Showing posts with label Roslyn Hall. Show all posts

Sunday, May 24, 2026

Petty’s Hotel - York St Sydney

Petty’s Hotel - 1 York street - Sydney

SYDNEY’s first beer garden was established facing York Street outside Petty’s Hotel at the corner of Jamieson and Clarence Streets late in 1938.

While beer gardens are now common in the yards of Sydney pubs, they were difficult to find prior to the 1950s.

Beer gardens were much welcomed by women, who up until that time had been either confined to cramped, musty parlours, or in the 1940s and 50s forced to sit in cars and have their husbands or boyfriends bring them out their drinks.

Although it would be another 20 years before women were accepted in public bars, the beer gardens provided a refuge when they slowly began to appear in the yards of Sydney’s pubs from the late 1930s. They allowed a civilised area where woman could gather at a pub for a drink. More importantly though, beer gardens allowed mixed drinking, and arguably provided the gateway for women to eventually enter the men only public bars.

A women’s column in the Sydney Sun on November 20 1938 reported; “At last we have a beer garden… opened yesterday at Petty’s. Bright umbrellas and lacquered chairs alongside the street… later there’s to be a special section for women only

NOT even drinks “on the house” could disperse the gloom in Petty’s last night, when the 118-year-old hotel closed its doors for the last time. It has been bought by the Red Cross, which will turn it into a blood-bank headquarters.

The atmosphere was thick with nostalgia in the lounge and on the terrace, where a polite burst of clapping followed an announcement by the manager, Mr. T. T. Archer, that the drinks were “on the house.”

The same announcement in the public bar was the signal for a roar of approval, which brought in two policemen at the double. (They retired to a corner, looking relieved, and accepted the hospitality pressed on them by two old dockers.)

As 6 o’clock approached, Grace, up in the saloon bar, administered her last reproofs and advice to the city managers and clerks. “I’ve got the most exclusive clientele in Australia,” said Grace. “I don’t mean for money or anything like that, but they’re all nice and never any trouble.

“I like to see men behave themselves properly, especially if they’re drinking a beer. And that’s one thing you can say about Petty’s: there is never any of this ungentlemanly conduct here.”

“First time in a century they’ve closed the doors, they tell me,” said a truck driver in the public bar.

“I never thought I’d live to see the day when free beer made me feel sad. I suppose the pub’s being sold in a good cause. But where am I going to go? That’s what I want to know. Why, I’ve been coming here since 1908.”

The saddest touch of the evening came just after closing time, when a taxi drew up and decanted a very old gentleman. He came up to the reception desk and said, “I am just passing through Sydney, but I shall be back on the fifteenth. Could you please let me have a room then for one week?”

He appeared stunned to learn that Petty’s was sold to the Red Cross.

“But I always stay here,” he cried. “I had no idea of this: it’s four years since I came to the city, and I had no idea. Why, I’ve always stayed here, and so did my father. It’s the only place I could stay. Where on earth can I go, then?”

And so, to the bewilderment of a past generation and the sorrow of its present users, passed Petty’s Hotel: a place of countless pleasant memories and one of the few Sydney hotels where the tradition of civilised drinking still lingered on.

The building, fronting York, Clarence and Jamison Streets, was previously the residence of Presbyterian minister, John Dunmore Lang, who supervised the construction of the first Scot’s Church on Church Hill. Lang sold his home to another hotelkeeper before it was bought by Thomas Petty in 1836. Following two and a half decades of use by the Red Cross, the elegant colonial structure was sadly demolished in 1976.

Thursday, July 15, 2021

Progress Of The Suburbs - Potts Point - SMH Saturday 1st November 1913 - Page 8

Progress Of The Suburbs In Sydney
Potts Point

Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Saturday 1 November 1913, page 8

PROGRESS OF THE SUBURBS.

XVI. - POTTS POINT AND DARLINGHURST.

II.

