Rosemont – 14 Rosemont Avenue – Woollahra – NSW
Early Victorian sandstone villa + Edwardian/20th-c. additions c.1857 for Alexander Campbell · Standing private · SHR #00294
Inland from the Point Piper waterfront pile-up, Rosemont was Woollahra’s inland court: merchant-banker Alexander Campbell’s sandstone villa, later Mackellar, Cohen, Garvan and — for half a century — Lloyd Jones salon headquarters, then Burrell family home after Espie Dods turned the service yard into the front door. No harbour frontage, record inland sale, State Heritage fabric, remnant formal garden on a fraction of the old acres.
At a glance
- Address: 14 Rosemont Avenue, Woollahra NSW 2025 (alternate historic Edgecliff Road addressing on SHR)
- Traditional Custodians: Cadigal / Eora (La Perouse LALC on SHR)
- Built: c.1857 for Hon. Alexander Campbell MLC (merchant banker) & Harietta; stone quarried on site (Jervis via SHR); 1859 press “newly-erected” (SHR)
- Architect: James Hume (SHR/RNE designer field); Campbell also described as his own architect (Jervis) — flag both. Cast iron from P.N. Russell foundry (SHR)
- Style: Early Victorian sandstone villa with later Edwardian/20th-c. character in additions; Ionic cast-iron colonnade; servants’ wing joined 1914
- Heritage: NSW SHR #00294 (2 Apr 1999; PCO from 30 Mar 1984); Register of the National Estate (14 May 1991); National Trust; Woollahra LEP
- Estate scale: once ~80 acres with structured gardens (mostly south) → 1912 subdivision creates Rosemont Avenue → 1970s–c.1980 further cuts (Rosemont Gardens flats on former Ocean Street drive) → remnant >~3,000 m² (SHR)
- Fate / current use: Standing — private residence after 2021 sale (~$45m reported; Lady Burrell to Andrew Griffin — Domain/SHR). Not a museum
Site & setting
Woollahra ridge inland of Double Bay / Edgecliff — originally bounded toward Trelawney, Ocean and Edgecliff Road, reaching toward Merioola (Jervis via SHR). Curved stone entry walls and tree-lined avenue were celebrated relics even in Nesta Griffiths’s day; the Ocean Street drive section was sold for townhouses/flats in the 1970s–c.1980 (SHR).
Burrell/Dods/Stanton reorientation put formal entry on the former southern service courtyard off Rosemont Avenue, with grass terrace, tennis court and pool stepping north (SHR). Mature camphor, figs, magnolia, palms and perimeter planting still enclose the reduced ground (SHR / Read observations on inventory).
Timeline
- c.1857 / 1859 – Rosemont built for Alexander Campbell; newly erected in press (SHR).
- c.1860s – Portions leased; neighbouring cottages/terraces; Woollahra Council established 1860 (Griffiths/Jervis via SHR).
- 1876–79 – All Saints Woollahra land story (Mort/Campbell/Coopers); Rosemont ball for Exhibition commissioners 1879 (Griffiths via SHR).
- c.1880s – Gardener Alexander Grant (ex-Yaralla; later Swifts / Botanic Gardens) associated with Rosemont grounds (Grant 1997 via SHR).
- 1912 – Estate subdivision; Rosemont Avenue created; house surrounded by new neighbours (WHHS via SHR).
- 1914 – Servants’ wing joins house to kitchen; stair/entrance-hall alterations; colonnade balcony (RNE/SHR).
- Early–mid 20th c. – Occupancy chapters include Hon. J.T. Walker; Sir Charles & Lady Mackellar (parents of poet Dorothea Mackellar — Sir Charles dies at Rosemont 14 Jul 1926); Sir Samuel Cohen; Sir John Garvan (SHR/ADB material on inventory).
- 193281 – Charles & Hannah (Lady) Lloyd Jones ownership; major Sydney salon; Sir Charles dies at Rosemont 30 Jul 1958; National Trust Women’s Committee house-inspection pioneer site; contents auction Apr 1981 (SHR).
- 1981–83 – Developer interlude / mortgagee sale; Burrells purchase (~$1.8m), take possession 1983; Espie Dods + Gai Stanton rearrange house (~45 rooms → ~16) and garden; fountain from turning circle relocated to Oxford/Queen Streets public space (SHR/Domain).
- 2 Apr 1999 – SHR listing (after 1984 PCO).
- 2021 – Sold by Lady Burrell for ~$45m; contents auction Jun 2022 (SHR/Domain).
- Today Private SHR villa on remnant grounds.
Architecture & interiors
Two-storey painted sandstone; slate main roof; iron/copper verandah roofs; symmetrical main elevation with projecting bays and encircling Ionic cast-iron colonnade (P.N. Russell) (SHR/RNE). Side single-storey verandahs on cast-iron pilasters; sandstone-flagged floors (SHR). Original joinery (six-panel doors, elaborate skirtings) survives painted; some marble fireplaces and plasterwork; main stair and present entrance hall are twentieth-century (1914 campaign) (SHR). Servants’ quarters historically separated by flagged courtyard, later linked (Griffiths / SHR). Dods-era reduction respected principal rooms’ north outlook while flipping arrival to the old service court (SHR).
People & anecdotes
Alexander Campbell — merchant banker MLC who quarried his own stone and threw the 1879 Exhibition ball. Mrs Dillon Chevalier Dillon’s widow, fifty years as Campbell laundress/keeper of Crown Derby (Griffiths via SHR) — the domestic anecdote that sticks. Mackellars — medicine, politics, “My Country” under the same roof. Lloyd Joneses — David Jones retail power and mid-century society; Menzies funeral oration for Sir Charles; Rosemont as first National Trust Women’s Committee house inspection. Burrells — Knepp Castle baronetcy choosing Woollahra, Dods flipping the plan, forty years of quieter parties than the Lloyd Jones decades.
Image gallery guidance
1. Ionic colonnade / main sandstone elevation.
2. Historic Ocean Street avenue / curved entry walls (pre-subdivision views).
3. 1912 subdivision context — avenue creation.
4. Dods/Stanton southern courtyard entry / parterres.
5. Lloyd Jones salon / Trust inspection era photography.
6. Relocated fountain at Oxford & Queen Streets (caption as ex-Rosemont).
7. Garden mature trees framing reduced acreage.
What stands today
Rosemont stands as a private State Heritage villa at 14 Rosemont Avenue. No public access street and published conservation/sale photography only. Pair with All Saints Woollahra (land story), Swifts (Grant the gardener), Yaralla (Grant’s earlier post), and inland Woollahra peers.
Sources & further reading
- NSW SHR — Rosemont (#00294, DB 5045708): https://apps.environment.nsw.gov.au/dpcheritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5045708
- Register of the National Estate listing (1991) summarised on SHR
- G. Nesta Griffiths, Some Houses and People of New South Wales (1949) — Woollahra chapter cited on SHR
- James Jervis / Vince Kelly, Double Bay / Woollahra local histories cited on SHR
- Domain / SMH — 2021 sale and 2022 contents coverage reflected on SHR history field
- Wikipedia — Rosemont, Woollahra (portal; verify against SHR)
Related on this blog
- Yaralla Concord (Alexander Grant gardener link)
- Swifts Darling Point (Grant; Gothic peer world)
- Fairwater / Elaine / Redleaf Double Bay — eastern cluster
- National Trust house-inspection cousins (Lindesay, Experiment Farm when relevant)
Add historic photos with captions and credits (SLNSW / Trove / author) from Image gallery guidance.
