Kellett House (formerly Bona Vista / Darlinghurst House) – Kellett Street / Bayswater Road – Darlinghurst / Kings Cross – NSW
Built 1831 for Samuel Augustus Perry · Renamed by Stuart A. Donaldson (first NSW Premier) · Demolished in stages (villa tradition 1877; remnants sold 1937) · Hotel Mansions / Manor site
Where Hotel Mansions later faced Kellett Street and Bayswater Road, a two-storey Woolloomooloo Hill villa once sat on more than three acres. Grant-holder Samuel Augustus Perry built Bona Vista in 1831; Richard “China” Jones briefly renamed it Darlinghurst House; Stuart Alexander Donaldson — first Premier of New South Wales — made it Kellett House and gave the street its name. Subdivision from 1864 and demolition campaigns erased the villa; the corner still carries the street and hotel memory. Welcome to Kellett House — not Goderich Lodge next door on the Heights; not a surviving Cross terrace.
At a glance
- Address / site: Woolloomooloo Hill / Darlinghurst grant allotment — later the corner of Kellett Street and Bayswater Road, Darlinghurst / Kings Cross (Hotel Mansions / Manor Apartments footprint)
- Built: 1831 (Perry design submitted and approved under Darling’s villa conditions — Villas of Potts Point)
- Architect / designer: Perry submitted his own design to the Governor (1831); no separate colonial architect is named in the Villas summary used here
- Style: two-storey colonial villa on a 3+ acre landscaped lot (period views and 1937 Reidle “obituary” describe the Heights villa type)
- Name trail: Bona Vista (Perry) → Darlinghurst House (Richard “China” Jones, 1834) → Kellett House / Kellett Lodge (Stuart A. Donaldson)
- Famous resident: Stuart Alexander Donaldson (1812–1867), first Premier of NSW (1856); later W. F. Buchanan (pastoralist)
- Heritage: demolished — street name and Hotel Mansions / Manor site memory; no standing villa fabric
- Fate: villa demolished in stages — Villas of Potts Point dates main demolition to 1877 by Buchanan; Joseph Reidle (SMH 30 Nov 1937) still names “Kellett House” among Heights survivors awaiting the pick; remains sold Oct 1937
Site & setting
Perry’s grant sat among Darling’s villa allotments on the ridge above Woolloomooloo — the same Heights country as Goderich Lodge, Roslyn Hall and Springfield. Private avenues and carriage approaches once defined the lot; after 1864 subdivision, Kellett Street and Bayswater Terrace cut the estate. The Hotel Mansions (later remodelled; now Manor Apartments tradition) occupies the corner that advertising and local history still map to the villa site.
Timeline
- 1829 – Captain Samuel Augustus Perry arrives as Deputy Surveyor-General under T. L. Mitchell (ADB / Villas).
- 1831 – Perry submits villa design; Bona Vista built on 3+ acre grant.
- 1834 – Auction sale to Richard “China” Jones MP; renamed Darlinghurst House for Lady Darling.
- c.1840s–50s – Stuart A. Donaldson in residence; renames Kellett House; street naming follows.
- 1851 – Donaldson–Mitchell duel tradition (last known official duel in NSW — secondary colour; keep brief).
- 1856 – Donaldson becomes first Premier of NSW.
- From 1864 – Kellett Estate subdivision; Buchanan ownership chapter.
- 1877 – Villas of Potts Point: Buchanan demolishes the villa; Hotel Mansions and street fabric follow on part of the land.
- Late 1800s–1918 – Hotel Mansions built / remodelled (local hotel histories).
- 30 Nov 1937 – Joseph Reidle, “Ghosts in Crinolines,” SMH — lists Kellett House among Heights houses still facing demolition; remains sold October 1937.
- Today – Manor Apartments / Hotel Mansions corner; villa gone; street name survives.
Architecture & interiors
No measured drawing survives in the sources used for this draft. Prefer period description over invention: a two-storey freestanding villa in landscaped grounds under Darling’s villa conditions, later reduced by terrace and hotel fabric. Live-post plan images (Goderich Lodge & Kellett House; Kellett Estate 1879) are the scrapbook evidence — keep them. Do not invent a Verge attribution; Perry’s own design submission is the documented path in Villas of Potts Point.