Chief amongst the principal properties that were built at Potts Point was "Roslyn Hall," with its extensive and elaborately-finished frontage to Macleay-street. The house was a large, well-built mansion, with a spiral staircase, constructed of cast iron, leading to the first floor. The rooms were each spacious, well-finished, and elaborately-furnished apart ments. Each of the principal bedrooms had a bath of its own, built level with the floor, and a person wishing to bathe had to follow the Scriptural injunction and go down into the water instead of climbing up into the bath as is the present-day custom. This system of putting in baths to the main bedrooms and building them level with the floor was one adopted in most of the mansions around Syd-ney erected in the early days. At "The Rangers" at Mosman and other large dwell-

ings the remains of such a system of bath buildlng are still visible. For Roslyn Hall it may be claimed to have been at one time one of the most fashionable houses around Sydney. The land extended on the south-east to the site of what is now St. Canice's Church, with Roslyn Gardens and Roslyn-road on the east; while on the north the grounds ex-tended to Elizabeth Bay-road. In area there were 9 acres 1 rood to this property. It was a grant to a Mr. T. Barker, dated November 28, 1833. Mr. Barker built the house, and lived there for a time. Mr. Ambrose Hallen was the architect. Surrounding Roslyn Hall a number of other large and fashionable dwellings were erected. There was "Eaton",

with its old-fashioned wooden pump, which Mr. Dowling, in his description of the district, states was situated at the bottom of the pri-vate road, and served two cottages, which were erected by Mr. T. W. Smart next to "Eaton." Then there was "Cheverells," part of the Macleay grant, where Captain Deloitte and Mr. David Jones (of David Jones and Co.) respectively lived. Later the house was occupied by the Hon. W. R. Campbell. "Barncleuth," which adjoined Roslyn Hall, was occupied at one time by Mr. Henry Moore, who was the local agent for the P. and O. Company. It will he interesting to note that in those days the vessels of the P. and O. Company arrived here only once a month, and their arrival was generally noted by the firing of a gun from Fort Deni-son, and Barncleuth, Mr. Dowling states, was later purchased by Mr. Amos, a well-known railway contractor, and by him was named Kenneil. It Is now a boarding-house. Then there was that well-known residence, Green knowe, which Mr. John Gilchrist, senior part-ner in the well-known firm of Gilchrist, Watt, and Co., erected in 1846, under the super-vision of Mr. James Hume, one of Sydney's leading architects. Mr. Gilchrist occupied the house for a number of years. Finally it was purchased by Mr. F. H. Dangar, who still owns it. Larbert Lodge was built and occupied by Mr. C. D. Riddell, the then Co-

lonial Treasurer. Many other such well known properties of tho early days were, to

be found at Potts Point, and a large num-ber of them were built on what is known as "The Macleay Grant," which consisted of 51 acres, granted to Mr. Alexander Macleay by Governor Darling in 1828. The formal grant was in 1831. The Governor, in a despatch to the Right Hon. William Huskis-son, dated March 28, 1828, wrote thus:

"The land granted to Mr. Macleay at Elizabeth Bay, a mile and a half from Sydney, was for the purpose of erecting a family

house, and cultivating a garden. Mr. Mac-leay's knowledge as a horticulturist is likely

to prove beneficial to the colony. He has always spent a considerable sum in the im-provement and cultivation of his grounds, and in erecting a stable and ofllces, prepara-tory to building a house, which it is his in-tention shortly to commence. From the manner in which he has entered into this undertaking, and the scale upon which he has commenced to settle and stock the land he has received for agricultural purposes (the usual grant of 2500 acres), he will no doubt prove an important acquisition to the colony In this respect alone, the capital which he

has already vested in stock, and is still continuing to expend, is considerable.'"

Mr. James Arthur Dowling, in his paper be-fore the Historical Society, describes this property thus: "It took in all Elizabeth Bay and the western frontage of Rushcutter Bay as far as the eastern boundary of Roslyn Hall, and was approached by the Elizabeth Bay-road as at present." The residence which Mr. Macleay built is the present Elizabeth Bay House. It is a splendid example of the old style of erecting a family mansion. At a later date much of this grant of 54 acres was subdivided by Sir George Macleay, son of the original grantee, and by him was let out on long building leases. Upon this land, which to-day constitutes Elizabeth Bay, quite a number of beautiful homes have been

erected.

