19 Rae Street, Randwick, New South Wales

19 Rae Street, Randwick, New South Wales 

Grand 6.5 Metre Victorian  Italianate Terrace Transformed Into Spectacular Family Home


Combining Period Detail With Contemporary Design On A Grand Scale, This Exceptional Family Residence Is One Of Randwicks Finest Homes.

With Interiors Perfectly Configured  For Family Living And Effortless Large Scale
entertaining, A Series Of Lounge, Dining And Entertaining Spaces Adjoin The Expansive Gas / Electric Kitchen Which Opens To The North Facing Sandstone Courtyard And Solar Heated Pool


Upstairs Accommodation Comprises Of 5 Large Bedrooms.   Including The Master Wing With Walk In Robe, En-suite And Balcony.


Part Of A Much Admired Row Of 6 Victorian Itslianate Terraces Built circa 1887, The Home Stands On A Deep Dual Access Block With  A Seperate Self Conatained Studio And Secure Double
garaging From Wood Lane.





- Classic Victorian Italianate Terrace Facade
- Wide 6.5 Metre Frontage
- 3.4 Metre Ceilings
- Elegant Entrance Hall, Grand Formal Rooms
- 4 Large Bedrooms And Luxurious Master Wing
- Self Contained Studio Above Garage
- Expansive Kitchen, Bar And Wine Storage
- Reverse Cycle Air Conditioning Plus Gas Heating
- Secure Garaging Via Wood Lane



FEATURED IN THE WENTWORTH COURIER

“Hexham” - 447 Darling Street - Balmain - 1897 Harbour View Manor

Hexham – 447 Darling Street – Balmain – NSW

Victorian Italianate harbour-view manor · Built 1897 (agent / live tradition; soft 1893 property-data dating) · Standing — private

The live post is a garbled real-estate paste of a Balmain Italianate on Darling Street. What can be said without invention: Hexham at 447 Darling Street is a three-level Victorian Italianate manor with harbour outlook, marketed as an 1897 build, and still standing as a private house. Domain’s 2019 sale reporting attributes the house to chemist founder Lewy Pattinson (Soul Pattinson) — treat as secondary journalism until a title search or local-history monograph confirms. No Dictionary of Sydney building entry and no SHR/individual LEP listing verified this pass.

At a glance

• Address: 447 Darling Street, Balmain NSW 2041
• Name: Hexham
• Built: 1897 Victorian Italianate (Pillinger / live / Domain); soft alternate 1893 (OnTheHouse property data)
• Attributed first owner (secondary): Lewy Pattinson, Soul Pattinson founder (Domain 2019)
• Site: c.749–750 m² (agent); northerly harbour views claimed from three levels
• Heritage: No SHR; individual Inner West / former Leichhardt LEP listing not verified this pass — re-check Schedule 5 before “heritage-listed” wording
• Fate: Standing — private; sold $7,500,000 (28 Aug 2019, Domain); earlier trade $2.1m (2001)
• Architect / builder: unknown this pass — do not invent

Site & setting

Darling Street ridge, Balmain peninsula — Wangal / Cadigal harbour Country. Agent marketing places the house in the village heart with northerly harbour outlook; landscaped grounds (Secret Gardens credited in sale copy) and rear-lane garage are modern / revival fabric, not 1890s evidence. Pair with other Balmain standing houses on this blog (e.g. Hampton Villa, Ewenton, Birchgrove House) rather than inventing a Blacket / colonial-surgeon narrative for this title.

Timeline

• 1890s / 1897 – House built (agent dating; soft 1893 property-data conflict left visible).
• Attributed early occupancy – Lewy Pattinson (Domain secondary only).
• 2001 – Sold $2.1m (Domain / apartments.com.au reporting).
• 2010s – Major revival / contemporary fit-out (agent).
• 2018–19 – Listed ~$9m hopes; sold $7.5m 28 Aug 2019 (Domain suburb-high claim at the time).
• 2020-01 – Thin RE-paste live stub on this blog.
• Today – Private residence — no public access.

Architecture & interiors

Victorian Italianate massing per agent description: soaring ceilings (marketed 3.6 m), stained glass, marble entry hall, Australian cedar staircase, Italian marble / English ironwork fireplaces, attic billiards room. Room counts and finishes are marketing descriptions, not a measured heritage survey. Architect unknown. Do not invent style labels beyond Italianate.

