Showing posts with label Historic House. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Historic House. Show all posts

Sunday, June 7, 2026

Historic House Exhibition - Australian Women's Weekly - Wednesday 2 May 1962, page 14

 

Historic House Exhibition - Australian Womans Weekly - Wednesday 2 May 1962 - Page 14











Exhibition
A pictorial exhibition of historic buildings in & around Sydney will be presented by the Women's Committee of the National Trust of Australia (N.S.W.) at David Jones Art Gallery. After a preview on May 15 it will be open to the public from
May 16 to May 24.


Called "No Time to Spare," the exhibition is designed to draw attention to buildings of historical & architectural value which the Trust believes must be saved far posterity. Among these buildings are seven fine old houses, & mementoes, which will be specially featured.


These pictures by Max Dupain show five of the houses. The Trust plans to send the photographic part of the exhibition to country towns in New South Wales.

"CAMDEN PARK," Camden, was built for John Macarthur, founder of the Australian wool industry. He died in a small wooden cottage before this fine Regency-style house was completed in 1835. His descendants lived here, & it is now the home of Lady Stanham, who was formerly Miss Helen MacarthurOnslow. Designed by John Verge-the architect of Elizabeth Bay House "Camden Park" is built of sandstock brick & has fine cedar joinery. It houses some valuable mementoes of early life in Sydney, including political prints & cartoons collected by Sir William Macarthur, a member of the Legislative Council. These have been lent for the exhibition. Other noteworthy exhibits are sketchbooks of early Australian artist Conrad Martens & his pupil, Elizabeth Macarthur.


OLD GOVERNMENT HOUSE, Parramatta, was the home of early Governors, from Hunter to Fitzroy, & is now part of The King's School. Built before 1800, it was enlarged by Governor Macquarie to the design of John Watts. The elegant entrance porch with Doric columns is the work of Francis Greenway, the ex-convict architect. Mementoes of Governors King, Bligh, & Fitzroy have been lent for the exhibition, including the four-poster bed & wardrobe of Lady Mary Fitzroy, the Governor's wife. She was killed when carriage horses bolted in Parramatta Park & her carriage overturned. After this tragedy in 1847
the house was not used as a residence for the Governors of the colony.
of historic houses

"NEWINGTON," Silverwater, was completed in 1832. Built for pioneer John Blaxland, it is distinguished by beautiful cedar joinery. Not only did Blaxland establish farming & grazing on the estate but also a salt works, lime works, mortar works, & a small woollen factory. A school was built for the children of employees, & a chapel which still remains. "Newington," with its two large reception-rooms which convert into a ballroom, was the centre of a gay social life. It was once the scene of a dramatic bushrangers' holdup, in which John Blaxland was rescued by the arrival of his daughters. Later Newington Boys School was first established there. Today the house is a Home for the Aged.

"HOBARTVILLE," Richmond, completed in 1828, is thought to be designed by Francis Greenway. It was built for William Cox, jun., son of William Cox, who built the road over the Blue Mountains in 1816-1818. William, jun., then went to England to fight in the Peninsular War with the Duke of Wellington. He returned to Australia in 1814 & bred racehorses at Hobartville. Keeping to tradition, Hobartville is still a stud for race-horses, & is now owned by Mr R. Payne.


"BLIGH HOUSE," Millers Point, was built in 1834 for Robert Campbell, a leader of the movement to stop transportation of convicts. Now the headquarters of the Australian College of General Practitioners, it is being restored. A two-storeyed colonial town house with Doric columns, it is built of sandstock brick, stucco-rendered. Campbell's father was a merchant & owned "Campbell's Wharf" in Sydney Cove. Exhibits include an early Conrad Martens painting.

Saturday, December 12, 2020

“Innisfallen Castle” - 14 Cherry Place Castle Cove

 



“Innisfallen Castle” - 14 Cherry Place, Castle Cove

Castle Cove  Was Named After This Landmark Building. It Occupies 8,333sqm Of Lush Park Like Grounds. 

Completed in 1904 By A Prominant Politician, Henry Hastings Willis, & Is A Magnificent example Of Perpendicular    Gothic Architecture. 


The Castle Showcases Lavish Sandstone And Takes The Name “Innisfallen  Castle” (Or “Island Of The Field”) From An Irish Castle In Killarney. 