People & anecdotes
Samuel Augustus Perry — soldier-surveyor, Mitchell’s deputy, constant clash with his superior (ADB / Heights lore). Short tenure at Bona Vista.
Richard “China” Jones — merchant-banker MP; Darlinghurst House naming ties the villa to Lady Elizabeth Darling.
Stuart A. Donaldson — first Premier; Kellett naming; New England pastoral and Legislative career (ADB). W. F. Buchanan — wealthy squatter who subdivided and demolished.
Joseph Reidle’s 1937 SMH piece is why the live scrapbook still feels urgent: Roslyn Hall and Orwell House already ruins; Kellett, Springfield and Larbert Lodge next. That newspaper spine belongs in the Sources list, not as a full reprint.
Gallery placeholder note
Do not invent historic photo URLs — keep existing live-post images (~12); captions and sequence guidance below for the merge pass.
1–12. Keep the live scrapbook set — Perry portrait colour; villa/estate plans; Hotel Mansions / street views; Reidle-era context already on the post.
Caption ideas: Bona Vista to Kellett — three names, one Heights lot. / Estate plan — Goderich Lodge neighbour. / 1937 — Reidle’s “ghosts in crinolines.”
Compare: Goderich Lodge; Brougham Lodge; Springfield Lodge; Larbert Lodge; Roslyn Hall.
What stands today
The villa is gone. Stand at Kellett Street and Bayswater Road and read the Hotel Mansions / Manor corner as the site memory; the street name is the clearest surviving text. Pair with Goderich Lodge and Brougham Lodge (Heights demolished pair) and the enriched Springfield / Larbert posts.
- Map pin: Kellett St × Bayswater Rd, Darlinghurst / Kings Cross.
- Do not claim standing villa fabric behind the hotel façade without a fabric study.
- Note demolition-date conflict (1877 vs 1937 remnants) openly.
Sources & further reading
- Potts Point Preservation / SLNSW — Villas of Potts Point (Kellett House entry): https://pottspointpreservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Villas-of-Potts-Point.pdf
- Joseph Reidle, “Ghosts in Crinolines,” Sydney Morning Herald, 30 Nov 1937 (Trove)
- ADB — Donaldson, Sir Stuart Alexander: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/donaldson-sir-stuart-alexander-1988
- ADB — Perry, Samuel Augustus (Deputy Surveyor-General trail)
- My Darling Darlinghurst — Villas of Darlinghurst: Kellett House (secondary synthesis)
- Existing scrapbook post: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2016/06/kelley-house-darlinghurst-new-south.html
Related on this blog
- Goderich Lodge – Darlinghurst
- Brougham Lodge – Darlinghurst
- Springfield Lodge – Potts Point
- Larbert Lodge – Potts Point
- Roslyn Hall – Potts Point
Historic live gallery
Images retained from the live Blogger post:
Transcription:
Ghosts
IN CRINOLINES
WHEN KING'S CROSS WAS DOTTED WITH STATELY HOMES.
People Then Slept in Four-Posters.
A GREAT effort is required to imagine that King's Cross—the present throbbing centre of Sydney's night life—was once sparsely dotted with stately homes, where demure ladies drove leisurely through private avenues of trees in their carriages.
Those were the days when land was owned by the acre. To-day, despite stout resistance to the demolishers' picks, century-old homes are being knocked down so that the task of converting King's Cross into a swarming, human ant-hill may proceed unimpeded.
ROSLYN HALL and Orwell House are already man-made ruins, and a similar fate awaits Kellett House, Springfield, and Larbert Lodge. But before modern mammoth structures completely annihilate even the memory of their long lives, these last survivors of a bygone age merit at least a brief obituary.
Once the most imposing of them all, Roslyn Hall is now a lamentable spectacle. Its floors have been ripped out and the back and front pulled down.
Stripped of its former majesty it now confronts, over wrought-iron gates, a huge, nearly completed, ultra-modern seven-storey block of flats across the road.
Destruction and construction have kept pace, so that the final brick of the new edifice, which dwarfs everything else nearby, will be laid at almost the same moment as the last stone from the ancient dwelling is carted away.
Gilded dados and wallpapers of a chaste design are exposed to curiosity, while a few surviving trees and shrubs huddle together in the northern end of the grounds, sighing mournfully for other days.
Governor Darling's Grant.
