Oroya - Corner of Everton And Wentworth Rds - Strathfield
Built: date not yet confirmed · Architect: unknown · Demolished
On the southern corner of Everton and Wentworth Roads stood "Oroya", a large private home that was sold in 1919 and spent the next decades as a private hospital, where many Strathfield babies were born, before it was pulled down for a block of units.
At a glance
- Address: southern corner of Everton Road and Wentworth Road, Strathfield NSW
- Built: not yet confirmed (before 1919)
- Architect: unknown
- Style: not recorded
- Original owner: not confirmed; a local recollection names "a Mrs Cole"
- Heritage listing: none (demolished)
- Fate: private hospital after 1919, later known as Strathfield Private Hospital; demolished and replaced by a block of units
Gallery
Oroya, corner of Everton and Wentworth Roads, Strathfield.
Site & setting
Oroya stood on the southern corner of Everton and Wentworth Roads. A local resident remembered it as "a nice big home" on that corner. Opposite stood another large house with a big stone gate, owned by the racing identity "Skinny" Moss. The specialist Dr Dansey lived a little further down Everton Road, and "Tabilkhoom" stood on Wentworth Road just before Rowley Street.
Timeline
- Before 1919: Oroya is a private residence.
- 1919: The house is sold and becomes a private hospital.
- 1945: A son, Timothy William Gwynn Webb, is born at Oroya on 16 March (SMH family notice, 24 Mar 1945).
- 1946: Elizabeth Anne Purdie is born at Oroya on 25 September (family notice, 28 Sep 1946).
- 1947: Suzanne Jeanne Ring is born at Oroya on 3 June (family notice, 7 Jun 1947).
- Later: The hospital is renamed Strathfield Private Hospital. The old house is demolished and the hospital moves across the road; units now stand on the site.
Architecture & interiors
No description of the house's design, builder or interiors has been found yet. The photograph above is the only known record on this blog.
People & anecdotes
In the "Keary's Corner" memoir published by Strathfield Heritage, a local resident recalled the house as "Oraya" and thought it was "owned by a Mrs Cole". They also remembered that it "became a private hospital later but was pulled down some years ago and replaced by a block of units." Birth notices from the 1940s show that it was a working maternity hospital, and some mothers came from as far away as Tarana in the central west.
What stands today
Nothing of Oroya survives. A block of units stands on the corner, and Strathfield Private Hospital is now on the opposite side of the road.
Sources & further reading
- Cathy Jones, 'Oroya' Private Hospital Strathfield, Strathfield Heritage, 2017.
- Keary's Corner – Memories of Strathfield, Strathfield Heritage.
- Family Notices (Webb), Sydney Morning Herald, 24 Mar 1945, Trove.
- Family Notices (Purdie), 28 Sep 1946, Trove.
- Family Notices (Ring), 7 Jun 1947, Trove.