There Are Currently 2 Existing Buildings

- The Castle Itself 

- Guest Wing / Domestic Staff Living Quarters
























Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Stoneleigh – 1 / 1A Darley Street – Darlinghurst – NSW

Stoneleigh – 1 / 1A Darley Street – Darlinghurst – NSW

Built c.1860–1865 · Architect not attributed here · Standing (SHR #00187)

On the Darley Street ridge — opposite Iona, overlooking the old Woolloomooloo Heights villa belt — a two-storey Victorian Regency house with an arched colonnade and cast-iron palisade still carries its stone nameplate: STONELEIGH. Heritage NSW and the Sydney LEP place it at 1 / 1A Darley Street, built around 1860–1865, one of the mid-Victorian villas that survived the flat boom. Welcome to Stoneleigh — not Iona across the road; not a demolished Heights grant villa.

At a glance

  • Address / site: 1 Darley Street (also 1A), Darlinghurst NSW 2010; Lot 13 DP 611068 (DoS / Heritage NSW ~−33.8776, 151.2195)
  • Built: c.1860–1865 (Heritage NSW construction years; LEP / Tingle tradition c.1860)
  • Architect: not attributed in the State Heritage Inventory entry used here — do not invent
  • Style: two-storey Victorian Regency villa; hipped corrugated-steel roof; first-floor bank of 12-pane double-hung windows; ground-floor arched colonnade (octagonal columns with moulded caps) extending along front and one side; articulated quoins; Victorian cast-iron palisade fence; stone and rendered brick
  • Original / early owners: tradition links first build to solicitor William Barker (LEP / Tingle); early occupancy also documented for Edward Brooking Cornish and wife Margaret (both died at Stoneleigh, late 1866; estate sale Jan 1867) — conflict left visible
  • Famous later chapter: banker Richard Jones (Maitland Mercury; Commercial Banking Co. of Sydney) 1870–1892; Sir J. Russell French (Bank of NSW GM) c.1895–1905; boarding house (Henry Tongue from 1907); Marist Brothers school property from 1912; private again after 1968 sale; briefly also known as Greencourt
  • Heritage status: NSW State Heritage Register #00187 (gazetted 2 Apr 1999; former PCO 1981); Sydney LEP 2012 I272 (house including interior, front fence and grounds); Register of the National Estate (1978)
  • Fate: standing as a private residence

Site & setting

Darley Street sits on the Darlinghurst ridge south of William Street — the same Heights country that once held Craigend, Rosebank, Rose Hall and Barham. Stoneleigh occupies a compact freestanding lot facing Darley Street, with the colonnade and palisade reading as a mid-Victorian villa front rather than a terrace row. Directly opposite stands Iona (2 Darley Street, SHR #00176) — keep the two posts separate.

The live scrapbook on this blog is a single stone nameplate photograph: STONELEIGH cut into ashlar. That plaque, the Heritage NSW pin at 1 Darley Street, and the LEP listing of fence and grounds are the identity spine. Do not confuse this house with demolished southern-ridge villas (Rosebank, Rose Hall, Craigend) or with Barham inside the SCEGGS Forbes Street campus.

Timeline

  • c.1860–1865 – Villa constructed (Heritage NSW construction years). LEP / Tingle tradition: built c.1860, probably for solicitor William Barker (Norton, Son and Barker; Irish-born 1815, arrived 1830).
  • 1866–15 Jan 1867 – Alternate early chapter (Heritage NSW citing respondent on Tingle): Edward Brooking Cornish and wife Margaret die at Stoneleigh (Oct / Nov 1866, “Gulf Fever”); estate auction advertised Dec 1866, held 15 Jan 1867.
  • From 1870 – Richard Jones (Maitland Mercury founder; Commercial Banking Company of Sydney chairman in the heritage significance statement) holds Stoneleigh; dies at the house 25 Aug 1892 (Tingle / Heritage NSW).
  • c.1879–1882 – John Rae photograph from neighbouring Hilton shows Stoneleigh with timber shingle roof and single-storey rear additions (SLNSW / Heritage NSW note).
  • 1895–c.1905 – Sir J. Russell French, General Manager of the Bank of New South Wales, in residence (LEP / Heritage NSW); society dance of 250 guests written up 1901 (conservatory palms; arum-lily frieze — contemporary press via Trove citation in Heritage NSW).
  • From 1907 – Boarding house under Henry Tongue (LEP / Tingle).
  • 1912–1968 – Part of Marist Brothers school property (adjacent building later Alexandra Flats); used as storehouse; storm roof damage remembered in late fabric notes (Tingle / Heritage NSW).
  • Briefly – Also known as Greencourt (Wikipedia / heritage alternate name).
  • After 1968 – Returned to private residential use; mid–late 1980s ownership associated with broadcaster Phillip Adams (Heritage NSW citing public comments); sold 1990.
  • 11 Sep 1981 / 2 Apr 1999 – Permanent Conservation Order then SHR listing #00187.
  • 14 Dec 2012 – Sydney LEP 2012 item I272.
  • 2010s–2020s – Periodic market appearances; still standing opposite Iona on Darley Street.

