Kirribilli House – 111 Kirribilli Avenue – Kirribilli – NSW

Kirribilli House – 111 Kirribilli Avenue – Kirribilli – NSW

Victorian Rustic Gothic marine villa · Built c.1854–1858 for Adolph Feez · Standing — Sydney residence of the Prime Minister · Commonwealth Heritage List

Same Cammeraygal point as Admiralty House, one gate along — and a completely different silhouette. Kirribilli House is the twin-gabled Gothic cottage ornée that somehow became the Prime Minister’s Sydney base: steep slate roofs, traceried bargeboards, lawns to the harbour, and a 1920 public campaign that stopped a five-lot subdivision. The Lodge in Canberra is still the principal official home; this is the harbour stage.

At a glance

• Address: 111 Kirribilli Avenue, Kirribilli NSW 2061
• Traditional Custodians: Cammeraygal (Cammeraygul) people; point name rendered Ciar Billie / Kiarabilli — good fishing” (Australiana Fund)
• Built: land purchased 1854 by merchant Adolph / Adolf Frederick Feez (£200); house standing by 1858 (CHL); Australiana Fund dates the Gothic house to 1854 and notes Feez called it Sophienberg
• Style: Victorian Rustic Gothic — steeply pitched slate gables, traceried bargeboards, verandahs east and south, castellated bay, attics/dormers (CHL)
• Heritage: Commonwealth Heritage List Place ID 105451, listed 15 July 2004; gardens separately valued / nominated in heritage literature
• Public save: 1920 Commonwealth resumption after A.W. Allen’s proposed five-lot subdivision; campaign figures include Dr Mary Booth OBE, Maj-Gen Sir Granville Ryrie, Sydney Smith (CHL)
• Official use: set aside 1956 for PM when in Sydney + overseas guests of the Commonwealth; in use from 1957 after restoration
• Fate / current use: Standing — Prime Minister’s Sydney residence; occasional public Open Days (confirm at publish)

Site & setting

Kirribilli Point’s eastern tip land sliced from the Wotonga / Admiralty House grounds in the 1850s. CHL stresses rarity: a Gothic harbourside house that still keeps its setting, with grassed banks, sandstone outcrops, paths and stairs to the water, and the ruin of a sandstone boat harbour / bathing pool (1850s fabric; reconstructed 1968, later collapsed — CHL condition note). The grounds complement Admiralty House’s garden as one landscaped northern harbour face.

Views run to Fort Denison, the Opera House, Circular Quay and the Bridge — the postcard that makes every ferry passenger a heritage tourist.

Timeline

• Cammeraygal Country – Point name tradition “good fishing”.
• 1854 Merchant Adolph Feez buys ~1 acre tip for 200; builds twin-gabled Gothic house (Sophienberg per Australiana Fund).
• 1858 – Sold to Esther Hughes for 3000 (CHL) — house then extant.
• 1871 Mrs Hughes gifts to daughter Esther, wife of James Taylor (Commissary-General of Ordnance); Taylors enlarge house — nearly doubled by 1880s, still in Gothic sympathy (CHL).
• 1890s – Known as Kirribilli House; later declared “so old and dilapidated” it should be sold (Australiana Fund quotation).
• 1919 – Sydney solicitor Arthur Wigram Allen purchases; early 1920 proposes five-lot subdivision.
• 1920 – Public outcry; Commonwealth under Prime Minister W.M. Hughes resumes the property. Allen = last private owner.
• 1920s – Used with Admiralty House for Governor-General’s household (often staff occupancy).
• 1930–1953 – Leased to private tenants (including Commander Karl Erik Oom, RAN — Australiana Fund).
• 1956–57 – Set aside for Prime Minister + overseas guests; restoration by Fowell, Mansfield and Maclurcan; garden redesign by Professor E.G. Waterhouse; first overseas guest November 1957 (Japanese PM).
• 1957–present – Sydney accommodation for Australian Prime Ministers (CHL lists Menzies through Howard in its text; later PMs continue the pattern — update list carefully at publish without inventing).
• 15 July 2004 – Commonwealth Heritage List.

