Brooksby - Darling Point - Near Greenoaks Avenue - Lower Ocean St - Double Bay
Brooksby was a mid 19th Century Mansion in Darling Point. It was built on the original Darling Point Allotment nbounded on the east by Lower Ocean Street
Brooksby – Lower Ocean Street / Greenoaks Avenue – Darling Point / Double Bay – NSW
Mid-19th-century mansion · Robert Ebenezer Johnson MLC · Later Mrs Robinson’s preparatory school · Demolished after subdivision
The live stub already has the spine: Brooksby on the old Darling Point allotment bounded on the east by Lower Ocean Street; solicitor-politician Robert Ebenezer Johnson as its best-known resident until his death in 1866; later Mrs Robinson’s Preparatory School for Boys; then loss to subdivision and development. Woollahra’s photographic archive and a 1923 auction flyer keep the demolished house visible.
At a glance
- Location: Darling Point allotment on the Double Bay fall — east boundary Lower Ocean Street; near Greenoaks Avenue (live title geography)
- Some later address language: Ocean Avenue / Lower Ocean Street Double Bay numbering in sale sheets (live stub cites 35 Lower Ocean Street on a 29 May 1923 auction flyer — keep as flyer evidence)
- Built: mid-19th century mansion (live stub); exact architect/build year not secured in this pass — flag
- Principal resident: Robert Ebenezer Johnson, solicitor; among first appointees to the NSW Legislative Council in 1856; lived at Brooksby until death 1866 (live stub)
- Later use: Mrs Robinson’s Preparatory School for Boys (live stub)
- Fate: Demolished — lost to subdivision and development; 1930s photographs survive in Woollahra Council collections (live stub)
Site & setting
Eastern Darling Point / upper Double Bay — Greenoaks (Bishopscourt) neighbourhood, Lower Ocean Street edge. Nineteenth-century marine-suburb allotments here fed schools and flat redevelopment in the twentieth. Aboriginal Country: Cadigal. Keep Greenoaks / Bishopscourt and other Ocean Street villas as neighbours, not aliases.
Timeline
- Mid-19th century – Brooksby built on Darling Point allotment (live stub; architect/date soft).
- 1856–66 – Robert Ebenezer Johnson MLC in residence; dies 1866.
- Later 19th / early 20th c. – Mrs Robinson’s preparatory school chapter (live stub).
- 29 May 1923 – Auction flyer catalogue evidence (live stub: 35 Lower Ocean Street Double Bay).
- 1930s – Woollahra Council photographic record of the house (live stub).
- After – Demolished for subdivision/development; precise wreckers’ year still soft — prefer Trove/Woollahra file dating before hardening.
- Today – House gone; street pattern and Greenoaks Avenue context remain.
Architecture & interiors
Mid-Victorian mansion scale implied by school and auction uses; do not invent a style label beyond what 1930s Woollahra photographs and the 1923 flyer show. Pull measurable detail from those images/flyer in a later pass rather than guessing verandah or room counts here.
People & anecdotes
Robert Ebenezer Johnson — solicitor; 1856 Legislative Council appointee; Brooksby resident to 1866 (live stub). Deepen via ADB/Parliamentary records and Trove obituaries before adding colour. Mrs Robinson — preparatory school proprietor; institutional reuse typical of eastern-suburbs mansions before flat boom. Auction-flyer vendors/purchasers (1923) await naming from the catalogue itself.
Image gallery guidance
1. Woollahra Council 1930s Brooksby photographs cited on the live post.
2. 29 May 1923 auction flyer (live stub).
3. Lower Ocean Street / Greenoaks Avenue context maps (SLNSW Darling Point subdivision plans).
4. Caption demolished state clearly in any “site today” shot.
What stands today
Brooksby does not stand. The Lower Ocean Street / Greenoaks Avenue edge is redeveloped. Use Woollahra’s 1930s photos and the 1923 flyer as the visual record; keep Greenoaks/Bishopscourt as the surviving neighbour story, not as Brooksby.
Sources & further reading
- Live stub cues — Johnson MLC; Mrs Robinson’s school; Woollahra 1930s photos; 29 May 1923 auction flyer
- Dictionary of Sydney — Darling Point entry (neighbourhood context): https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/darling_point
- SLNSW — Darling Point subdivision plans content list
- Woollahra Local History photographic collections — Brooksby / Lower Ocean Street
- Trove — search: Brooksby Darling Point; Brooksby Double Bay; “Robert Ebenezer Johnson” Brooksby; Robinson preparatory Ocean Street
- Research gaps: exact build year/architect; precise demolition year; full Johnson biography — deepen before next enlarge
Related on this blog
- Greenoaks / Bishopscourt – Darling Point
- Other Lower Ocean Street / Double Bay lost mansions as published
- NSW Legislative Council residential geography posts if present
Preserve live-post photograph and flyer references; clean spelling (Brooksby / Double Bay) in the title line.
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Brrookby - Photos Taken 1930's - Woolahra Council Website
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Brroksby - 35 Lower Ocean Street - Double Bay - Tuesday 29th may 1923 - Auction Flyer Catalogue
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