Architecture & interiors

Forget inventing a cedar inventory. Prefer the statutory description.

Heritage NSW / LEP: a freestanding two-storey Victorian Regency villa of stone and rendered brick; hipped corrugated-steel roof; first floor with a bank of 12-paned timber double-hung windows; ground floor arched colonnade on octagonal masonry columns with moulded caps, continuing along one side; articulated quoins; Victorian cast-iron palisade fence. The Register of the National Estate note (via Heritage NSW) adds six-pane sashes, decorated upper lintels, three-centred arches lined as ashlar, and balanced chimneys. Listing includes interior, front fence and grounds (LEP 2012).

No architect is named on the SHR / LEP sheets used for this draft. Do not credit Verge, Hallen, Blacket or anyone else without a primary attribution.

People & anecdotes

William Barker is the first-build candidate in the LEP / Tingle tradition — solicitor, East Sydney candidate who lost to Henry Parkes, partner in Norton, Son and Barker — but the Cornish estate sale of 1866–67 means the earliest occupancy ladder is not a single clean line. Leave both trails visible.

Richard Jones (1870–1892) anchors the banking-and-press chapter: Maitland Mercury founder and Commercial Banking Company of Sydney chairman in the heritage significance statement; he died inside Stoneleigh in August 1892. Sir J. Russell French then brought Bank of New South Wales general-management society life to the house into the early 1900s. The Marist Brothers decades explain why so many Heights villas vanished while this one stayed — institutional reuse, then private rescue after 1968.

Keep Phillip Adams (and later film-location anecdotes) as late modern colour only; they are not the colonial identity of the house.

Gallery placeholder note

Do not invent historic photo URLs — keep existing live-post images; captions and sequence guidance below for the merge pass.

1. Live-post stone nameplate — STONELEIGH

Already on the scrapbook post. Caption idea: Name still on the wall — 1 Darley Street.

2. Heritage NSW / LEP facade — colonnade and palisade

Search: Heritage NSW item 5045586 thumbnails; City of Sydney imagery. Caption idea: Arched colonnade, octagonal columns, cast-iron fence.

3. John Rae view from Hilton, c.1879–82

Search: SLNSW (Heritage NSW cited ADLIB record for Rae / Hilton / Darlinghurst). Caption idea: Shingle roof and rear lean-tos — neighbour’s camera.

4. 1981 / 1985 fabric photographs (Tingle / Heritage NSW notes)

Search: My Darling Darlinghurst Stoneleigh posts; Heritage NSW history. Caption idea: School-storehouse years to painted private house.

5. Compare set: Iona opposite; Barham (SCEGGS); Rosebank / Rose Hall sites; Craigend

Search: existing blog posts. Caption idea: Same ridge — different fates.

What stands today

Stoneleigh stands. Walk Darley Street and read the nameplate; the colonnade and palisade still mark a mid-Victorian villa lot opposite Iona. It is a private residence — no public museum hours. Pair the visit with Iona’s gates across the street, Barham inside SCEGGS on Forbes Street, and the street-name ghosts of Rosebank and Rose Hall.

  • Address for the map: 1 / 1A Darley Street, Darlinghurst.
  • Do not merge this post with Iona (2 Darley Street).
  • Do not hunt Stoneleigh under the demolished Rosebank / Rose Hall footprints on Farrell Avenue / Horizon.

