Bellevue – 55–57 Leichhardt Street – Glebe Point – NSW

Bellevue – 55–57 Leichhardt Street – Glebe Point – NSW

Victorian Italianate villa on Jarrett’s Point · Ambrose Thornley Junior 1896 · Saved 1970s · Standing — City of Sydney / Blackwattle Bay Park · NSW SHR #00470

Bellevue is the little Italianate villa that clung to Blackwattle Bay when Venetia fell and the timber yards came. Glebe activists stopped illegal demolition in the mid-1970s; Council and then the City of Sydney restored it for the foreshore park. It is not Bellevue Hill, and it is not the vanished Venetia behind it.

At a glance

• Address: 55–57 Leichhardt Street, Glebe / Glebe Point NSW 2037
• Other names on SHR: site of former Venetia (demolished); 55 Leichhardt Street
• Traditional Custodians: Wangal / Cadigal of the Eora Nation (SHR / Barani framing)
• Built: c.1896 for William Jarrett; architect Ambrose Thornley Junior (SHR). Soft: DoS / some local walks 1883
• Style: restrained late Victorian Italianate; stuccoed brick; bullnose verandah; plaster eaves brackets (SHR)
• Point name: Jarrett’s Point between Blackwattle Bay and Rozelle Bay
• Adjoining story: larger Venetia (c.1875) demolished c.1914–15 after Windeyer purchase; high archaeological potential (SHR)
• Heritage: NSW SHR #00470 (2 Apr 1999); PCO 25 Jul 1986; National Trust; City of Sydney LEP
• Fate: Standing — City of Sydney ownership; Blackwattle Bay Park setting; café / community chapters (verify operator)

Site & setting

Foreshore headland once lined with marine villas, then Vanderfield & Reid timber yards, then landfill park. Bellevue is a landmark in Blackwattle Bay Park — highly visible from bay and foreshore walk (SHR aesthetic criteria). Venetia’s footprint lies under later fill beside/behind; treat as archaeology, not standing fabric.

Timeline

• 1789+ — Johnson Glebe grant; 1828 Church subdivisions; Spark then Chisholm chapters (SHR).
• 1873 – William Jarrett buys lots on the point; c.1875 builds Venetia (SHR).
• 1876 – Jarrett acquires Bellevue’s lot 47 from Ambrose Thornley Senior (SHR).
• 1896 – Bellevue built to Ambrose Thornley Junior’s design — reputed for a Jarrett daughter; early tenants Ewin Cecilia then J.G. Warden (SHR / Glebe Society).
• 1901 – Jarrett dies; Jul 1913 – Bellevue & Venetia sold to William Archibold Windeyer.
• c.1914–15 – Venetia demolished (SHR).
• From c.1925 – Bellevue ceases house use; timber milling across the point (SHR).
• 1970s – Parkes Developments threat; community / Glebe Society stop demolition; park deal; fill dumped; Section 130 Order 16 May 1980 (SHR).
• End 1981 – Leichhardt Council purchases foreshore including Bellevue; Blackwattle Bay Park opens Aug 1983.
• 1986 – PCO; re-roofing grant; 1999 – SHR.
• 2003 – Transfers to City of Sydney; 2005–07 CMP / restoration; 3 Mar 2007 open day (SHR).
• 2011+ – Café chapters intermittent (SHR / press) — verify at publish.
• Today – Restored villa in public park; social significance of the 1970s save remains central (SHR).

Architecture & interiors

Part two-storey stucco Italianate cottage with bullnose verandah and plaster eaves brackets (SHR). Inventory notes comprehensive earlier loss of joinery/ornament during dereliction, then City restoration (tessellated tiling, slate roof, plaster cornices cited on Glebe Walks). Prefer CMP / post-2007 fabric notes over inventing 1896 interiors.

People & anecdotes

William Jarrett — publican, building-society manager, Glebe alderman, developer of the point (SHR / Glebe Society). Ambrose Thornley Junior — local architect (Glebe Town Hall among works); bankrupt in 1890s depression (SHR). Windeyer — solicitor purchaser 1913. Glebe Society / local activists — 1970s save. Soft cultural note: Australian Crawl “Beautiful People” video filmed at dilapidated Bellevue 1979 (Wikipedia — secondary).

What stands today

Bellevue stands in Blackwattle Bay Park under City of Sydney custodianship and State Heritage listing. Exterior and park setting are the public experience; café tenancy status changes — check before advertising hours. Pair with the Venetia–Bellevue sister scrapbook for the demolished twin.