People & anecdotes

Lewy Pattinson — Domain attributes Hexham as built for the Soul Pattinson chemist founder; confirm with title / Balmain Association research before hard claim. Later private owners named in sale journalism (e.g. Alan East; Chris & Kim Brierley; Evatt Tamine & Sophie Tod) are secondary — omit detailed private biography unless public records are cited at publish.

Gallery placeholder note

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

Live post has 6 images — keep if licensed; prefer historic exteriors over pure lifestyle/agent interiors where available.

1. Darling Street elevation / Italianate façade

2. Harbour outlook from upper levels (caption as marketing vantage)

3. Entry hall / cedar stair (if historic fabric visible)

4. Garden / pool — caption as revival landscape, not 1897 fabric

5. Pair with standing Balmain comparators (Hampton, Ewenton) — clear “neighbour, not Hexham” captions

What stands today

Hexham stands as a private Balmain house at 447 Darling Street. No public access. Before publishing “heritage-listed,” re-query Inner West LEP Schedule 5. This Wave 6 file replaces the OCR/RE paste with a template spine; deepen with Balmain Association / rate books / title search in a later pass.

Sources & further reading

• Live post: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2020/01/hexham-447-darling-street-balmain-1897.html
• Pillinger — 447 Darling Street sale page (1897 dating, 749 m²): https://www.pillinger.com/properties/447-darling-street/
• Domain — Balmain $7.5m Hexham / Pattinson attribution (2019 reporting)
• apartments.com.au — “Balmain trophy home Hexham listed with $9 million hopes,” 20 Nov 2018
• Inner West / former Leichhardt LEP Schedule 5 — re-check individual listing before publish
• Trove — Hexham Balmain; Lewy Pattinson Balmain (primary-source gap this pass)

Related on this blog

• Hampton Villa – Balmain
• Ewenton – Balmain
• Birchgrove House – Balmain

Historic live gallery

Images retained from the live Blogger post:

"Tresco" - Historic Waterfront Estate - 97 Elizabeth Bay Road - Potts Point - New South Wales

Tresco – 97 Elizabeth Bay Road – Elizabeth Bay (often filed under Potts Point) – NSW

Victorian Italianate sandstone villa · Thomas Rowe 1867–68 + Westgarth east wing/garden 1883 · Standing — private · SHR #00780

One of the few MacLeay Point allotments still on its original harbour parcel. Rowe built it for himself, named it after the Scilly isle, lost it financially; Westgarth made the garden and east wing; for a century the Flag Officer slept here opposite Garden Island; then private money again. The 2019 live post is brochure paste; the 2018 “Trisco” sibling is OCR gibberish of the same house — keep one scrapbook, not two.

At a glance

• Address: 97 Elizabeth Bay Road, Elizabeth Bay NSW 2011 (City of Sydney). Live “Potts Point” / Point Piper habit — soft; official address is Elizabeth Bay.
• Land: Part of Alexander Macleay’s 1831 Elizabeth Bay grant → 1865/67 MacLeay Point leasehold subdivision; Rowe secured lot (SHR).
• Built: 1867–68 Thomas Rowe — two-storey pick-axed sandstone Italianate, slate roof, ~13 rooms, coach house/stables (SHR). Name Tresco from Scilly Isles / family association (agent / Rowe biography).
• Major additions: 1883 George Charles Westgarth — east wing (incl. billiard room), kitchen upper floor, garden layout, summerhouse, fernery, boat pound / boathouse (SHR).
• Navy: Leasehold to Crown 1902; Captain-in-Charge residence from 1903; Commonwealth freehold 1922; Flag Officer-in-Charge RAN residence through WWI/II until Defence Housing era; conserved 1991–97 (Otto Cserhalmi & Partners); sold Commonwealth 1997 (~$9m Anstee) then 2004 Waterhouse (Wikipedia / SHR / Naval Historical Society).
• Site: c.3,300 m² wedge to Elizabeth Bay; terraced garden; Moreton Bay figs (incl. outstanding upper-terrace specimen), carob, evergreen magnolia scheduled on City Significant Trees / SHR; tidal pool, jetty, boat pound (SHR).
• Heritage: NSW SHR #00780 “Tresco, grounds and trees” (2 Apr 1999); National Trust; RNE; Sydney LEP.
• Fate / current use: Staunding  private. Feb 2025 City of Sydney LPP refused DA D/2024/471 (two new dwellings + subdivision) after Heritage Council refused general terms of approval.

