Showing posts with label Darlinghurst. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Darlinghurst. Show all posts

Sunday, June 7, 2026

Potts Point, Darling Point And Neighbourhood - Supplementary Note - J Arthur Dowling - Aust Historical Society Journal Vol 2 Pg 52 - 69

 




Potts’ Point, Darling Point & Neighbourhood.
Supplementary Note.
By J. ARTHUR DOWLING (Fellow).
[This note is supplementary to the extensive paper by me,
published in the Society’s Journal, Vol. 2, pp. 52-69. It is nearby
21 years since that paper was read before the Society,
& in the interval some of the fine old homes have been either
demolished or remodelled, as are here mentioned.]
“Craigend” (p. 52) has been demolished, the land
subdivided, and modern flat buildings erected on the
land. The whole of this property is now densely built
upon.
“Goderich Lodge” (p. 51•) has since been demolished,
and modern dwellings and flats erected on the land.
“Waratah” (p. 53) : The original house is still on the
site. Some years since property came into the
possession of Mr. A. W. Allen, who renovated and im-
*This grant was known as Homebush, & was later acquired
by D’Arcy Wentworth. The area now forms part of the Abat-
toirs property.

proved it, & erected an additional large building, all
of which is still' used as flats known as “Waratah.” It
has since passed out of Mr. Allen’s possession. The
western end of Hampton Court building is on part of
the land originally belonging to Goderich property, &
partly on land on which Elizabeth Terrace has been
erected.
The property built on portion of land (in upper
William St, North, now Bayswater Rd, Kings
Cross), was portion of a grant on October 19, 1831,
to Mr. S. A. Perry, at its junction with Macleay St
(formerly Woolloomooloo Rd, at one time “Mill Hill
Rd”), extending into & along Macleay St, is
erroneously described (p. 53). Darlinghurst Rd should
should have been mentioned, not Macleay St, for this
road & street do not connect until they meet opposite
Elizabeth Bay Rd further north. Many of the houses
in Alberto Terrace built & formerly owned by Mr.
John Solomon (Jacky Solomon), have lately been modern-
ised & converted into business premises.
“Kellet House” (p. 53): This residence was not
built by Sir S. A. Donaldson, but probably by Captain
S. A. Perry. See article by Mrs. A. G. Foster, entitled
“Some Early Homes and Epitaphs,” in the Society’s
Journal, Vol. XI., p. 305, wherein it is stated that “After
disposing of the fine property in Hunter St [At the
south-west corner of Hunter & Pitt Sts]
he went to live in a house named ‘Bona Vista,’ owned
by a Captain Perry. Mrs. Jones, as a token of her
friendship with Lady Darling, renamed the place ‘Dar-
linghurst.’ Later the house passed into the hands of
S. A. Donaldson, who changed the name to ‘Kellet
House.’ ”
“Eaton” (p. 53) was purchased some years ago from
Mr. E. Fosbery by Mr. A. W. Allen, who lately disposed
of it. The house has been demolished, & now a large
number of small flats are erected upon the land.
“A small cottage where my parents lived” (p. 54):
This cottage has long since been demolished, & C. B.
Bradley’s Motor Works & Garage are now erected on
the land.





Roslyn Hall’ (p. 54) : The widow of William Law-
son, the younger, lived here in the 1870's with her
daughters Sarah & Sophia, who married Christopher
Lethbridge & Edward Deas Thomson, respectively.
Some other occupants were Mr. Chauvel & Hon. Wil-
liam Macleay. Mr. Thomas Barker lived there after he
erected the house. Mrs. Parry Long is now owner &
occupier. This old house still exists, but it is now
hidden from sight by the dwellings in Darlinghurst Rd
built on the frontage, though it can be seen in Roslyn
Avenue, immediately at the rear of it.
“Cheverells” (p. 54) has been extensively added to
and renovated, & is now a large building of flats. It
was built by David Jones (of the old firm of David Jones
& Company), who sold it to Captain Deloitte, who
treated it as portion of his marriage settlement. He
lived there, & later occupants were J. Gosling, Henry
Beit, James Ewen, Hamilton Osborne, —. Todd, Dr. Hall
Palmer, W. R. Campbell, & now Mrs. Rolls.
‘Barncleuth’ (p. 54) was built by David Jones.
The old home has been altered & enlarged, & is now
known as “Kinneil.”
“Greenknowe” (p. 54) was demolished some years
ago, the land subdivided, & various dwellings erected
on the land, amongst others the large building known as
Kingsclere Flats, at the corner of Greenknowe Avenue.
Amongst occupants at various times were Walter Lamb,
F. H. Danger, F. C. Griffith, H. E. H. Allen, & Bishop
Saumarez Smith. It is most probable that Mr. Hume,
the head of his profession at the time, was the architect.