Quoting from Mr. Dowilng's paper: "Eliza-beth Point was so named by Governor Mac-quarie, after his wife's second name. The native name was 'Yarrandabby.' That of Mac-

leay Point was "Jerrowan."

Another interesting portion of this aristo-cratic suburb was some 11 acres of land near the extreme Potts Point. This was a grant to Mr. Judge Advocate John Wyld, on Novem-ber 1, 1822. Mr. Wyld was the last Judge Advocate, and for a short time a Judge of the Supreme Court under the charter of 1824. It is evident that at the outset Mr. Wyld made no attempt to improve his property, and he nearly lost it for falling to comply with the conditions of the grant, and Governor Darling in his despatch of 1828, already men-tioned in connection with the Macleay grant, dealtalso with the Wyld grant in these words: "The allotment bearing Judge Wyld's name was granted to that gentleman by Gover-nor Macquarie several years since, and still remains unimproved. I purpose writing to inform the Judge that it will be resumed by the Government unless the conditions of the grant are speedlly fulfilled. It is quite evi-dent, however, that Mr. Wyld complied with the conditions at a later date, for Mr. Dowl-ing in his article points out that the Judge Advocate conveyed 61 acres of the land to Mr. J. H. Potts, who was one of the early officers of the Bnnk of New South Wales, which was first established in 1817. Hence, the name Potts Point, the native name of which is Carrageen. But it was also called Point Campbell, in a survey by Gover-nor Phillip in 1792. The street from the end of Macleay-street, opposite Grantham, is call-ed Wyld-street, and Mr. Dowling adds "evi-dently after the judge." On the north side of this street nnd built in the land once owned by the Judge Advocate, were the fine residen-ces, Bellevue, Clarens, Creelwood, Clifford, and Tarana. Some of these have been re-built or added to, and renamed, including the site of Mr. W. R. Hall's modern Wildfell, and opposite them Bomerah, belonging to the well known McQuade family, who occupied the extreme Potts Point. Bomerah 20 years ago was the home of the Admiral in charge of the station, and Mr. Dowling says, "near by was Grantham Villa, built on the remain-ing 4½ acres of John Wyld's grant. This land, on which the house was erected, be-came by purchase from the Judge, the pro-perty of Mr. Caleb Wilson, the father of Felix Wilson, who was the defendant in the celebrated Newtown ejectment suit, "Devine v Wilson." He built the first house in the property which he called Caleb Castle, and by reason of its turret it was, Mr. Dowling says, also known as the Pepper-pot. Later the name was changed to Grantham. It was done in this way: The property was pur-chased by Mr. P. Parbury. It then passed Into the hands of Mr. Henry Dangar, and Is now owned by his son, the Hon. H. C. Dangar, who almost wholly rebuilt it in 1870, and call-ed the house Grantham. Immediately opposite Grantham Ville, states Mr. Dowling, was Clarens, which was in 1847 purchased by Mr, George Richard Griffiths, father of Mr. F. G, Griffiths, who came out to Sydney as the general manager of the Bank of Australasia, and after resigning this appointment he conducted a merchant's business in Sydney under the style of Grif-fiths, Graham, and Co., and afterwards Grif-fiths, Fanning, and Co. He sold out, and went

to England in 1833. Later this property was occupied by Sir James Martin, the Chief Jus-tice. It is now under the name of "Wilga," and is owned by Dr. Faithfull.