Site & setting

Cadigal harbour Country; fishing village era under Bungaree noted on SHR before Macleay’s estate. Tresco sits high on MacLeay Point with harbour outlook toward Clark Island / Garden Island — the reason the Navy wanted it. High stone wall to Elizabeth Bay Road; terraced lawns to the water. Rare intact original subdivision parcel among 20th-century apartment walls (SHR rarity).

Timeline

• 1831 – Alexander Macleay grant; Elizabeth Bay House 1839; foreclosure path to George Macleay (SHR).
• 1865–67 – MacLeay Point subdivided leasehold with build covenant; Thomas Rowe takes lot; builds Tresco 1867–68; resides to 1876 (SHR).
• 1876 / 1880 – Lease to Gilchrist then George Westgarth; major works 1883; Westgarth family to 1891 then tenancies (SHR).
• 1902–03 – Crown acquires lease; NSW hands house to Navy as Captain-in-Charge residence (Naval Historical Society / SHR).
• 1913 / 1922 – Commonwealth leasehold then freehold; Flag Officer-in-Charge residence (SHR).
• 1991–97 – Defence Housing conservation/restoration (SHR).
• 1997 / 2004 – Private sales (Anstee; Waterhouse) (Wikipedia citing public reporting).
• 2019-02 – Thin live RE post; 2018-03 “Trisco” OCR duplicate.
• 2024–25 – DA for two additional houses refused (City of Sydney LPP / Heritage Council).

Architecture & interiors

Victorian Italianate sandstone: hipped slate roof, Italianate entrance portico, north verandah to the bay (later enclosed in naval period), cedar joinery, fireplaces to main rooms (SHR). Westgarth east wing and service south wing create the compound plan. Naval-era bedroom reconfigurations and plasterboard ceilings; 1990s conservation reinstated finishes; later private works converted stables to office/cellar and added garage apartment (Wikipedia — flag as post-SHR private chapter). Prefer SHR / CMP photography over inventing plaster schedules.

People & anecdotes

Thomas Rowe (1829–1899) — Penzance-born architect-builder, City alderman, first mayor of Manly, founder Institute of Architects NSW; overreach on a natatorium nearly ruined him (agent biography / ADB-adjacent colour — keep soft where not on SHR). Named sons after Wren, Leonardo, Ruskin — and Tresco. George Westgarth — Australasian Steam Navigation manager; the garden-and-east-wing man. Naval Flag Officers made it Sydney’s “first naval residence” opposite Garden Island (Naval Historical Society).

Image gallery guidance

Live post has a few marketing images — keep if licensed; otherwise search:

1. Harbour elevation / terraced garden + figs

2. Elizabeth Bay Road sandstone wall / portico

3. Boat pound / jetty / sea pool

4. Naval-era interiors / Flag Officer residence photos (Naval Historical Society)

5. Moreton Bay fig canopy from Rushcutters Bay vantage

6. Pair with Elizabeth Bay House (parent estate) — clear captions

What stands today

Tresco stands as a private State Heritage waterfront villa. No public access. Views from the water and distant street wall only. Feb 2025 refusal reaffirmed that new houses on the curtilage would permanently harm historic, aesthetic and rarity values — report the decision, don’t re-litigate.

Sources & further reading

• NSW SHR — Tresco, grounds and trees (#00780, DB 5045193): https://apps.environment.nsw.gov.au/dpcheritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5045193
• Naval Historical Society — “Tresco – History of the First Sydney Naval Residence of the RAN”
• City of Sydney Local Planning Panel — D/2024/471 refusal (5 Feb 2025)
• Wikipedia — Tresco, Elizabeth Bay (portal; verify against SHR)
• Live post: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2019/02/tresco-historic-waterfront-estate-97.html
• Sibling OCR duplicate to merge: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2018/03/trisco-historic-waterfront-state-on.html

Related on this blog

• Elizabeth Bay House / Macleay Point estate posts
• Potts Point / Elizabeth Bay villa scrapbook
• Other naval / harbour official residences only when separately sourced

Historic live gallery

Images retained from the live Blogger post: