Gladswood House (Glenyarrah / Seaford) – 11 Gladswood Gardens – Double Bay – NSW

Gladswood House (Glenyarrah / Seaford) – 11 Gladswood Gardens Double Bay – NSW

Gothic Revival sandstone marine villa · William Munro c.1860–64 · Joseland interiors 1913 · Standing — apartments (SHR #00496)

On the point between the two arms of Double Bay, a perpendicular Gothic pile once commanded the ridge beside Italianate Redleaf. Samuel Deane Gordon’s Glenyarrah became flour-miller John Spencer Brunton’s Gladswood, then a guest house, then strata. The harbour relationship thinned with the 1927 subdivision, but Munro’s stone, Lyon & Cottier glass, and Joseland’s baronial joinery still read as one of Woollahra’s rare colonial-Gothic survivors.

At a glance

• Address: 11 Gladswood Gardens, Double Bay NSW 2028 (Woollahra)
• Other names: Glenyarrah; Seaford House (WHHS / early directories)
• Traditional Custodians: Cadigal / Eora (SHR Aboriginal notes for Double Bay)
• Land: Point Piper Estate (Piper 1820 → Cooper & Levy 1826 → Sir Daniel Cooper); 99-year lease to E.T. Beilby from 1 Oct 1856 (65 p.a.; £2,000 building covenant); lease to Hon. Samuel Deane Gordon MLC 8 Jan 1858 for £800 (SHR)
• Built: tenders from 1860; substantially complete by 1862; gate pillars Aug 1864 naming Glenyarrah (SHR)
• Architect: William Munro (tender notices); possibly J.F. Hilly (WHHS alternate); R.G. Howard Joseland (1913 refurbishment / dining–ballroom); J.A. Dobson (1938 western wing / multiple occupancy)
• Style: Picturesque / perpendicular Gothic Revival sandstone marine villa
• Heritage: NSW SHR #00496 (gazetted 2 Apr 1999; PCO from 22 Apr 1988); Register of the National Estate; Woollahra LEP
• Fate / current use: Standing — strata apartments (SP 58597); stone stables survive as residence at 21 Gladswood Gardens (SHR)

Site & setting

Cadigal harbour Country on the Double Bay point of the old Point Piper Estate. Original holding a little over 3 acres, entered from New South Head Road through stone gate pillars (late 1864); lodge (demolished), drive, fernery, stone pier and timber boat house once tied the house to the bay (Eric Bayliss c.1875 view cited on SHR). 1927 subdivision into fourteen allotments created Gladswood Gardens and cut the landmark curtilage; Brunton bought back Lot 5 (pier access) in 1935. Remnant retaining walls and pier sections survive mainly on neighbouring northern land (SHR). Nothing of the original landscaped grounds of Gladswood remains intact on the house lot (SHR).

Timeline

• 1820 / 1826 – Piper grant; Cooper & Levy acquire Point Piper Estate (SHR).
• 1 Oct 1856 / May 1857 – Beilby 99-year lease (3 a. 3 r. 39 p.); building covenant £2,000 within eight years (SHR).
• 8 Jan 1858 – Lease to Samuel Deane Gordon for £800 (SHR).
• 1860–62 – Munro tenders (joinery, painting, masons/carpenters); house in course of erection (SHR).
• Aug 1864 – Tenders for gate pillars at Glenyarrah, Double Bay (SHR). Name often glossed “valley of the gums” (Griffiths via SHR).
• c.1863–64 – William Walker rated / temporary occupation while neighbouring Redleaf built (Griffiths tradition on SHR) — soft.
• c.1875 – Lyon & Cottier stained glass (Flora/Pomona; Gordon monogram & motto in deo fiducia est mia) (SHR).
• 1882 – Gordon dies; daughter Jessie Maria Gordon; sub-let F.B. Lark 188385 (SHR).
• 1885–1913 – Thomas Hussey Kelly Sr. (wool-broker) lease then freehold May 1901; son Thomas Herbert Kelly occupies; foreshore strip bought 1909 (SHR).
• 29 Dec 1913 – Sold to John Spencer Brunton (Brunton & Co. flour); renamed Gladswood after Berwickshire seat; Joseland works (£3,800 permit 24 Nov 1913) dining/ballroom wing, baronial interiors (SHR).
• 1927–28 – Sold to Maas estate agents for subdivision; Brunton re-purchases dwelling; Gladswood Gardens locality appears (SHR).
• 1937–39 Brunton dies; sons sell to builder F.L. Perini; Dobson western wing for multiple occupancy; guest-house lease to Gwendoline Jean Von Tidermann (SHR).
• 1951–88 – Guest house / private hotel under successive owners (SHR).
• c.1990 – Coronet Investments apartments west of house (Domain note on SHR).
• 2 Apr 1999 – SHR listing.
• Today – Strata apartments; restored fabric noted by WHHS (SHR citations).