Another important property In this district is one on the west side of Macleay-strcet, next to "Grantham,". It was a grant to Dr. Douglas in October, 1831. He sold It the fol-lowing year to Colonel Shadforth, who built a residence known as "Adelaide Cottage" upon the ground. The land, Mr. Dowling states, extended from Macleay-street down to the waters of Woolloomooloo Bay. The whole property came later into the possession of Mr. J. H. Challis, manager for Messrs. Flower, Salting, and Co., and later a partner in the business. Mr. Challis gave this pro-perty, along with others, as a magnificent be-quest, valued at £250,000, to the Sydney University. Hence we have Challis House in

Martin-place. Next to Challis' properly was the grant in 1831 to Mr. John Busby, of early Sydney water supply fame, "the Busby bore."

This land was divided into two parts . On

one was erected Rockwall, the residence of Mr H. C. Sempill, and afterwards of Mr .

Arthur Little, a wealthy resident, who died

there in 1852. The house afterwards became

a "college for young ladles". On the other block was elected Tarmong, the residence of Sir Maurice O'Connell, the commandant of the forces, who died there in 1848. After-wards Tarmong was occupied by Dr Nichol-son (late Sir Charles) who in 1852 was a member of the Legislative Council and a Vice Chancellor of the University of Sydney. The house has now become absorbed in St Vincent's Convent

Not far away was the grant to Mr. Justice John Stephen of 11 acres 17 perches. Mr Stephen was the first Puisne Judge of the colony after the Charter of Justice and was the father of the

late Sir Alfred Stephen and upon this property

Orwell was erected. It was occupied at various times by such personages as Mr

James Raymond (Postmaster-General), Co-lonel H. C. Wilson (police magistrate), and

Mr Justice Milford. In 1846 Mr G R Griffiths lived there before he purchased Clarens,

and Mr F Parbury lived there in 1847. The property was subsequently owned by Sir Wil-liam Manning. The original house still stands. The adjoining property, Mr Dowling states was a grant, dated October 19th 1831, to Mr Alexander Baxter, the second Attorn-Generall under the Charter, who later went to Van Diemen's Land. Upon this land Spring-field was erected, and occupied by Mr Robert Campbell of Campbells Wharf and later by

Mr Robert Fitzgerald, of Windsor. It is now a boarding-house. A grant, dated October 11

1841, to Mr Edward Hallen, would appear to have been originally granted to Mr Bal-combe, the Colonial Treasuer, but it must have been revoked. Mr Hallen built a house upon it, which he called Telford Place his widow was a daughter of Lieutenant Lawson, and she died there only a few years ago.

Mention could be made of many other grants in this aristociatic part of old Sydney, including one to Mr Edward Deas Thomson (afterwards Sir Edward) in 1835, on which he erected Barham, and resided there until his

death; but there is one grant to the west of

the Deas Thomson grant which should be mentioned. It was 100 acres of land, which Mr Dowling desrcibes as lying at the head of Garden island Cove, known as Garden Cove, but marked in Roe's map of 1822 as Palmer's

Cove. The land was on the east side of the line laid down as a boundary for the

common ground, appropriated for the town of Sydney, which was to be known as

'Wallamooloo Farm'. This 100 acres was

granted to John Palmer, the Commissary General, hy his Honor Mr. Francís Grose,

Lieutenent-Goveneor of the colony, on Feb-ruary 25, 1793. But Palmer sold the pro-pcrty to the Riley family on May 3, 1882, for the sum of £2290 and since then it has been known as the Riley estate, heing all the land bounded on the eastby the whole of the grants already mentioned and on the south by as near as possible Albion-street, Surry Hills, and on the west by Hyde Park, and on the north by the waters of Woolloomooloo

Bay. Hence Palmer and Riley streets. This proved to be one of the most valuable

grants in the city.

