Historic Sydney Mansions, Manors, Villas & Houses : 188 Forbes Street

Former St Peters Rectory – 188 Forbes Street – Darlinghurst – NSW

Built c.1872–1873 · Architect not attributed here · Standing (RNE-listed former rectory)

On the triangle lot where Forbes Street meets Clapton Place — polychrome brick, steep patterned slate, cast-iron balcony, metal digits 188 on the sawtooth brick band — stands the house the Register of the National Estate recorded as St Peters Rectory (former). It was raised for the Anglican parish of St Peter’s (church by O. H. Lewis, 1866–67; hall by Benjamin Backhouse, 1873) and later returned to private residential use.

At a glance

Address / site: 188 Forbes Street, corner Clapton Place, Darlinghurst NSW 2010 (RNE location note; live-post street number confirmed on facade)
Built: c.1872–1873 (Wikipedia Darlinghurst heritage list / recent agent tradition 1872–73; City of Sydney Archives bond for awnings at 188 Forbes Street dated in the 1871 series)
Architect: not attributed for the rectory in sources used here (O. H. Lewis and Benjamin Backhouse designed the church and hall)
Style: freestanding multi-storey Victorian Gothic villa; polychromatic patterned brickwork; steep gabled / patterned slate roof; elaborate patterned brick chimneys; delicate cast-iron cantilevered balcony; attic level; garage inserted at southern end 1947 (RNE)
Original use: rectory for St Peter’s Church of England, Darlinghurst (parish church 1866–67 on Bourke / St Peters Street; hall 1873 on Forbes Street)
Estate context: Edward Deas Thomson / Barham grant country; St Peter’s precinct assembled from mid-century lots; church purchased further Forbes Street terraces in 1924 for forecourt (separate from this rectory lot)
Heritage status: Register of the National Estate place 1985 (registered 21 Mar 1978) as St Peters Rectory (former); noted on Wikipedia Darlinghurst heritage list; standing private house. The Sydney LEP item I300 “Former St Peter’s Church of England Group” is addressed at 159–163 Bourke / Forbes Street (church, hall, store)
Fate: standing; sold as renovated private residence (Aileen Sage Architects upgrade cited in 2025 marketing)

Site & setting

Forbes Street here is the lower Darlinghurst ridge edge toward the old St Peter’s parish — Barham and SCEGGS upslope, Clapton Place / Farrell Avenue toward the Rosebank and Rose Hall flat precinct, Bourke Street carrying the sandstone church that is now SCEGGS Great Hall. The rectory’s triangle lot and Clapton Place corner give it a freestanding silhouette rare among the terrace walls.

Live-post photographs (nine images) are mostly close fabric: Tudor-rose sandstone stops, cream-and-red arched window surrounds, sawtooth brick channel, balcony soffit, and the metal 188 — enough to lock the address to the polychrome Gothic villa the RNE described.

Timeline

Jan 1835 – Edward Deas Thomson grant recorded; Barham built early 1840s (still inside SCEGGS); mid-century subdivision creates the Forbes / St Peters Street lots (Heritage NSW St Peter’s group history).
1866–67 – St Peter’s Church built (O. H. Lewis); vestry additions later (Wikipedia / SHR church precinct).
1869–1870 – Church buys adjoining Forbes Street lots; some already house-occupied (group history).
1871 series – City of Sydney Archives: bond for awnings at 188 Forbes Street (early address evidence).
c.1872–1873 – Rectory raised in Victorian Gothic polychrome brick (RNE description; build years from secondary heritage list / agent tradition). Church hall by Benjamin Backhouse, 1873, on Forbes Street (separate building).
1924 – Church purchases five Forbes Street terraces and demolishes them for entry/forecourt to the church (Wikipedia) — precinct change, not demolition of 188.
1947 – Garage incorporated at southern end (RNE).
21 Mar 1978 – Register of the National Estate registration as St Peters Rectory (former), place ID 1985.
1993 – St Peter’s Church closed and sold to SCEGGS (Great Hall / Playhouse) — rectory’s later private life is separate from the school’s church conversion.
2020s – House marketed and sold as renovated freestanding residence; street number and polychrome fabric unchanged.

Architecture & interiors

The RNE sheet is the architectural spine: three-storey brick residence with attic; patterned walls and patterned slate roof; facade enlivened by a delicate cast-iron cantilevered balcony at first-floor level; very steep gable roof with elaborate patterned brick chimneys; 1947 garage at the southern end. Significance text calls it a fascinating example of polychromatic patterned brickwork in a quaint Victorian villa, Gothic style suited to rectory use, contributing to the lower Forbes Street / Clapton Place streetscape.

Live images match that reading — cream/red voussoirs, floral sandstone label stops, sawtooth recessed brick, balcony timber soffit.

People & anecdotes

This house’s identity is parochial before personal: built as the dwelling for St Peter’s clergy while the sandstone church and Forbes Street hall served the congregation. Parish associations recorded for the church precinct (Charles Kemp, Henry Connell, Lebbeus Hordern, Patrick White among later church-linked names) belong to the worship story, not proven rectory residents.

Edward Deas Thomson’s Barham grant is the deeper land layer; SCEGGS’s later ownership of the church/hall is a neighbour story. The rectory’s twentieth-century private chapters (including the 1947 garage and recent architectural upgrade) explain why the polychrome villa still faces Forbes Street when so much parish housing was cleared for the 1924 forecourt.

What stands today

The former rectory stands at 188 Forbes Street as a private house. Walk the Clapton Place corner for the gables and balcony; continue to SCEGGS Great Hall (former St Peter’s Church) and Playhouse (former hall) for the parish set; glance to Barham inside the school grounds and to Horizon for Rose Hall’s vacant sky.

Map pin: 188 Forbes Street, Darlinghurst (cnr Clapton Place).

Sources & further reading

Australian Heritage Database — St Peters Rectory (former), 188 Forbes St, Darlinghurst (RNE place 1985): https://environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl?mode=place_detail;place_id=1985
Heritage NSW — Former St Peter’s Church of England Group (LEP I300 / database 2420326) — precinct context only: https://apps.environment.nsw.gov.au/dpcheritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=2420326
Wikipedia — St Peter’s Church, Darlinghurst (church/hall architects and 1924 forecourt)
Wikipedia — Darlinghurst (heritage list entry for 188 Forbes Street: St Peters Rectory (former))
City of Sydney Archives — bond for awnings at 188 Forbes Street (1871 series record)