation Queen Anne palace on the North Shore ridge; a widow’s scrapbook plates kept the name Innisfail; the Armstrongs and then Knox Grammar turned it into Ewan House. The live post spells the house Innisfall and the suburb Wahronga — the plates and the school say Innisfail, Wahroonga. Same roof, same fountain, different vowels.

At a glance

  • Name: Innisfail (Beautiful Homes / ADB / Knox); live title: Innisfall
  • Address (today): Knox Grammar Preparatory School precinct — 2 Borambil Street, Wahroonga (school campus address)
  • Built: 1896 (Knox Grammar centenary narrative)
  • Architect: Herbert Wardell (Knox)
  • Clients: John Thomas Toohey (1839–1903), brewer / MLC (ADB); plate era shows Mrs John T. Toohey
  • Later: Dr George & Florence Armstrong (1918); Knox School Council (July 1928) — renamed Ewan House for Florence’s father James Ewan
  • Heritage: cited in Ku-ring-gai Wahroonga Heritage Conservation Area material as a key Federation mansion
  • Fate: Standing — renovated; Prep classrooms / administration (major works cited 2010)

 


Innisfall - Wahronga - New South Wales





Site & setting

Wahroonga grew fast after the North Shore line (1890). Innisfail sat among the grand Federation houses of the ridge — palms, formal fountain on axis with the entrance, deep verandahs, tall chimneys. Estate subdivision in the 1920s under the Armstrongs carved the grounds before Knox bought the house as the first building of its Preparatory School.

Aboriginal Country: Guringai / Kuringgai country (Upper North Shore).

Timeline

  • 1896 – Innisfail built for John Thomas Toohey; architect Herbert Wardell (Knox).
  • 1892–1903 – Toohey on Legislative Council (ADB); lives first at Moira, Burwood, later at Innisfail; helps develop Burwood and Wahroonga.
  • 5 May 1903 – John dies suddenly in Chicago on a world tour; buried Rookwood (ADB). Widow period matches Beautiful Homes plate “Mrs John T. Toohey.”
  • 1918 – Sold to Dr George and Mrs Florence Armstrong (Knox).
  • 1920s – Armstrongs subdivide estate.
  • July 1928 – Knox School Council purchases for Presbyterian Church Prep; Florence Armstrong reduces price by £4,000; house renamed Ewan House.
  • 1935 – Used solely for Prep boarders; renovated for extra accommodation.
  • 2010 – Renovated again as classrooms, administration and Prep offices (Knox).
  • Today – Still on campus as Ewan House.

Architecture & interiors

Federation Queen Anne mansion: complex gabled roof, decorative chimneys, cupola/lantern on the ridge, deep arched verandahs, two-storey bay. Beautiful Homes exterior shows the formal fountain and cabbage-tree palms framing the approach; drawing-room plate shows arched openings, coffered ceiling, dense late-Victorian / Edwardian furnishing. Interior school adaptations (boarding, library, then offices) have changed domestic room use — describe institutional reuse honestly, not as a frozen private house.

People & anecdotes

John Thomas Toohey (ADB) — Limerick-born, Melbourne childhood, Standard Brewery with brother James; Toohey’s Ltd chairman when floated 1902; Catholic benefactor; Knight of St Gregory (1888); Home Rule supporter; MLC from 1892. The scrapbook’s “Mrs John T. Toohey” is the widow household after Chicago.

Florence Armstrong (née Ewan) — reduced the sale price so Knox could secure the house; School Council repaid the debt by renaming it for her father James Ewan.

Do not merge with Innisfallen Castle, Castle Cove (Willis; SHR; separate live post).

Image gallery guidance

  • Keep four live Beautiful Homes plates (exterior + interiors) — re-credit Sydney Living Museums / HHT; note Innisfail spelling on plates vs live Innisfall title.
  • Knox / Ewan House contemporary campus photos — Prep exterior after 2010 works (school media / visit with permission).
  • ADB / NAA Toohey portrait if usable.
  • Subdivision / parish plan showing Armstrong-era cuts (once located).

What stands today

Ewan House stands inside Knox Grammar Preparatory School, Wahroonga — private school grounds, not a public house museum. Street presence is campus-controlled; check Knox for any heritage open days. Cross-link the blog’s Innisfallen Castle post only as a disambiguation warning.

Sources & further reading

  • Live scrapbook: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2026/07/innisfall-wahronga-new-south-wales.html
  • Beautiful Homes plates — Sydney Living Museums / Historic Houses Trust of NSW (Innisfail; Mrs John T. Toohey; Wahroonga)
  • Knox Grammar centenary — “Ewan House is built in 1896”: https://www.knox.nsw.edu.au/centenary/stories/ewan-house-is-built-in-1896
  • ADB — John Thomas Toohey: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/toohey-john-thomas-4730
  • Ku-ring-gai Wahroonga HCA / heritage data (Wardell; Toohey; Ewan House)
  • Disambiguation: Innisfallen Castle, Castle Cove — https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2020/12/innisfallen-castle-14-cherry-place.html

Related on this blog

Add historic photos with captions and credits from Image gallery guidance.

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