Sources & further reading

  • Heritage NSW — Stoneleigh (SHR #00187 / database 5045586): https://apps.environment.nsw.gov.au/dpcheritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5045586
  • Sydney LEP 2012 — Item I272 (House “Stoneleigh” including interior, front fence and grounds)
  • Register of the National Estate — Stoneleigh (cited via Heritage NSW / Wikipedia)
  • Violet Tingle — ‘Darlinghurst: Heritage Items: Stoneleigh’ (8 Oct 2010): http://mydarlingdarlinghurst.blogspot.com/2010/10/8-darlinghurst-heritage-items.html
  • ADB — ‘Jones, Richard (–)’ (Maitland Mercury / CBC Sydney trail): https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/jones-richard-2281
  • ADB — ‘French, Sir John Russell’: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/french-sir-john-russell-406
  • Wikipedia (secondary, SHR-derived): Stoneleigh, Darlinghurst
  • Existing scrapbook post: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2020/03/stoneleigh-darley-street-darlinghurst.html

Related on this blog

Historic live gallery

Images retained from the live Blogger post:

Iona – 2 Darley Street – Darlinghurst – NSW

Iona – 2 Darley Street – Darlinghurst – NSW

Built c.1888 (present house) · Architect not attributed here · Standing (SHR #00176)

At the end of Darley Street — wrought-iron gates, sandstone fence, Moreton Bay fig toward Tewkesbury Avenue — pastoralist Edward Chisholm replaced an earlier timber Iona Cottage with a late Victorian Italianate mansion that kept the name. Private hospital decades (Wootton / Winchester / Hughlings) saved it from the flat boom; National Trust and State Heritage listings locked the fabric; later chapters include Sir Allen Taylor’s household rename to Wootton, then filmmakers Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin. Welcome to Iona — not Stoneleigh across the road; not a demolished Heights grant villa.

At a glance

  • Address / site: 2 Darley Street, Darlinghurst NSW 2010; also frontage to Tewkesbury Avenue; Part Lot 92 DP 1015067 (Heritage NSW ~−33.8773, 151.2200)
  • Built: present house c.1888 (Heritage NSW; construction window also given as 1880–1888); replaced earlier single-storey timber Iona Cottage (name first listed 1872)
  • Architect: not attributed in the State Heritage Inventory entry used here — do not invent
  • Style: two-storey (with basement) late Victorian Italianate villa; rendered brick; slate roof; two-storey verandah / balcony with elaborate cast iron; ornate cornices; remnant garden and sandstone boundary wall
  • Original owner (present house): Edward Chisholm (merchant / pastoralist), purchased Oct 1888; family to his death 1898
  • Earlier cottage chapter: Elizabeth Grose land (from 1845 subdivision of William Long’s 1835 grant); Richard Jones occupant 1866–69; Robert Carter from 1872 (“Iona Cottage”); sold 1879, nine-lot subdivision; Carter to 1884
  • Famous later chapter: Adela / Sir Allen Taylor purchase 1908 as Wootton; private hospital 1912–1977 (Wootton → Winchester → Hughlings); 1970s tower DA averted; restored as dwelling from 1980s; Baz Luhrmann & Catherine Martin tenancy then ownership
  • Heritage status: NSW SHR #00176 (gazetted 2 Apr 1999; former PCO 1981); Sydney LEP item 332 (Heritage NSW listings table); National Trust; Register of the National Estate #01979; Darley Street Group context
  • Fate: standing as a private residence

Site & setting

Iona sits at the southern end of its irregular lot, principal northern elevation toward Tewkesbury Avenue, entry gates from Darley Street. Heritage NSW describes a high sandstone fence, cast-iron palisade gates, grassed front yard with mature trees, circular driveway, and a grotto-style garden feature — remnant garden after hospital wings and nurses’ quarters came and went. Across Darley Street stands Stoneleigh (1 / 1A) — same ridge, different house, different SHR number. Keep the blog posts separate.

The land story begins with William Long’s August 1835 grant of just over five acres; James Wright’s 1836 lease; Elizabeth Grose’s 1845 purchase of the fashionable Heights parcel that later carried the cottage name Iona. Chisholm’s 1888 rebuild is the mansion in the photographs — not the shingled cottage Robert Carter enlarged in the 1870s.

