Preston - Birrell Street - Woolahra - New South Wales
Preston was a well known Mansion in Birrell Street that overlooked Waverly Park. It was formerly the Residence of Mr Richard Craven.
Preston had Fully laid out Grounds. including a full carriageway, gardens, lawns, tennis courts etc etc
It Contained a Magnificient Ballroom in the modernised Greek Style.Spacious lounges approached by the front and back balconies.
the Fittings are luxurious and highly atistic engraved magins and corners. And the ceilings are all hand worked metal in high finished bronze work. heavily electroplated, beautifully designed cornices, ricxhly decorated panels, hand painted mirrors, and mgnificent gas fittings contribute to the decorative scheme of this magnificent ballroom.
The Billyard room is also very beautiful apartment, All the doors, architraves, skirtings and fitttings bring in massive cedar work.
The ceilings are executed with highly coloured panels enriched, surrounded by a curiously decorated embellished mirrors and over door pediments, a deeply recessed alcove in which is fitted exquisite Mantle and fireplace. The whole is fitted with an elaborate swan neck grate
"PRESTON," A MAGNIFICENT SYDNEY MANSION.
The above are photographs of "Preston," the well-known residential mansion in Birrell-street, overlooking the Waverley Park, formerly the residence of the late Richard Craven, and just purchased by Messrs. J. Earle Hermann, Ltd., for a member of their company. This is one of Sydney's finest mansions, and is set in beautifully-laid-out grounds, with carriage drive, gardens, lawns, tennis court, &c. It contains a magnificent ballroom, the style of which is modernised Greek. Spacious lounges are approached by the front and back balconies; the fittings are luxurious, and the finishings highly artistic. There is a wealth of plate-glass, with engraved margins and corners, while the ceilings are all hand-worked metal, in high finished brass work, heavily electro-plated, beautifully designed cornices, richly-decorated panels, hand-painted mirrors, and magnificent gas-fittings contribute to the decorative scheme of this magnificent ballroom.
The billiard-room is also a very beautiful apartment, all the doors, architraves, skirtings, and fittings being in massive cedar work. The ceilings are executed in deeply-coppered panels, moulded and enriched, surrounded by a curiously-decorated cornice. There are massive doors, with embellished mirrors and overdoor pediments, a deeply-recessed alcove and dais, in which is fitted an exquisite mantel and fireplace. The whole is fitted with an elaborate swan-neck grate
[The text in the clipping ends here.]
[Two photographs under the text: the exterior of the house, and an interior with a panelled ceiling.]
Victorian mansion overlooking Waverley Park · Richard Craven · St Gabriel’s Girls’ School from 1912 · Demolished 1965–66 for Waverley Bowling Club
Note on the live URL: the stub spells “Woolahra” and files the house under Woollahra. Birrell Street opposite Waverley Park sits in Waverley. Keep the existing URL; correct the geography in the title and body. The 20 June 1911 Sun sale description already on the live post is gold — ballroom, billiard room, cedar joinery — and matches the Craven / St Gabriel’s house later cleared for bowls.
At a glance
- Location: Birrell Street, Waverley, opposite Waverley Park (live URL typo “Woolahra” / Woollahra — correct to Waverley)
- Earlier core: built around / incorporating earlier Glenroy (club history; demolition evidence noted 1966)
- Known owner: Richard Craven (Charters Towers mining identity); died at Preston 17 Jan 1899 (secondary mining/press notes — verify on Trove before hard-captioning)
- 1911 character: fully laid-out grounds, carriageway, gardens, lawns, tennis courts; magnificent Greek-style ballroom; cedar billiard room — The Sun, 20 Jun 1911, p.9 (live stub transcript)
- Institutional chapter: St Gabriel’s Church of England Girls’ School from 1912 (Waverley Library / club history)
- Fate: whole school property bought by Waverley Bowling and Recreation Club at auction Sep 1965 (£227,000); school closed 2 Dec 1965; Preston, Glenbournie and all buildings demolished for the bowling club move (1966)
Site & setting
High ground on Birrell Street looking over Waverley Park — classic late-Victorian mansion setting before institutional reuse and mid-century club clearance. Neighbouring Glenbournie shared the school/club land story. Aboriginal Country: eastern suburbs coastal / Bidjigal–Cadigal interface — acknowledge at publish. Do not relocate the house into Woollahra LGA despite the live filename.