It will thus be seen that Potts Point, Eliza-beth Bay, and Darlinghurst formed at one time the principal residential areas for the

well-to-do people of Sydney .They still do, so, but look at the remarkable change which has taken place in any portion of this dis-trict. Instead of spacious mansions, sur-

rounded by large and picturesque grounds, that .. were once to be seen and thoroughly enjoyed at Potts Point and the adjacent district, we now have terrace after terrace of large and

fashionable boarding-houses, private hospi-

tals, and such like semi-public residences. The commercial element has got a hold of the district, and is entirely transforming it. Values have, in consequence, risen enormously, and they are likely to continue to do so. In fact, it is most difficult to secure a property

at the present time in this district, and if one does appear in the market it is quickly snapped up. Its close proximity to the city gives to it a somewhat abnormal commercial value, and it is likely to continue to increase in value,, until some day it will be swallowed up in the commercial advance-ment of the city proper. Residences will then disappear, and commercial houses will occupy

the once famous aristocratic Potts Point

Roslyn Hall – Roslyn Street / Darlinghurst Road – Potts Point – NSW

Built c.1833–1834 · Architect Ambrose Hallen · Demolished 1937

On the eastern fall of Woolloomooloo Hill — where Darlinghurst Road meets the boomerang of Roslyn Street, where Barker’s windmills once turned above Rushcutters Bay, where St Luke’s and Ward Avenue flats now hold the ground — millwright-made-good Thomas Barker raised a stone villa that contemporaries ranked with Elizabeth Bay House. Conrad Martens caught it white on the slope in 1836. George Edwards Peacock painted the house beside the mills in 1844. By November 1937 Joseph Reidle found floors ripped out and the grey stone going for flats. Welcome to Roslyn Hall — the mansion behind this blog’s “Roslyn House” Potts Point URL; not Roslyndale at Woollahra; not a Darling Point house despite an old ADB slip.

At a glance

Address / site: Woolloomooloo Hill / Darlinghurst–Potts Point–Rushcutters Bay eastern slope; Darlinghurst Road gates opposite Springfield; Roslyn Street / Roslyn Gardens / Ward Avenue / St Luke’s Hospital locality (DoS ~−33.8737, 151.2247)
Built: c.1833–1834 on Barker’s Nov 1833 grant / purchase (DoS constructed 1834; standing for Martens 1836)
Architect: Ambrose Hallen (Colonial Architect 1832–35)
Style: large two-storey stone villa; columned high verandahs; cast-iron spiral stair; sunken bedroom baths; reputed palace-scale drawing-room (period descriptions)
Original owner: Thomas Barker (1799–1875), engineer, miller, MLA/MLC, University of Sydney benefactor
Estate extras: Barker’s Hope Mill and second windmill at Darlinghurst Road / Roslyn Street junction (from 1825/1826)
Famous later chapter: Chauvel occupancy (1880s); Parry Long household into the 1930s (AWW / Reidle)
Estate context: ridge neighbour of Springfield, Orwell, Barncleuth/Kinneil, Elizabeth Bay House — dress-circle Sydney, eastern harbour fall
Heritage status: demolished 1937 — no standing villa fabric; street names and estate-lot survivors tell the story
Fate: cleared for residential flats (Reidle: already ruins 30 Nov 1937); name survives in Roslyn Street / Gardens

Site & setting

Call the ridge Woolloomooloo Hill, Darlinghurst, Potts Point or Kings Cross — Barker’s ground fell east from the spine toward Rushcutters Bay. An iron lattice gate opened on Darlinghurst Road opposite Springfield House; another gate, later the St Canice’s locality, faced toward Bayswater Road; north lay Barncleuth (later Kinneil) and Elizabeth Bay Road (Reidle 1937). SMH suburb history (1913) put 9 acres 1 rood under a grant dated 28 November 1833, with Roslyn Gardens and Roslyn-road on the east. Dictionary of Sydney’s estate entry rounds the same story to 9 acres acquired 1833, villa plus windmills, subdivided 1889.

Disambiguation, twice. First: this is Roslyn Hall, Potts Point / Darlinghurst — the house already scrapbooked on this blog under the URL roslyn-house-potts-point and the title Roslyn Hall. It is not Roslyndale, the surviving Victorian Gothic house at 38 Roslyndale Avenue, Woollahra. Second: ignore the ADB line that plants Roslyn Hall on Darling Point. Barker bought Darling Point allotments in the 1830s auctions, but the Dictionary of Sydney’s Darling Point entry is explicit — Roslyn Hall stood on the other side of Rushcutters Bay, in today’s Darlinghurst. Hallen’s ADB entry has it right: Rushcutters Bay, where Roslyn Street now is.