“Bomerah” (p. 55), the residence of the McQuade
family, was later resumed by the Government for the
Harbour Trust, & the dwelling house, with portion of
the land, was leased by it to R. Amos, contractor.

“Grantham” (p. 56) : After the death of Hon. Henry
C. Dangar, this property was subdivided & sold. The
mansion has since been used as a boarding house.

“Springfield” (p. 57) was lately purchased by Mr.
A. E. Dalwood, who, on reconditioning it, removed a
hearthstone in one of the rooms, on the back of which
was cut “This hearth stone was laid by F. Overton,
15/9/1830.” This would give some evidence of the date
of the erection of the house, which was evidently built
before the actual issue of the grant to A. M. Baxter on
October 19, 1830, as was somewhat usual in those days.
Some of the various tenants were Madam Monsigny, Mrs.
Henrickson, Robert Campbell (of the wharf), Fitzgerald
(of Windsor), George Evans (solicitor), Lady Murray,
M. J. Macnamara (solicitor), Mrs. W. H. Suttor, & at
present Mrs. Pickburn.


“Brougham Lodge” (p. 57) property, after taking
in Stirling Cottage at the junction of Macleay Street
(correctly Darlinghurst Rd) & Victoria St, ex-
tended to the site of Alberto Terrace to the east, erected
by John Solomon.

“Rosebank” (p. 58), & those houses in front of
same, have long since been demolished. Large buildings
& flats have been erected on the principal land, &
the buildings in front have been demolished for the wid-
ening of William St


DARLING POINT.

“Canonbury” (p. 59) was some years ago purchased
by the Australian Jockey Club, to use as a hospital for
permanently crippled soldiers, & is now a Home for
Returned Soldiers’ Children.


“Etham House, enclosed by an unsightly galvanised
iron fence” (p. 60), is now demolished, & dwelling
houses erected on the land.


“Mount Adelaide” (pp. 60-61) was later owned by
the late Samuel Hordern, who in his will directed his
son, the present Sir Samuel Hordern, to erect a dwelling
house of a certain value. He consequently purchased
the property, demolished the house, & erected on the
site the present mansion, which he named “Babworth
House.”


“Eastbourne” (p. 61) was later owned & occupied
by the present Mr. Henry Austin, who disposed of it.
Now it is modernised, & made into flats with an im-
posing appearance.

Mr. T. W. Smart’s land in Branch Rd (now
Marathon Rd) & Darling Pt, with his vegetable
garden on it (p. 61), is now covered with dwelling houses,
&  is known as Marathon Estate. Part of this is Mr.
Merivale’s property, which has been subdivided into al-
lotments, including that on which his house, “Annery,”
is erected. The old guard house has been demolished,
& a dwelling house known as “Little Annery” has
been erected on the land it occupied, & on some ad-
joining land.


“Brooksby” (p. 62) was at one time occupied by
Miss Robson as a Boys’ Preparatory School, & later by
myself & others. It was sold some years ago, &
has been added to and improved.

“St. Mark’s Crescent” (p. 62) was long since dis-
posed of, but I do not know the name of the present
owner.
“St. Mark’s Church” (p. 62) interior has been much
improved by the introduction of modern lighting and
other additions.

“Greenoakes” (p. 63) : This property was left by
the original owner, Thomas Sutcliffe Mort, to his widow
& family in equal shares, who eventually sold the
house, with a portion of surrounding land, to the Church
of England for the residence of the Arch-
bishop of Australia; & the residue of the land to a
speculator, who divided it into various allotments, which
are now built upon & owned by various purchasers.

“Fiona” (p. 65) is now owned by Misses Fanny &
Kate Knox, daughters of the late Sir Edward Knox.