Timeline
- 19th century – Glenroy nucleus; Victorian mansion Preston developed around it (club history).
- Craven chapter – Richard Craven residency; death reported at Preston 17 Jan 1899 (flag for Trove confirmation).
- 20 Jun 1911 – The Sun descriptive sale piece (ballroom, billiard room, grounds) — already on the live post.
- 1912 – Sisters of St Gabriel’s acquire Preston for the girls’ school (Waverley Library / club history).
- Sep 1965 – Waverley Bowling Club buys the whole property at public auction for £227,000.
- 2 Dec 1965 – School speech-night closure.
- 1966 – Demolition of Preston, Glenbournie and site buildings; bowling greens established; demolition revealed earlier Glenroy fabric (club history).
- Today – Bowling club / later Club Bondi Junction RSL bowls site overlay; mansion gone.
Architecture & interiors
Known in detail from the 1911 Sun copy already pasted on the live stub: laid-out grounds with carriageway, gardens, lawns and tennis courts; a “magnificent ballroom in the modernised Greek Style”; spacious lounges to front and back balconies; luxurious fittings, hand-worked metal ceilings, electroplated bronze work, decorated cornices and panels, hand-painted mirrors, gas fittings; billiard room with massive cedar doors, architraves and skirtings; coloured ceiling panels, mirrors, overdoor pediments, recessed alcove mantel and swan-neck grate. Prefer quoting/cleaning that primary description over inventing a style school. Demolition archaeology in 1966 reportedly showed the Glenroy rebuild layer — note as club-history evidence, not a measured survey.
People & anecdotes
Richard Craven — mining identity associated with Charters Towers; Preston as Sydney seat (secondary sources; confirm biography via Trove/ADB before expanding). St Gabriel’s — Anglican girls’ school chapter 1912–1965; shortage of teaching staff cited at closure (Waverley Library). Waverley Bowling and Recreation Club — founded 1893 at Hollywood Avenue Bondi Junction; 1965–66 relocation erased the mansion landscape for greens.
Image gallery guidance
1. Keep / clean the live 1911 Sun descriptive block as a quoted primary source.
2. St Gabriel’s school photographs (Waverley Library “Celebrating Waverley” node).
3. Pre-demolition assembly-hall / school views referenced in club history.
4. Waverley Park outlook context (caption mansion as demolished).
5. Optional bowling-club era photos only with clear “site after Preston” captions.
What stands today
Preston does not stand. The Birrell Street / Waverley Park frontage became the bowling-club landscape after 1965–66 demolition. Read the 1911 Sun description against the park edge; keep St Gabriel’s and the club as successive chapters, not surviving house fabric.
Sources & further reading
- The Sun (Sydney), 20 June 1911, p.9 — Preston sale description (live stub / Trove)
- Waverley Library — St Gabriel’s School: https://celebrating.waverley.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/47737
- Club Bondi Junction RSL Lawn Bowls — History of Waverley Bowling and Recreation Club (Preston / Glenbournie / 1965 auction): http://clubbondijunctionlawnbowling.blogspot.com/p/h.html
- Trove — search: Preston Birrell Street; Preston Waverley Craven; St Gabriel’s Waverley; Glenroy Birrell
- Disambiguation: ≠ Prestonville / Cairo Potts Point (separate draft on this blog)
Related on this blog
- Waverley House – Old South Head Road (name-giving earlier house)
- Other Waverley / Bondi Junction lost-mansion posts as published
- Prestonville / Cairo – Potts Point (different Preston)
Retitle live post to Waverley; keep URL; preserve the 1911 Sun transcript with spelling cleaned.
>The Sun - Tuesday 20th June 1911 Page 9