The windmills were the landmark before the villa. Barker and John Smith raised a large mill in 1826 and another close by (ADB). SLNSW / Villas of Darlinghurst tradition names the first and largest Hope Mill (from 1825), the pair standing at the Roslyn Street / Darlinghurst Road junction north of present Kellett Street, with Roslyn Hall built next door. Peacock’s 1844 oil still shows house and mills together on the ridge. Potts Point Preservation notes that some of the mills’ huge sandstone blocks were later reused in nearby buildings in Kellett Street.

Today the villa is gone. Walk Roslyn Street from the Cross toward Rushcutters Bay — St Luke’s Hospital occupies the former villa locality (PPP), Ward Avenue flats, Barncleuth Lane, the plane trees — and you are inside the old estate’s street plan.

Timeline

25 Mar 1799 – Thomas Barker born, Soho, London (ADB).
Oct 1813 – Arrives Sydney in Earl Spencer with guardian / master engineer John Dickson (ADB).
4 Jun 1823 – Marries Joanna Dickson at St Philip’s (ADB).
1825–1826 – Hope Mill / Darlinghurst windmills raised on Woolloomooloo Hill (SLNSW Villas tradition; ADB 1826).
28 Nov 1833 – Grant / purchase dated for Barker’s Roslyn Hall land (SMH 1913; Reidle).
c.1833–1834 – Ambrose Hallen designs / builds Roslyn Hall (DoS constructed 1834; PTW ~1833; ADB “more like a palace than a private house”).
1836 – Conrad Martens views include Roslyn Hall white on the Rushcutters Bay slope (View from Craigend tradition; live-post sketch).
1844 – G. E. Peacock, View of part of Wooloomooloo and Mr Barker’s house and mills with Bradleys Point (SLNSW DG 372).
24 Dec 1851 – Joanna Barker dies at Roslyn Hall, Darlinghurst (family notices / Barker bio tradition).
1857 – Barker marries Katherine Heath Gray (ADB); later builds Maryland, Bringelly.
c.1861–1862 – Barker leaves the town house (Uni. Sydney archives ~1861 sale note); Feb 1862 SMH “To Let” — occupied by Walter Lamb, Esq.
1875 – Thomas Barker dies at Bringelly, 12 March (ADB).
1880s – Charles Chauvel (and later his widow) occupy; City Solicitor / Freehold Society papers 1880–1888 (PTW; City Archives).
10 Sep 1889 – Roslyn Hall Estate gardens / Darlinghurst Road frontage auctioned; house retained behind Barncleuth Lane (PTW / NLA subdivision plan).
By 1898 – Alfred Parry Long (Registrar-General) already associated with Roslyn Hall as his Darlinghurst residence (contemporary press at his death, Sept 1898); PTW notes the later Parry Long holding as Barker family connection by marriage.
c.1900–1935 – Eliza Amelia Parry Long holds Roslyn Hall after Alfred’s death; she lives there 30+ years (AWW 1936); daughter Eliza Ina dies 1930; Mrs Parry Long dies 1935.
30 Nov 1937 – Reidle: Roslyn Hall already a man-made ruin — floors out, fronts down, stone carted for flats; Orwell likewise; Springfield still “awaits.”
1937 – Dictionary of Sydney demolition year; flats replace the villa (Clairmont / Ward Avenue tradition in secondary writing).
Today – No villa fabric. Roslyn Street, Roslyn Gardens, St Luke’s Hospital group and neighbouring flats occupy the former estate geography.

Architecture & interiors

Forget inventing cedar inventories. The period reporters who still knew the house agree on scale and a few stubborn details.