“Ecclesbourne” (p. 65): The late Dr. James Norton
was owner, & lived here for a number of years. After
his death it was sold, with portion of the land, & it is
now owned by his son; & two dwelling houses are
erected on the other portions of the same.
“The old stone building .... for the use of the
police” (p. 66), at corner of road, now Beach Rd, lead-
ing to Yarranabee Rd, has long since disappeared, &
on the land a modern building has been erected.


“Springfield,” Darling Point (p. 67), was sold &
subdivided some years ago. The house was modernised,
& numerous dwellings erected on the allotments.
Strangely enough, the late Mr. George Evans, solicitor,
had been an occupant at different times of “Springfield,”
Darling Pt, and “Springfield,” Darlinghurst Rd.


























Friday, April 24, 2026

Craigend - Darlinghurst - Darlinghurst Villas - Demolished 1922

Craigend – Royston Street / Craigend Street – Darlinghurst – NSW

Built from 1829 · Architect Thomas Livingstone Mitchell · Demolished 1921–1922 (villa gone; Royston Street flats)

On the highest southern point of the Darlinghurst ridge — one of Governor Darling’s Woolloomooloo Heights villa grants, allotment Number 12 — Surveyor-General Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell designed and raised his own Grecian-Doric “Roman villa,” named Craigend after the Scottish family house and the rocky craig underfoot. Sale copy in 1837 billed the Parthenon-style portico as the Acropolis of Sydney; Peacock painted the garden prospect in 1845 when solicitor George John Rogers held the place; later the shell hosted Royston College, then a hospital and boarding house, before the picks cleared it in 1921–1922 for the Royston Street flat overlay. Welcome to Craigend, Darlinghurst — not the Craigend mill; not next-door Rose Hall or Rosebank; gone, while neighbour Barham alone still stands inside SCEGGS.

At a glance

  • Address / site: Woolloomooloo Heights / Darlinghurst ridge south of William Street; villa core remembered with Royston Street (ex-Mitchell Court); estate streets Craigend Street, Surrey Street, Victoria Street / Kings Cross Road edge (DoS ~−33.8768, 151.2225); Gadigal Country
  • Built: designed / begun 1829 (plan approved April 1829; DoS Constructed 1829); grant of just over nine acres 1831; still unfinished April 1833 (Felton Mathew)
  • Architect: Thomas Livingstone Mitchell (own design — DoS; Broadbent; SLNSW) — not Verge
  • Style: Picturesque Grecian Doric “Roman villa”; Parthenon-pastiche portico(s); long bedroom “tail” to offices; later storey added to wing (c.1860s photos)
  • Original owner: Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell (1792–1855), Surveyor-General
  • Famous later chapter: sale / subdivision from 1837; George John Rogers by 1845; Royston College (F. Bevill) 1880s; hospital then boarding house early 1900s; flats after demolition
  • Estate context: southern quartet with Barham, Rose Hall, Rosebank — only Barham still stands (SCEGGS)
  • Heritage status: villa demolished; precinct partly inside Barcom Avenue Heritage Conservation Area (SLEP C11 / SHI 2421458)
  • Fate: demolished 1921–1922; Royston Street / Mitchell Court sold 1923; name on Craigend Street

Site & setting

Call it Woolloomooloo Heights, Eastern Hill or Darlinghurst — Mitchell’s grant sat on the highest southern point of the ridge, south of what became William Street, in the dress-circle belt Governor Ralph Darling reserved in 1828–1831 for senior officials’ villas (value £1,000+, one house per grant, plans for the Governor’s eye). Dictionary of Sydney puts four villas on that southern side: Barham (Verge for Edward Deas Thomson), Craigend (Mitchell for himself), Rose Hall (Ambrose Hallen for himself), and Rosebank (likely Verge for James Laidley). William Street, opened 1840, sliced the northern ends of those estates and fixed the Darlinghurst / Kings Cross edge.

Disambiguation, thrice. This is Craigend the Mitchell villa — scrapbooked on this blog under craigend-darlinghurst. It is not the Craigend mill (a separate ridge windmill near the estate, last of the mills, demolished c.1873 near Beare’s Stairs / Caldwell Street). It is not neighbour Rose Hall (Horizon’s ground) or Rosebank (Pallisades / Farrell Avenue). And it is not a standing house: the villa was cleared in the early 1920s; what you walk is Royston Street and Craigend Street inside the later flat and terrace city.

