Newmarket House – 7 Young Street – Randwick – NSW

Newmarket House – 7 Young Street – Randwick – NSW

Victorian Italianate · Built from c.1861 (wing 188083) · Standing — adaptively reused · Heart of the Newmarket racing precinct

Randwick’s racing world needed more than a course: it needed stables, yards and a house that ran the show. On Young Street, what began as John Dillon’s unsuccessful Newmarket Hotel (c.1861) became the managerial residence of a thoroughbred complex modelled on Newmarket in Suffolk — later tied to James White, Michael Fennelly, trainer Thomas Payten and, from 1917–18, William Inglis & Son. The Big Stable nearby played Phar Lap’s film set; the house itself still stands, conserved and reused as a childcare centre inside the modern Newmarket redevelopment.

At a glance

• Address: 7 Young Street, Randwick NSW 2031 (precinct bound by Barker, Jane and Young Streets)
• Built: Victorian Italianate house from c.1861 on the Newmarket Hotel site; single-storey wing added 188083 for the White / Fennelly training era
• Early names / use: Newmarket Hotel (commercial failure) → training / managerial residence for the Newmarket stables precinct
• Key figures: Joseph Fowles (early training stables, 186162); Sydney United Omnibus Co. (187678); Michael Fennelly & pastoralist James White (from 1878); trainer Thomas Payten; William Inglis & Son (purchase c.1917 for £50,000)
• Style: Victorian Italianate residence at the centre of stables, training grounds and sale rings linked to Randwick Racecourse
• Heritage / precinct: Part of Randwick’s historic Newmarket Precinct (Council heritage plaque, Young Street); house conserved through precinct redevelopment
• Fate / use today: Standing — adaptively reused as a preschool / childcare centre (Montessori Academy; SUPERCONTEXT architect; Weir Phillips heritage advice); principal elevation, verandah and slate roof restored

Site & setting

On Bidjigal / Gadigal Country beside Randwick Racecourse (racing from 1833). The ten-acre Newmarket holding grew into one of Sydney’s best-known training and bloodstock addresses. Barker Street stables once served the Sydney Omnibus Company’s horse-drawn buses. Today apartment buildings and public domain surround the conserved house and remnant precinct fabric.

Timeline

• Jul 1861 — John Joseph Watts leases ~10 acres to artist–author Joseph Fowles; training stables begun on the Newmarket (Suffolk) model.
• 1862 — Fowles insolvent; property advertised as Newmarket Hotel; successive lessees to 1876.
• c.1861 onward — Hotel fabric becomes the core of what Randwick documents as Newmarket House.
• 1876–78 — Sydney United Omnibus Company ownership.
• 1878 — Purchased by horse auctioneer Michael Fennelly and pastoralist / AJC figure James White; thoroughbred training expands.
• c.1880 — “Big Stable built; 1880–83 single-storey wing added to the house.
• After White — Trainer Thomas Payten owns and trains here until sale to William Inglis & Son (c.1917–18).
• WWII — Big Stable used as detention barracks; postwar industrial use; mid-1980s stable restoration (RAIA Greenway Award).
• Film — Big Stable used as a set in Phar Lap.
• Into early 2000s — House remains residence / racing-management centre; Inglis sales culture on and around the site.
• 2010s–2020s — Precinct redevelopment; Newmarket House conserved and adaptively reused as childcare with rear contemporary wing.

Architecture

A Victorian Italianate house of staged construction: mid-Victorian core associated with the 1860s hotel/stables phase, and an 1880–83 wing from the WhiteFennelly racing peak. Conservation for the preschool project retained the principal dwelling, restored the verandah, slate roof and landscape setting under significant figs, removed later accretions, and added an L-shaped contemporary rear wing around a courtyard (basement pick-up to meet council requirements).

People & racing lore

James White — wealthy grazier and racing patron; Newmarket as Randwick base for a famous string.
Michael Fennelly — leading trainer linked to Sydney Cup, Victoria Derby and Melbourne Cup successes in the White era.
Thomas Payten — long resident trainer-owner before the Inglis purchase.
William Inglis & Son — bloodstock auctioneers who made Newmarket a national sales address; house as managerial headquarters for major yearling fixtures.

What stands today

Newmarket House stands at 7 Young Street, adaptively reused and publicly visible as part of the Newmarket residential precinct. The wider historic stables story continues through remnant fabric and Randwick Councils Newmarket Precinct plaque. Respect private childcare operations — view from the public domain.

Sources & further reading

• Randwick City Council — Our Story: Newmarket House (7 Young Street): ourstory.randwick.nsw.gov.au
• Randwick City Council — Newmarket Precinct heritage plaque text (Young Street)
• Dictionary of Sydney — Newmarket Precinct Randwick: dictionaryofsydney.org
• Weir Phillips Heritage — Newmarket House, Randwick (adaptive reuse project note)
• SUPERCONTEXT — Randwick Preschool / Newmarket House project description

Related on this blog

• Other Randwick houses and racing-suburb villas
• Demolished and surviving eastern-suburbs estates