Architecture & interiors

CHL description (condensed, no invention): single-storey with attics; steep slate gables and traceried bargeboards; stone walling (painted / partly rendered ashlar imitation) plus some painted brick; multi-pane windows; shutters to French doors; tall chimneys with twin terracotta pots; verandahs to east and south; castellated bay; entrance porch with toplight.

Interiors extensively altered, but CHL still notes possible lath-and-plaster ceilings in places; red-and-white marble chimney pieces (1850s–60s); some 1850s and 1880s flooring and cornices; cedar stair partly 1880s; some 1920s skirtings. Outbuildings include a 1920s brick garage. 1957 works added West Court stone wall/steps and driveway / carriage loop (angophoras noted).

People & anecdotes

Adolph Feez — merchant builder; German heritage echoed in the Sophienberg name (Australiana Fund).

Hughes / Taylor families — mid-Victorian enlargement and society occupation; Terry-family descent connections appear in Australiana Fund narrative (Samuel Terry wealth) — keep secondary claims modest.

Arthur Wigram Allen — last private owner; prolific photographer whose albums also document Carrara / Strickland House (cross-link). His subdivision plan triggered the 1920 save-the-point campaign — a rare early harbourside open-space win.

Prime Ministers since 1957 — the house’s modern fame. Official hospitality list (royals, US Presidents, Mandela, etc.) is Australiana Fund colour — cite as Fund narrative, not as a complete diplomatic register.

Image gallery guidance

1. Gothic gables from the harbour Search: official PM / Australiana Fund photography; CHL images. Caption idea: Rustic Gothic on the point — Kirribilli House keeps its setting.

2. Traceried bargeboards / verandah detail Search: Open Day photos with permission. Caption idea: Why CHL calls out the bargeboards — style still readable.

3. Admiralty House + Kirribilli House pair Search: ferry / Bridge views. Caption idea: GG to the west, PM to the east — one Cammeraygal point.

4. 1850s bathing pool / boat harbour ruin Search: Karskens brief report cited in CHL bibliography; conservation photos. Caption idea: Possibly among the oldest harbourside bathing pools — fabric fragile.

5. 1920 campaign / Allen subdivision context Search: Trove “Kirribilli House” 1920; Mary Booth. Caption idea: Public agitation beat the five-lot plan.

What stands today

Kirribilli House stands as the Prime Minister’s Sydney residence. Not a casual tourist site — watch for announced Open Days. The Lodge (Canberra) remains the traditional principal official residence.

What you can do:

• Ferry past the point; photograph from public water or foreshore only.
• Read with Admiralty House (this batch) as a paired official-residences scrapbook.
• Australiana Fund collection notes explain furniture and art on loan inside — useful colour without inventing inventories.

Sources & further reading

• Australian Heritage Database — Kirribilli House CHL 105451: https://environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl?mode=place_detail;place_id=105451
• Australiana Fund — Prime Minister residences (The Lodge & Kirribilli House): https://www.theaustralianafund.org.au/prime-minister
• Dictionary of Sydney — Kirribilli place entry: https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/kirribilli
• Clive Lucas & Partners — Kirribilli House conservation analysis (1986) cited in CHL bibliography
• Philip Cox & Partners Kirribilli House Master Plan (1981) cited in CHL bibliography
• Grace Karskens — Kirribilli House bathing pool brief report (1986) cited in CHL bibliography
• Official PM site: https://www.pm.gov.au
• Trove — “Kirribilli House” + 1920 subdivision / Mary Booth
• Cross-read: Admiralty House CHL 105398 / 105399

Research gaps: Full Feez biography beyond Fund/CHL; exact Allen purchase price from conveyancing; post-Howard PM occupancy details for any named list update.

Related on this blog

• Admiralty House (Wotonga) Kirribilli (this batch — immediate neighbour)
• Carabella House – North Sydney (search Carabella)
• Strickland House / Carrara (this batch — another Arthur Wigram Allen chapter)
• Holtermann Mansion – Lavender Bay (North Shore context)

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