Walk Royston Street today and you are on the remembered villa overlay — Heritage NSW is blunt: Royston Street, originally Mitchell Court, was subdivided from the Craigend Estate after demolition in 1921 and sold in 1923. Craigend Street keeps the name on the Barcom Avenue conservation-area map. The Inter-war flat blocks that replaced the “Acropolis” are why the story is geography and paint, not a street museum frontage.

Timeline

  • 15 Jun 1792 – Thomas Livingstone Mitchell born, Grangemouth, Scotland (ADB).
  • 1827 – Arrives Sydney as Assistant Surveyor-General; succeeds Oxley as Surveyor-General 1828 (ADB).
  • Sep 1828 – Promised Woolloomooloo Hill allotment No. 12; writes of “ten acres” and naming the rock-top mansion Craigend (Broadbent / Mitchell Letters).
  • Apr 1829 – Plan and elevation approved by Governor Darling (SLNSW V1A/Darh/4); building under way by June (letter to mother).
  • 1831 – Authorised to select grant of just over nine acres at the highest point of the ridge (Villas of Potts Point; Heritage NSW 1828–31 build window).
  • 22 Apr 1833 – Mrs Felton Mathew: still unfinished, but “most distinguished for architectural design” on the ridge (Broadbent).
  • Nov 1836 / 22 Jan 1837 – James & Co auction of the “Roman villa” / “Acropolis of Sydney”; house block bought in by Mitchell at £4,000 (Australian via Broadbent). DoS ends Mitchell ownership 1837.
  • 1840 – William Street opens; northern ends of Barham / Rose Hall / Rosebank / Craigend severed (DoS).
  • Sep 1841 – Further Craigend subdivision advertising for merchant/tradesman dwellings (Sydney Herald via Broadbent).
  • By ~1842 / 1845 – Solicitor George John Rogers owning / occupying; Peacock paints Domain and Woolloomooloo prospects from the garden (DL 14, DL 15).
  • c.1860s – Photographs show second storey added to the long wing / kitchen block (Broadbent / ML photo tradition).
  • c.1873 – Nearby Craigend mill demolished (DoS — mill, not villa).
  • 1883–1885 – Royston College (F. Bevill) at Craigend; Bevill proposes Royston Avenue name (City Archives; school ads / ISN engraving).
  • Early 1900s – Converted to hospital, then boarding house (Villas of Potts Point / secondary tradition — name/years not pinned here).
  • 1921–1922 – Villa demolished (Heritage NSW / SLNSW 1921; DoS 1922).
  • 1923 – Royston Street (Mitchell Court) subdivision sold (Heritage NSW).
  • Today – No villa fabric. Street names, Peacock views, the 1829 plan, and Barcom HCA geography carry the story.

Architecture & interiors

Forget inventing a cedar inventory. What survives is Mitchell’s approved 1829 plan, the overheated 1836–37 sale copy, Peacock’s 1845 prospects, and later photographs.

Craigend was Mitchell’s own attempt at a thoroughly Greek Revival domestic statement in a colony still learning the orders: Grecian Doric porticos (sale copy: an “exact copy of the Parthenon” — in fact a four-column pastiche on a raised plinth), colonnades, claimed tessellated pavements “from the ruins of Herculaneum,” and an asymmetrical Picturesque skyline along the ridge — main two-storey block, entrance portico toward Sydney, long single-storey bedroom “tail,” and a taller offices block beyond (Broadbent reading of V1A/Darh/4 and built photos). The 1837 advertisement listed thirteen apartments, dining and drawing rooms thirty by twenty feet, best bedroom twenty by sixteen, plus kitchen, wash-house, bakery, coach-house and stabling for four horses. As built, the design was simplified from the approved sheet; by about 1860 a second storey had been added to the wing, easing the long kitchen corridor but dulling some of the original contrast of forms (Broadbent).

Architect — settled as Mitchell. Dictionary of Sydney, the State Library’s Peacock captions, the Villas of Darlinghurst / Potts Point exhibition text, and Broadbent agree: the Surveyor-General designed it himself. Treat Verge as the neighbour’s architect (Barham; probably Rosebank) — not Craigend’s.