Timeline

  • Aug 1835 – Grant of just over five acres to William Long (Heritage NSW).
  • 1836 / 1845 – James Wright leases; subdivision; Elizabeth Grose purchases the Iona parcel.
  • 1866–1869 – Occupant Richard Jones in Mrs Grose’s house (Heritage NSW — do not conflate automatically with Stoneleigh’s later Jones chapter without deeds).
  • 1872 – First listing of the name Iona Cottage; occupant Robert Carter.
  • 1879–1884 – Grose sells; land subdivided into nine lots; Carter extends cottage (iron roof replacing shingles); five-bedroom “gentleman’s residence” description at sale finance; Carter to 1884.
  • Oct 1888 – Edward Chisholm purchases; builds the present two-storey Iona; resides until death 1898; property to Perpetual Trustee Co.
  • 1906 – Street renamed Darley Street (Sir Frederick Darley tradition); address becomes 2 Darley Street.
  • Mar 1908 – Adela Taylor (wife of Sir Allen Taylor, timber merchant and Lord Mayor; Taylor Square namesake) purchases; renames house Wootton.
  • Dec 1912 – Sold to Eliza Hyem; leased and converted to Wootton Private Hospital (psychiatric); operating theatre block before 1919; Jessie Robertson owner 1918; further nurse purchasers 1920/1927.
  • 1935–1939 – Two-storey wing beside theatre; nurses’ residence north of house; 27 bedrooms by 1939.
  • 1949–1977 – Winchester then Hughlings Private Hospital; major 1969 alterations (verandahs enclosed; doors modified for Board of Health).
  • 1973–1979 – Developer assembly and high-rise consent (Iona to be strata); finance fails; National Trust classifies Iona within Darley Street Group (1976); RNE listing 1978.
  • Dec 1979 onward – Jesseme P/L / John Rutherford restores name Iona and fabric; Heritage Council grant; nurses’ quarters demolished 1984; single dwelling approved 1980.
  • 1994–2016 – Gowrie-Smith sale 1994; Luhrmann & Martin lease from 1997, purchase 2006 (~$10m); sold early 2016 (~$16m tradition in Domain reporting).
  • 2 Apr 1999 – SHR #00176.
  • Today – Standing private residence; gates and sandstone wall still the street face.

Architecture & interiors

Prefer Heritage NSW and the Register of the National Estate summary over invented room schedules.

The present house is a freestanding two-storey late Victorian Italianate villa of rendered brick with slate roof and two-storey verandah / balcony. The RNE description highlights elaborate cast-iron verandah and balcony work, original cedar joinery including a large staircase, and a fine stained-glass landing window depicting Australian flora and wildlife. Heritage NSW stresses highly ornate cornices as a rare high-quality detail and notes that much joinery was reconstructed after institutional use. Hospital wings, enclosed verandahs and nurses’ quarters were later stripped or demolished in the 1980s restoration.

No architect is named on the SHR sheet used here. Do not invent one.

People & anecdotes

Edward Chisholm is the builder of the mansion you photograph — wealthy merchant-pastoralist who kept the cottage’s name on a larger house. The Taylor chapter (1908–1912) links the house to Sir Allen Taylor’s timber fortune and mayoral years — the same Taylor who gives his name to Taylor Square — under the temporary house name Wootton.

The long hospital run (1912–1977) is why Iona survived when so many Darlinghurst mansions were cleared for flats between the wars. Matrons, nurses as freeholders, operating theatres and Board of Health door widths are part of the fabric story, not a digression. The 1970s tower threat and National Trust / Heritage Council rescue close the institutional loop; Rutherford’s restoration put the dwelling name back on the gate.

Late ownership colour (Luhrmann / Martin design restoration, later sales) belongs in the modern chapter — useful, but secondary to Chisholm, Taylor and the hospital spine.

Gallery placeholder note

Do not invent historic photo URLs — keep existing live-post images; captions and sequence guidance below for the merge pass.

Live post already holds four images (gates / No. 2 pillar / ornate iron gates with crests). Preserve those captions and sequence.

1. Darley Street cast-iron gates / No. 2 pillar (live)

Caption idea: 2 Darley Street — Iona, not Stoneleigh.

2. Ornate double gates with central crests (live)

Caption idea: Victorian ironwork still the public face.

3. Heritage NSW / RNE facade and verandah

Search: Heritage NSW 5045573; AHDB place 1979. Caption idea: Italianate verandah — hospital years hid, restoration revealed.

4. Stained-glass landing window (Australian flora / wildlife)

Search: RNE description; Open House / Domain features. Caption idea: Cedar stair and native glass — interior claim from the RNE sheet.

5. Compare: Stoneleigh opposite; Barham; Rosebank site; hospital-era plans if found

Caption idea: Same street, different SHR numbers.

What stands today

Iona stands as a private residence. The Darley Street gates, sandstone wall and Tewkesbury Avenue fig still mark the lot. No public museum — Open House–style access has occurred by arrangement in some years, but do not assume open doors. Pair with Stoneleigh opposite, Barham at SCEGGS, and the Rosebank / Rose Hall street ghosts west toward Farrell Avenue and Horizon.