Reidle (1937), walking the wreck: a large, well-built, two-storey stone mansion, high verandahs on two sides carried on massive stone columns; a beautiful spiral staircase to the upper storey; sunken baths level with the floors in most bedrooms — the same Scriptural “go down into the water” baths the SMH suburb series had already praised in 1913, when it also named the stair as cast iron. The 1913 writer called Roslyn Hall one of the most fashionable houses around Sydney, with spacious, elaborately finished rooms and an elaborately finished frontage remembered toward Macleay Street / the ridge.

The Parry Long scrapbook (AWW, 1936) adds the drawing-room folklore: reputed biggest drawing-room in Sydney, ceiling painted pale blue with gold stars to resemble the sky; a unique stone-flagged entrance-hall. ADB preserves the colonial boast that Hallen’s design was “more like a palace than a private house.” Reidle put its grandeur beside Elizabeth Bay House alone.

James Broadbent, surveying Woolloomooloo Hill’s architects, groups Roslyn Hall with Springfield among the Hallen villas whose appearances are known — Ambrose for Barker’s palace; Edward for other ridge work. Do not credit John Verge. Prefer the eyewitness fragments above over any invented room schedule.

People & anecdotes

Thomas Barker is the self-made centre of the story: orphaned apprentice to John Dickson, windmill builder against “overgrown Millers,” steam flour and later tweed at Sussex and Bathurst Streets, magistrate, railway promoter, Commercial Banking Co. chairman, Legislative Councillor then MLA, first major cash benefactor to the University of Sydney’s mathematics scholarship (ADB). Roslyn Hall was the town expression of that fortune — mills on the skyline, villa on the slope, farms at Bringelly and beyond. Joanna died in the house in 1851; by the early 1860s Barker had shifted weight to Maryland, and Walter Lamb was in residence when the Herald advertised the lease.

Then the scrapbook fills with other names. Reidle lists Mrs William Lawson and her daughters, a Mr Chauvel, and the Hon. William Macleay. City of Sydney and PTW place Charles Chauvel (and later his widow) in the 1880s — the same decade the Sydney Permanent Freehold Land and Building Society was carving the Darlinghurst Road frontage for sale (10 September 1889), leaving the old house behind a new lane. AWW remembers “Major Chauvel” and wonderful parties. Keep him distinct from the twentieth-century film-maker of the same surname.

Eliza Amelia Parry Long — widow of Registrar-General Alfred Parry Long — is the last long chapter. Alfred was already living the house as a Darlinghurst address by 1898; PTW’s later heritage assessment notes the Parry Long estate connection to Barker by marriage. The Women’s Weekly of September 1936, already clipped on the live post, wraps Roslyn Hall into her property empire and the thwarted plan to make daughter Eliza Ina “the wealthiest woman in Australia.” Mother and daughter both died before the picks finished the house; Reidle, walking the ruins in November 1937, still heard only the lonely woman’s footsteps in the last quiet quarter-century.

Gallery placeholder note

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

Do not invent URLs — search these collections and embed with proper acknowledgement. Keep the Martens and Peacock images already on the live post; fix any “Conrad Martens” spelling in the caption to Martens.

1. Conrad Martens, Roslyn Hall / View from Craigend tradition, 1836

Search: SLNSW / Christie’s View from Craigend, Darlinghurst 1836 (white building left = Roslyn Hall); live-post pencil sketch. Caption idea: White on the Rushcutters Bay slope — Martens, 1836.

2. George Edwards Peacock, View of part of Wooloomooloo and Mr Barker’s house and mills with Bradleys Point, 1844

Search: SLNSW DG 372; already on the live post. Caption idea: House and mills on the same ridge — Barker’s double skyline.

3. Peacock / Craigend north view with Hope Mill note (a140025)

Search: SLNSW digital order a140025; Villas of Darlinghurst catalogue. Caption idea: Hope Mill at the Roslyn Street–Darlinghurst Road junction — villa next door.

4. Panorama of Darlinghurst c.1836

Search: SLNSW XV1A/Darh/1; DoS media. Caption idea: Windmills on the hill above Roslyn Hall — ridge roll-call.