ROSLYN HALL, or what is left of it, is a relic of the spacious times of King's Cross and Elizabeth Bay when Governor Darling made grants with a lavish hand. That to Thomas Barker, on November 28, 1833, was an area of five acres one rood, and on it he built Roslyn Hall.
An iron lattice gate opened on to Darlinghurst Road, opposite Springfield House. It was the entrance to land which sloped down to the south-east, taking in the present Roslyn Street and Roslyn Gardens.
A similar gate, on the site now occupied by St. Canice's Church, led out to Bayswater Road. On the north, Barncleuth (now Kinnell) and Elizabeth Bay Road marked the boundary of the domain.
Transcription:
Beautiful Spiral Staircase.
A LARGE, well-built, two-storey stone mansion, Roslyn Hall was flanked on two sides by high verandahs supported by massive stone columns. Among the amenities not usual in those days were a beautiful spiral staircase leading to the upper storey, and sunken baths level with the floors in most of the bedrooms.
Houses in the district were few and far apart, and because of its imposing architectural and elevated position, Roslyn Hall had a grandeur equalled only by that of its neighbour, Elizabeth Bay House.
Fashionable Garden Parties.
FOR many years Roslyn Hall was one of the gayest houses in Sydney. Its high halls echoed to the laughter of dancing throngs, and birds in the widespread grounds became accustomed to the light-hearted chatter at fashionable garden parties.
After the original owner, Thomas Barker, the house saw a succession of occupants, including Mrs. Wm. Lawson and her two daughters, a Mr. Chauvel, and the Hon. Wm. Macleay.
For the last quarter of a century, however, Echo had little to answer except the footsteps of a lonely woman, Mrs. Parry Long, who died there a few years ago after her daughter had predeceased her.
Now the grey old stone is being carted away to make room for the foundations of a resplendent block of flats.
Darlinghurst's Origin.
SOLD last month, Kellett House, standing in the street which bears its name, is another historic home in the same locality.
It was built on part of the grant, dated October 19, 1831, to Captain S. A. Perry, Deputy Surveyor-General. He resided there until 1836.
In that year, Richard ("China") Jones sold his house at the corner of Pitt and Hunter Streets for £9000, and moved into Perry's place, which was then called "Bona Vista."
In 1817 Jones had established himself in business as an importer of merchandise from China and India—especially of Bengal rum. His office was also the first in Australia to undertake marine insurance.
Because of her friendship with Lady Darling, Mrs. Jones renamed the house "Darlinghurst," but her husband's financial position was severely shaken by the trade depression of 1843, and the home passed into the possession of Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson, the first Premier under responsible government, who changed the name to Kellett House.
He lived there for some years, and subsequently the property was acquired by W. F. Buchanan. He pulled down part of the house and built the terrace (still there) which used to be known as Bayswater Terrace.
Hidden from Macleay Street by a two-storey terrace, Orwell House, at various times the home of distinguished men, is being demolished to provide the site for a new theatre.
It originally stood on 11 acres 37 perches, granted on October 19, 1831, to Mr. Justice John Stephens, first Pusine [sic] Judge of the colony after the charter of justice. Among subsequent occupants were James Raymond (then Postmaster-General), Colonel H. C. Wilson, Mr. Justice Milford, and in 1848 Sir W. Manning.
Up to a few days ago the original house was still standing, but hemmed in by buildings in Darlinghurst Road and Hughes Street, to both of which the grounds extended, even in comparatively recent times.
(Continued on page 18.)
Transcription:
(Top.) Only the lines of its architecture indicate Kinnell's old age.
(Above.) Larbert, seen across its spacious garden, which will soon be covered with flat buildings like the one in the distance.
Transcription:
(Left.) Ruins of Roslyn Hall and the towering modern edifice opposite.
Transcription:
Orwell House is falling rapidly under the demolishers' picks.
Larbert provides an 1837 background for two 1937 tennis girls (MISSES MONA ZEPPEL and LOIS GREEN).
Transcription:
Ghosts in Crinoline.
OLD STABLES ON MACLEAY STREET.
(Continued from page 13.)
ONLY a gunshot away, and also doomed to destruction, is Larbert Lodge, a quaint house which might have been modelled on Hawthorne's "House of the Seven Gables."