  • Map pin: 2 Darley Street, Darlinghurst.
  • Keep separate from Stoneleigh (1 / 1A Darley Street).
  • Hospital aliases Wootton / Winchester / Hughlings are the same house, not different mansions.

Sources & further reading

  • Heritage NSW — Iona (SHR #00176 / database 5045573): https://apps.environment.nsw.gov.au/dpcheritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5045573
  • Australian Heritage Database — Iona, RNE place 1979: https://environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl?mode=place_detail;place_id=1979
  • City Plan Heritage — Heritage Impact Assessment, Iona, 2 Darley Street (July 2006) — cited throughout Heritage NSW history
  • ADB — ‘Taylor, Sir Allen Arthur (1864–1940)’: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/taylor-sir-allen-arthur-8753
  • Wikipedia (secondary, SHR-derived): Iona, Darlinghurst
  • Existing scrapbook post: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2020/03/iona-2-darley-street-darlinghurst-nsw.html

Related on this blog

Historic live gallery

Images retained from the live Blogger post:

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Brougham Lodge – Darlinghurst Road / Victoria Street – Kings Cross / Darlinghurst – NSW

Brougham Lodge – Darlinghurst Road / Victoria Street junction – Kings Cross / Darlinghurst – NSW

Built 1831 · Original designer unknown; alterations possibly John Verge · Demolished soon after 1882 sale · Site now Holiday Inn Potts Point

At what became the busiest Cross junction — Darlinghurst Road and Victoria Street — Chief Justice Sir James Dowling built Brougham Lodge on his Woolloomooloo Hill grant and named it for his London patron, Lord Henry Brougham. Demolished after an 1882 developer sale; the Holiday Inn Potts Point now marks the villa footprint. Welcome to Dowling’s lodge — not Goderich Lodge behind Bayswater Road; not a surviving terrace on Brougham Street.

At a glance

  • Address / site: junction of Darlinghurst Road and Victoria Street, Kings Cross / Darlinghurst; Woolloomooloo Hill grant (ADB: seven acres / ~2.8 ha; Villas of Potts Point: over eight acres — conflict left visible); DoS ~−33.8745, 151.2221
  • Built: 1831 (DoS constructed year); in residence from late February 1831 until Dowling’s death 1844
  • Architect: Governor-approved plans by an unknown designer (1829); original designer left the colony; possibly John Verge altered / completed the design (Villas of Potts Point; live scrapbook says Verge completed — keep “possibly”)
  • Style: early colonial Heights villa (painting tradition shows lodge with North Darlinghurst windmills beyond — live scrapbook)
  • Original owner: Sir James Dowling (1787–1844), puisne judge from 1828, second Chief Justice of NSW from 1837, knighted 1838
  • Later chapters: tenanted after 1844; used as a boys’ school; sold to developers 1882 for £7,000; demolished soon after for large terraces
  • Fate: demolished post-1882; Holiday Inn Potts Point on the site; street name Brougham Street (and South Dowling Street for the judge) preserves the memory

Site & setting

Dowling’s grant sat on the Heights ridge at the future Kings Cross crossroads — the same Woolloomooloo Hill villa belt as Goderich, Craigend, Barham and Rosebank. Garling’s c.1835 Darlinghurst Road view (Villas of Potts Point) places Brougham Lodge at far left with the North Darlinghurst mills on the skyline. The live auction posters and windmill painting are the scrapbook’s visual spine.

Keep separate from Goderich Lodge (Macquoid / Verge; Bayswater–Penny Lane / Hampton Court) and from later Brougham Street terraces that only borrow the name.

Timeline

  • 25 Nov 1787 – James Dowling born, London (ADB).
  • 1815 – Called to the Bar; parliamentary reporter background (ADB).
  • 24 Feb 1828 – Arrives Sydney in the Hooghly with wife Maria Sheen and six children; sworn in as puisne judge next day (ADB).
  • 1828–29 – Grant on Woolloomooloo Hill conditioned on a £1,000 house (ADB seven acres); Governor approves residence plans 1829 before grant authorised (Villas of Potts Point).
  • Sep 1830 – Dowling seeks design alterations after original designer leaves the colony; new architect (possibly Verge) improves plans.
  • Late Feb 1831 – 1844 – In residence at Brougham Lodge.
  • 1834 – Maria Dowling dies; Sep 1835 remarries Harriet Ritchie (widowed daughter of John Blaxland) (ADB).
  • Sep 1835 / 1837–38 – Acting then permanent Chief Justice after Forbes; knighted 1838 (ADB).
  • 1840–44 – Overwork and illness; collapses on the bench 27 Jun 1844; dies 27 Sep 1844 aged 56 before planned voyage (ADB).
  • After 1844 – Tenanted; boys’ school chapter.
  • 1882 – Sold to developers for £7,000; demolished soon after for large terrace houses.
  • Today – Holiday Inn Potts Point on the villa site.