5. Metropolitan Detail Series / Roslyn Hall gates to Darlinghurst Road

Search: City of Sydney Archives (PTW Fig. 4); pre-1889 subdivision. Caption idea: Lattice gate opposite Springfield — the town front.

6. Roslyn Hall Estate subdivision plan, auction 10 Sep 1889

Search: NLA Map Folder 49, LFSP702. Caption idea: Gardens for sale — house kept behind the new lane.

7. SMH Reidle “Ghosts in Crinolines,” 30 Nov 1937

Search: Trove article 17408467 (already clipped). Caption idea: Floors out, stone going — November 1937.

8. Australian Women’s Weekly, 5 Sep 1936 — Parry Long / Roslyn Hall

Search: Trove; already on the live post. Caption idea: Blue ceiling, gold stars, stone-flagged hall — the last long tenancy.

9. Roslyn Street / St Luke’s / Ward Avenue today

Search: City of Sydney imagery; own site photos. Caption idea: Name on the street — villa gone, estate geography still underfoot.

10. Compare set: Springfield (opposite gate), Orwell, Elizabeth Bay House, Kinneil/Barncleuth, Grantham

Search: existing blog posts; Reidle neighbours. Caption idea: Same obituaries, same ridge.

What stands today

Roslyn Hall does not stand. Dictionary of Sydney and Reidle’s November 1937 ruin report agree on a 1937 end. What you visit is the estate geography, the street names, and the neighbours.

Walk Roslyn Street from Darlinghurst Road toward Rushcutters Bay — the T-intersection is the old windmill corner; St Luke’s Hospital sits on the former villa locality (PPP), with Ward Avenue flat blocks in the former grounds’ story.
Look for Barncleuth Lane, Roslyn Gardens, and St Canice’s as edge-markers Reidle and the 1913 Herald already used.
Pair the visit with Springfield Avenue (gate opposite), Elizabeth Bay House (museum), Tusculum, Rockwall, Jenner, and the Orwell / Minerva–Metro site.
Do not confuse this walk with Roslyndale, Woollahra — different suburb, different century, house still standing.
Do not look for Barker’s palace on Darling Point — that was allotment speculation, not this villa.

No public house museum, no remnant spiral stair. The enrichment is Martens and Peacock, the mill corner, the street that kept the name, and Reidle’s wrought-iron gate facing the seven-storey future.

Sources & further reading

Dictionary of Sydney — Roslyn Hall: https://dictionaryofsydney.org/building/roslyn_hall
Dictionary of Sydney — Roslyn Hall Estate: https://dictionaryofsydney.org/place/roslyn_hall_estate
Dictionary of Sydney — Barker, Thomas; Barker’s Windmill; Darling Point (location correction)
ADB — ‘Barker, Thomas (1799–1875)’: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/barker-thomas-1741
ADB — ‘Hallen, Ambrose (?–1845)’: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hallen-ambrose-2147
SMH, 1 Nov 1913, ‘Progress of the Suburbs… Potts Point and Darlinghurst’: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15462331
Joseph Reidle, ‘Ghosts in Crinolines…’, SMH, 30 Nov 1937: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17408467
Australian Women’s Weekly, 5 Sep 1936 (Parry Long / Roslyn Hall) — clipped on live post
PTW Architects — Heritage Assessment, 1A Elizabeth Bay Road / 18–32 Darlinghurst Rd / 2 Roslyn Street (City of Sydney, 2018): https://meetings.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/documents/s18763/Attachment%20D%20-%20Heritage%20Assessment.pdf
James Broadbent, The Australian Colonial House (Potts Point Preservation excerpt): https://pottspointpreservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Broadbent_reduced.pdf
SLNSW — Peacock DG 372; Villas of Darlinghurst / Potts Point exhibition materials: https://pottspointpreservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Villas-of-Potts-Point.pdf
Potts Point Preservation — Roslyn Street local history: https://pottspointpreservation.org/local-history/roslyn-street-potts-point/
Existing scrapbook post: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2021/07/roslyn-house-potts-point.html