Old stables are almost flush with Macleay Street, and the remains of its grounds extend to Greenknowe Flats. It is enclosed by high walls designed to shield its privacy, but, ironically enough, surrounding flats are so high that probably no dwelling in Sydney is so exposed to the gaze of strangers.
Larbert Lodge was built by the Hon. Campbell Drummond Riddell (Colonial Treasurer from 1831 to 1854, and Acting Colonial Secretary in 1855 and 1856) on one of the first blocks of the Macleay grant made available. It was subsequently acquired by Captain Lamb, who was followed by a succession of private owners.
This property, which has a frontage of [?190]ft to Macleay Street and 234ft to Greenknowe Avenue, was recently sold and subdivided into eight allotments on which flats will be erected.
Springfield House, another sacrifice to progress, was built on a grant dated October 19, 1831, by Alexander Baxter, second Attorney-General under the charter.
All Were Neighbours.
ALL the homes mentioned were neighbouring properties, but during the course of the years block after block of their land was disposed of and built on to house a rapidly growing population.
Their few remaining contemporaries in the immediate locality are easily enumerated.
On the original Macleay grant, David Jones built Cheverells and Kinnell (formerly Barncleuth). He sold Cheverells to Captain Deloitte, who included it in his marriage settlement.
After several renovations, both houses are in good condition, and are used as guest houses.
It may seem strange that residences like these were built so close to the city, but the district was by no means easily accessible. Vehicular traffic had to take a round-about route along Hyde Park up to the part of Old South Head Road, now called Oxford Street, to the gaol, and from there across to Darlinghurst Hill.
A trip to the city was therefore long enough to be a minor event in a woman's week, and sufficiently slow for prolonged meditation or conversation as the carriage described almost a semi-circle.
Only a track for pedestrians existed on the site of William Street until 1845, when Sir Thomas Mitchell, Surveyor-General, surveyed the extension which halved the distance to the city.
—Joseph Reidle.
Transcription:
[Hand-drawn survey plan of the grants on Woolloomooloo Hill, showing Goderich Lodge and Perry's house (later Kellett House). Principal legible labels:]
Saml Perry's Grant
3 . 2 . 8
dated Octr 19. 1831
Thomas Macquoid's Grant
4 . 1 . 24
dated Octr 19. 1831
[in red:] The space between [?Peeks] and J C Brown['s] purchase is the [?Bolton] [?Mortgage] and contain 2 . 3 . 33
[house block labelled, in pencil:] Goderich Lodge
Thos Macquoid's Grant — Second portion — 3 . 1 . 27 — dated Sep 23 1839
Thos Macquoid's Grant — Last portion
T L Mitchell's Grant — First Portion — a r p 0 . 0 . 33 — dated June 15 1841
T L Mitchell's Grant — Second Portion — [?] 1 . 23 — dated June 15 1844
Smith and Barker
Mr Thos Barker [adjoining grant, top boundary]
[in red:] Reserved Road · First Sale · J Patten · A Oliver · Brown's [?purchase]
[Road at foot of plan:] Woolloomooloo [?Road]; [pencil:] now Darlinghurst [?Road]
[Right margin, vertical:] [?T.] L. Mitchell Esqr — Grant 19 Oct 1831
[Note, lower left, handwritten, left edge cut off; partly legible:]
The bearings and lengths on this map agree with that … taken by Gov. for making out deeds of grants … They differ a little [from] those taken before that, by the original surveyor of the land. It is customary … has been adopted here to yield to the particulars inserted in the grants … dimensions &c in black ink show the particulars agreeing with the grants … in red show the subdivisions since made for sale, mortgage &c.
[Lot numbers, chain/link dimensions and bearings are not transcribed; many small red and pencil annotations too faint to read.]
Transcription:
S7c 139/1
THE
KELLET ESTATE
For Sale by Messrs Richardson & Wrench
[handwritten:] 16 Feb 1864
[?See further particulars on Large Plan]
[Streets:] DARLINGHURST ROAD · KELLET STREET · UPPER WILLIAM STREET NORTH · PRINCES ROAD · LANE · KELLET LANE
[Building/owner labels too small to read; bottom left: [?J. H. Moore]]
[Surveyor's credit, bottom right:] [?F. H. Reuss], Architect & Surveyor, [illegible] Pitt St, Sydney
[Lot numbers (1–56) not transcribed; small print largely illegible at this resolution.]