Sources & further reading

• NSW SHR — Bellevue (#00470, DB 5045302): https://apps.environment.nsw.gov.au/dpcheritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5045302
• Dictionary of Sydney — Bellevue: https://dictionaryofsydney.org/building/bellevue
• Glebe Society — William Jarrett; Bellevue / Venetia notes
• Glebe Walks — Bellevue (c.1883 page — prefer SHR 1896 in body)
• City of Sydney — foreshore / Bellevue interpretation materials cited on SHR
• Wikipedia — Bellevue, Glebe (portal)
• Trove — search: Bellevue Glebe; Venetia Glebe; Jarrett’s Point; Blackwattle Bay Park Bellevue

Related on this blog

• Venetia (demolished) & Bellevue sister scrapbook — keep names straight
• Toxteth Park, Glebe
• Lyndhurst, Glebe — Verge marine villa (cross-link Lyndhurst draft)
• Bidura, Glebe — Glebe Point Road villa (cross-link Bidura draft)
• Tranby / Reussdale — this batch Glebe cluster

Potts Point - Historic Homes - To Make Way For A Dock - SMH - Tues 14 Jan 1941 Page 5

 

Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Tuesday 14 January 1941, page 5

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TO MAKE WAY FOR THE DOCK

THE historic homes of Potts Point which have been resumed for the graving dock are a tangible link with the past of Sydney. They were the scenes of former gaieties and the foundations of traditions.

FORMERLY one of the loveliest building sites in Sydney, with green gardens slop-ing to the water's edge, Wylde Street is gradually becoming more dejected as one after another of the old homes is destroyed.

The destruction has been gradual from private homes to boarding houses & apartments & from flats to dockyard extensions.

Standing forlornly near the end of the Point is Agincourt, mourning the loss of its neighbour, Crecy, which has already been demolished. Agincourt, which was built by the Goodwin family in 1901, is aptly described by one of its tenants as an "International Irish stew." It has a French name, British lions in the garden, Italian armoured men as light fixtures, German plaques, a Turkish crescent moon & stars carved in the woodwork, Moorish domes, & a Persian cat!

In the beginning of the century, Agincourt was the scene of many bright parties, & naval guests came by pinnace from their ships to the jetty at the foot of the garden. 

NEXT to Agincourt is Kismet, a red brick house, covered with Virginia creeper, where Mr. & Mrs. Philip Bushell & their daughters, the Misses Amber & Pamela Bushell, have lived for 18 years. Mr. Bushell bought the house from its original owner, the late Sir Rupert Clarke,

A view from the harbour of Mr. W.A. Crowle's home, Once Upon a Time, which he built over his boatshed in the groups of Wyldefel Gardens. The yacht in which he travelleled for three years can be seen in the foreground.
whose son, the present Baronet, was born in the elaborate nursery wing.

From Kismet, we go to Fairhaven, one of the many homes built by the late Mr. Walter Hall. It was built in 1814, & after Mr. & Mrs. Hall's death it went to an employee, Mrs. Sheppard. She has lived there almost alone for 20 years, & is now lying seriously ill in the old home.

Mr. Hugh Ward's old home, Bellevue, which is now the site for the water-front flats. Bellevue Gardens, was a great social centre several years ago. Mr. & Mrs. Ward still live on the property, but on the land behind the flats.

Chatsworth is another of the old homes which has been resumed. It was built by Mr. C. J. Roberts

 

Venetia... Vanetta Now Bellevue - 55 Leichardt Street - Glebe - New South Wales

Bellevue, Glebe Point 1899 (G'mpa Warden in photo), [with the house Venetia in the background] ... c.1899 ... W. F. Hall Photo ...

Vanetta is perhaps either a pet name for the house employed by the Warden family, or a mistransliteration or corruption of Venetia [the two storey house, right, in this photograph]. The Warden family rented Bellevue 1898-1903 - Michael Foster (Sept 2005) ...

Previosly titled: "Vanetta" Glebe Point 1899 (G'mpa Warden in photo)

The residence is now known as "Bellevue" and is situated at 55 Leichhardt Street Glebe and is Classified by the National Trust of Australia (NSW).

Venetia was built about 1877 in Kennedy Street (later Leichhardt Street), Glebe for William Jarrett and demolished about 1915. Bellevue, probably a rental property, was built by local architect and builder Ambrose Thornley Junior for Jarrett. It first appears in the Glebe Rate books in 1896, unnamed, and in the Sands Directory in 1897, named Bellevue. It was acquired derelict by Leichhardt Council and was often incorrectly referred to as Venetia, long demolished, in the press and in minutes of the Heritage Council. -- Information supplied by Michael Foster (Sept 2005) ... State Library of New South Wales

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