Architecture & interiors

No measured survey survives in the sources used here. Prefer the scrapbook painting (lodge + windmills) and auction posters over invented room inventories. Architect attribution stays cautious: unknown original designer, with possible Verge completion / alteration — do not state Verge as sole designer without stronger primary proof.

People & anecdotes

ADB supplies the judicial spine: painstaking industry, circuit sittings (Hunter Valley 1829; Norfolk Island 1833), the Burton succession fight, and the family debt letters to Brougham — “without parsimonious economy I cannot keep out of debt.” Lady Dowling’s 1840 note of court until 3 a.m. explains why the Heights villa became a resting-place he barely enjoyed.

Ten children with Maria (four died in infancy); remarriage into the Blaxland connection ties the lodge to Blue Mountains settler kinship without relocating the house. Street names — Brougham and Dowling — are the public memorial after the bricks went.

Gallery placeholder note

Do not invent historic photo URLs — keep existing live-post images; captions and sequence guidance below for the merge pass.

1. Keep live painting — lodge with North Darlinghurst windmills

Caption idea: Brougham Lodge on the Heights ridge — mills on the skyline.

2–3. Live auction poster pair (already on post).

Caption idea: 1882 clearance — £7,000 to developers.

4. Garling Darlinghurst Road c.1835 (Villas of Potts Point / SLNSW tradition).

5. Modern Holiday Inn Potts Point / Victoria–Darlinghurst junction — “what stands today.”

6. Compare: Goderich Lodge; Craigend; Barham; Roslyn Hall

What stands today

Brougham Lodge is gone. Stand at the Darlinghurst Road / Victoria Street junction; the Holiday Inn marks the villa cell. Read Brougham Street as a name echo, not a surviving wing of the lodge.

  • Map pin: Darlinghurst Road × Victoria Street, Kings Cross.
  • Do not merge with Goderich Lodge (Hampton / Goderich Lane).
  • Do not treat later Brougham Street terraces as the 1831 villa.

Sources & further reading

  • ADB — Dowling, Sir James (1787–1844): https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dowling-sir-james-1989
  • Dictionary of Sydney — Brougham Lodge: https://dictionaryofsydney.org/building/brougham_lodge
  • Potts Point Preservation Society — The Villas of Potts Point (Brougham Lodge chapter)
  • My Darling Darlinghurst — Villas of Darlinghurst: Brougham Lodge (secondary; live scrapbook source)
  • Richardson & Wrench — Brougham Street heritage note (site / naming)
  • Existing scrapbook post: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2016/06/brougham-lodge-darlinghurst.html

Related on this blog

Historic live gallery

Images retained from the live Blogger post:

Transcription:

22 Splendid Building Sites
BROUGHAM LODGE
VICTORIA STREET
DARLINGHURST
To Be Sold at the Rooms, on
Wednesday 27th July at ½ past 11.
HARDIE & GORMAN

BROUGHAM ST

Transcription:

BROUGHAM ST
[Lots 22–11 fronting Brougham St; lots 1–10 fronting Victoria St]
PRIVATE RIGHT OF WAY — 10 feet wide
Private Right of Way (10 feet wide)
VERANDAH
BROUGHAM LODGE
SMART'S TERRACE
16·6 each · 17·0 each · 22 each

[Locality inset:] Elizabeth Bay · Woolloomooloo Bay · Woolloomooloo · Darlinghurst · Brougham Lodge [other inset street names too small to read]

J. F. MANN
LICENSED SURVEYOR,
Under "Real Property Act."
19 HUNTER STREET, SYDNEY.

MANNING & DOWLING,
Solicitors to the Estate,
105 PITT STREET.

VICTORIA ST
GIBBS, SHALLARD & CO. LITHO.

[Individual lot frontage/depth figures not transcribed.]