The nickname Acropolis of Sydney belongs to the sale rhetoric around the Parthenon portico and the elevated site — keep it labelled as period advertising, not a tourist-board invention.

People & anecdotes

Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell is the founding figure: Peninsular War topographer, half-pay major, then Sydney from 1827 with the right to succeed Oxley; Surveyor-General from 1828; roads, trigonometrical ambition, and the famous inland expeditions of the 1830s (ADB). He petitioned hard for Woolloomooloo Hill, chose the highest rock, named the house for the Scottish Craigend and the craig underfoot, and spent beyond prudence — Broadbent and the Villas catalogue tie the 1837 subdivision sale to financial trouble caused in part by the mansion. He left on leave in May 1837, chased a knighthood and publications in Britain, and never again made Craigend his long home. He died in Sydney on 5 October 1855 after catching a chill surveying the Nelligen–Braidwood road — ADB says “at his home in Sydney,” not at Craigend, which he had sold years earlier.

Mary Mitchell (née Blunt) and their large family shared the early Craigend years; five of twelve children predeceased him (ADB). The public Mitchell — explorer, duellist with Stuart Donaldson in 1851, insubordinate thorn to successive governors — overshadows the private villa story; keep the house chapter tied to design, debt, and sale rather than re-litigating every expedition.

George John Rogers, Sydney solicitor, is the best-documented mid-1840s freeholder: SLNSW’s caption to Peacock’s View from Craigend looking over Government House and Domain (DL 14, 1845) places him as owner when the garden’s introduced plants and the new Government House filled the frame. Secondary family-history writing puts his residence from about 1842 and later retirement to Mallow, Cork — flag beyond the Library caption.

Royston College under F. Bevill, M.A. gives the house a documented late-Victorian institutional chapter: largest-private-school advertising, harbour prospect from over two acres, and Bevill’s 1883 request that the street through the Craigend Estate from William Street be named Royston Avenue — the root of today’s Royston Street name. After that, the secondary tradition of hospital then boarding house in the early 1900s bridges to demolition; exact operators await a Sands/title chase.

Image gallery guidance

Do not invent URLs — search these collections and embed with proper acknowledgement. Keep Peacock / gates / carriageway / Stubbs-plan images already on the live post; fix Woolloomooloo spelling in captions; treat Pechey steps photo as provisional identification only.

1. Elevation and plan of a house proposed to be built on Craigend, 1829

Search: SLNSW V1A/Darh/4; Villas of Darlinghurst; Broadbent plate. Caption idea: Darling’s approval — Mitchell’s own Grecian design for allotment No. 12.

2. George Edwards Peacock, View from Craigend looking over Government House and Domain, 1845

Search: SLNSW Dixson DL 14; digital order tradition a140023. Caption idea: Rogers’s garden — looking to the new Government House and Macquarie Street.

3. George Edwards Peacock, View north from Craigend looking over Woolloomooloo and Port Jackson, 1845

Search: SLNSW DL 15 / a140025; already alluded to on the live post. Caption idea: North from the ridge — Woolloomooloo Bay and the harbour from Craigend.

4. Charles Bayliss / ML Small Pictures File — Craigend exterior photos (c.1860s tradition)

Search: Mitchell Library Sydney Residences–Craigend; Broadbent plates. Caption idea: After the second-storey wing — the Acropolis before the flat city.

5. Plan of allotments at Craigend (Stubbs / Mitchell sale tradition on live post)

Search: SLNSW / NLA subdivision plans; live scrapbook image — confirm catalogue date before asserting year. Caption idea: Estate into lots — Mitchell’s nine acres carved for sale.

6. Illustrated Sydney News — Old Sydney Landmarks: Royston College, Darlinghurst, c.1884 (C. H. Hunt)

Search: SLNSW Illustrated Sydney News; Antique Print Map Room citations. Caption idea: School chapter — Bevill’s Royston College in the old villa.

7. Front gates / carriageway (existing blog photos)

Search: already on the 2026-04 post. Caption idea: Noble approach from the Woolloomooloo road — scrapbook survivors.