Architecture & interiors

Two-storey sandstone Gothic asymmetrical harbour-side plan at variance with textbook pointed-Gothic axial types (SHR). Northern verandah with stone pillars and timber Gothic arches substantially in 1862 form; Joseland tessellated tiles and lanterns later (SHR). Entry vestibule Lyon & Cottier glass; Brunton carved Brunton / Gladswood” in flagging under the mat (SHR). 1913 Joseland dining room/ballroom: ornamental plaster ceilings, carved timber fireplace, oak sideboard with stained-glass Victoria/NSW arms; study with embossed copper three-link cable” Brunton ancestry motifs and motto carving (SHR). 1938 western wing (Dobson) judged of little significance on CMP — modern castellated Gothic at odds with picturesque original (SHR). First floor heavily altered by hotel bathrooms and partitions (SHR).

People & anecdotes

Samuel Deane Gordon — letter-carrier turned wine merchant, MLC, St Andrew’s College associate with Munro; Horticultural/Agricultural Society links may explain Flora/Pomona glass (SHR). William Walker next door at Redleaf — the Double Bay Italianate/Gothic twin skyline of the 1870s Bayliss panoramas. T.H. Kelly freehold and foreshore purchase locked the marine villa to the bay before subdivision. John Spencer Brunton and Howard Joseland remade the interiors as a Scottish-baronial statement; Joseland’s daughter later married Brunton’s son (SHR). Guest-house decades kept the shell standing when peers fell.

Image gallery guidance

1. c.1875 Eric Bayliss / harbour panoramas — Gothic Gladswood + Italianate Redleaf on the ridge (SHR / SLNSW). 2. Northern Gothic verandah — stone pillars, timber arches. 3. Lyon & Cottier vestibule / stair glass — Gordon monogram. 4. Joseland dining/ballroom fireplace & plaster 1913 craftsmanship. 5. Brunton carving under doormat — name change in stone. 6. Stables at 21 Gladswood Gardens — surviving service building. 7. 1927 subdivision auction notice — estate cut to building line (SHR illus.).

What stands today

Gladswood stands as private strata apartments at 11 Gladswood Gardens. Admire from Gladswood Gardens and distant harbour views; do not enter private grounds. Pair with neighbouring Redleaf (Woollahra Council Chambers) and Fairwater / Elaine along Seven Shillings Beach.

Sources & further reading

• NSW SHR — Gladswood House (#00496, DB 5045709): https://apps.environment.nsw.gov.au/dpcheritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5045709
• McGauran Soon Pty Ltd, Conservation Study / Conservation Plan, Gladswood House (1994 / 2003) cited on SHR
• Woollahra History & Heritage Society — Gladswood / Gladswood Gardens notes (2010, 2013) cited on SHR
• Register of the National Estate listing (21 Mar 1978) referenced on SHR
• Wikipedia — Gladswood House (portal only; verify against SHR)
• Trove — search Glenyarrah Double Bay; Gladswood Brunton; Munro architect Double Bay

Related on this blog

• Redleaf Double Bay (Woollahra Council) — this batch
• Fairwater / Elaine Seven Shillings Beach drafts
• Lindesay / Carthona / Swifts — eastern Gothic peers
• Redleaf Wahroonga — different house (Joseland Federation villa)

Keep existing photos; add SLNSW/Trove images with captions and credits from Image gallery guidance.