8. Royston Street flats / Mitchell Court overlay today

Search: own site photos; City of Sydney imagery. Caption idea: Villa footprint under Inter-war flats — name on Royston and Craigend streets.

9. Compare set: Barham (SCEGGS), Rose Hall / Horizon, Rosebank (Pallisades), Tusculum, Rockwall, Elizabeth Bay House

Search: existing blog posts; DoS southern quartet. Caption idea: Same Heights grants — only Barham still standing of the southern four.

10. Portrait tradition: Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell

Search: SLNSW; ADB linked portraits. Caption idea: Surveyor-General and amateur architect — the man who called the rock Craigend.

What stands today

Craigend the villa does not stand. Dictionary of Sydney, Heritage NSW and the State Library agree the house was cleared in 1921–1922; Royston Street (formerly Mitchell Court) was sold as the replacement subdivision in 1923. What you visit is the estate geography, the street names, and the paint.

  • Walk Royston Street between the Victoria Street / Kings Cross Road edge and Surrey Street — Inter-war flats mark the remembered villa overlay.
  • Trace Craigend Street on the Barcom Avenue Heritage Conservation Area map (SLEP C11) — name without house.
  • Pair the walk with the southern-ridge roll-call: Barham still inside SCEGGS Forbes Street; Horizon marks vanished Rose Hall; Farrell Avenue / Rosebank Street marks vanished Rosebank.
  • Use Peacock’s two 1845 Craigend prospects (DL 14 Domain view; DL 15 Woolloomooloo view) to place the vanished garden and colonnades.
  • Do not hunt the villa in the mill story at Caldwell Street / Beare’s Stairs — that was the separate Craigend mill.

No public house museum, no remnant Parthenon portico. The enrichment is Mitchell’s 1829 plan, the Acropolis sale copy, Rogers’s Peacock garden, Bevill’s Royston College, and a flat street that kept the Surveyor-General’s name only as Mitchell Court for a season before Royston stuck.

Sources & further reading

  • Dictionary of Sydney — Craigend: https://dictionaryofsydney.org/building/craigend
  • Dictionary of Sydney — Darlinghurst (Mark Dunn, 2011): https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/darlinghurst
  • Dictionary of Sydney — Craigend mill: https://dictionaryofsydney.org/structure/craigend_mill
  • ADB — ‘Mitchell, Sir Thomas Livingstone (1792–1855)’: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mitchell-sir-thomas-livingstone-2463
  • Heritage NSW — Barcom Avenue Heritage Conservation Area (SHI 2421458): https://apps.environment.nsw.gov.au/dpcheritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=2421458
  • SLNSW — Elevation and plan … Craigend, 1829 (V1A/Darh/4)
  • SLNSW — Peacock, View from Craigend looking over Government House and Domain, 1845 (DL 14)
  • SLNSW — Peacock, View north from Craigend … Woolloomooloo and Port Jackson, 1845 (DL 15 / a140025)
  • James Broadbent, The Development of Woolloomooloo Hill (Potts Point Preservation / Australian Colonial House excerpt)
  • Potts Point Preservation — The Villas of Potts Point (SLNSW 2002 exhibition excerpt)
  • City of Sydney Archives — Bevill / Royston College / Royston Avenue letter (1883)
  • Existing scrapbook post: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2026/04/craigend-darlinghurst-darlinghurst.html

Related on this blog

(Expand the mid-depth 2026-04 scrapbook in place with this text. Keep Peacock / gates / carriageway / allotment-plan images; fix Surveryor / Dalirnghurst / Woolloolmooloo typos on the live post; soften or caveat the Pechey ownership caption; lead with Mitchell’s own design and the Royston Street footprint.)

Historic live gallery

Images retained from the live Blogger post:

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Campbell Street - Darlinghurst - Surry Hills - Haymarket -

 


Campbell Street -


38-42 Campbell Street 








40 Campbell St




42-44 Campbell Street 











46-52 Campbell Street







59-63 Campbell St








69 -71 Campbell Street 









77 - 79 Campbell Street









81 - 83 Campbell Street 













91 Campbell Street 







93 - 95 Campbell Street 







98 Campbell Street







100 Campbell Street 








101 - 103 Campbell Street 









140 Campbell Street










183 - 185 Campbell Street 







Cnr Of Campbell & George Street