Thursday, July 15, 2021

Tamworth Mansions (Terraces) – 1–11 Elizabeth Bay Road – Potts Point / Kings Cross – NSW

Victorian terrace row · Demolished 1960s · Site absorbed into Fitzroy Gardens extension / Ward Avenue / Kings Cross Police Station precinct

On the south side of Elizabeth Bay Road — where the street once ran past Fitzroy Gardens toward Ward Avenue — stood Tamworth Mansions, the fine Victorian terrace row at 1–11 Elizabeth Bay Road. City of Sydney’s Fitzroy Gardens heritage assessment names them among the houses demolished in the 1960s when Ward Avenue was pushed through and a section of Elizabeth Bay Road closed. The live scrapbook photographs still show the ornate gables and corner massing opposite the El Alamein Fountain. Welcome to Tamworth — not Osterley or Maramanah on the Macleay Street park edge; not Cheverells further east at No. 2.

At a glance

Address / site: 1–11 Elizabeth Bay Road, Potts Point / Kings Cross (southern side of the road toward the later Ward Avenue connection). Live title also tags Darlinghurst Road — the western junction at Fitzroy Gardens / El Alamein Fountain
Also known as: Tamworth Mansions (City of Sydney heritage assessment); Dictionary of Sydney caption tradition “Tamworth Mansion, Elizabeth Bay Road” (John Henry Harvey photograph, SLV H91.300/675, c.1900); live scrapbook title “Tamworth Terraces”
Built: Victorian terrace fabric (exact first-build year not locked here — do not invent)
Architect: not attributed in sources used for this draft
Style: multi-storey Victorian filigree / Italianate terrace row — ornate chimneys, gables, verandahs / balconies; corner presence toward the Darlinghurst Road–Macleay Street–Elizabeth Bay Road junction in mid-century photographs
Heritage status: demolished — no standing SHR / LEP item for the terrace itself; documented in the Fitzroy Gardens / Lawrence Hargrave Reserve heritage assessment (John Oultram Heritage & Design for City of Sydney)
Fate: Demolished 1960s; road realignment and park extension; Kings Cross Police Station (1979) and closed Elizabeth Bay Road section form part of the successor ground

Site & setting

Elizabeth Bay Road began as the drive into Alexander Macleay’s Elizabeth Bay estate. By the twentieth century the southern frontage opposite and beside Fitzroy Gardens held a tight Victorian terrace band. Tamworth Mansions occupied 1–11 on that southern side — blocking the later Ward Avenue connection until clearance. Mid-century photographs looking past the El Alamein Fountain (installed 1961) still catch the terrace gables and corner tower / bay before demolition.

Keep separate from: Osterley and Maramanah (Macleay Street park cells); Kinneil / Barnclueth (Lawrence Hargrave Reserve / 13 Elizabeth Bay Road tradition); Cheverells at 2 Elizabeth Bay Road (Gazebo site, eastern side).

Timeline

c.1900 – John Henry Harvey photographs “Tamworth Mansion, Elizabeth Bay Road” (State Library of Victoria H91.300/675; Dictionary of Sydney media 4529).
Nov 1961 – El Alamein Memorial Fountain opens in Fitzroy Gardens — later live scrapbook frames show Tamworth’s street face still standing behind / beside the fountain.
1960s – City of Sydney Fitzroy Gardens heritage assessment: houses on the southern side of Elizabeth Bay Road, “including Tamworth Mansions, the fine terrace of Victorian houses at 1–11 Elizabeth Bay Road,” demolished; Ward Avenue extended; section of Elizabeth Bay Road between Darlinghurst Road and Ward Avenue later closed.
1970s–1980 – Park extension designs (Stringer plan Nov 1978); Kings Cross Police Station built 1979; closed roadway incorporated; expanded reserve opened for park use 7 Aug 1980; Lawrence Hargrave Reserve formally named 1991 (adjacent Kinneil cell).
Today – Terrace gone; fountain, gardens and police-station / closed-road precinct occupy the junction story.

Architecture & interiors

No measured room schedule survives in the sources used here. Read the live mid-century photographs and the Harvey c.1900 view: a substantial multi-storey Victorian terrace row with decorative gables, chimneys and verandah ironwork, reading as “mansions” in contemporary caption language even though the statutory assessment calls them a terrace of houses. Do not invent an architect.

People & anecdotes

Individual first-owner names for each bay of 1–11 are not locked in this pass. The identity spine is the place-name + address band + demolition for road/park documented by City of Sydney. Later Cross folklore about the fountain belongs to Fitzroy Gardens — footnote it; this post is about the terrace that faced it.

Gallery placeholder note

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

1–3. Keep the three live scrapbook views (fountain + terrace gables / corner massing, including the 1970 R&R caption frame).

Caption ideas: Tamworth still up — El Alamein Fountain foreground. / Gables and verandahs on Elizabeth Bay Road. / Junction before Ward Avenue punched through.

4. SLV / Dictionary of Sydney — Harvey c.1900 “Tamworth Mansion”

Search: SLV H91.300/675; dictionaryofsydney.org/media/4529.

5. City of Sydney Archives — Fitzroy Gardens / Elizabeth Bay Road demolition and 1978 landscape plans

Caption idea: From terrace frontage to closed road and park extension.

6. Compare: Osterley, Maramanah, Cheverells, Kinneil

Caption idea: Same Cross — different clearance chapters.

What stands today

Tamworth Mansions are gone. Stand at the El Alamein Fountain and look toward the Elizabeth Bay Road / Ward Avenue / police-station edge — that is the clearance story. Pair with Osterley and Maramanah (park on the Macleay Street side) and Cheverells (Gazebo to the east).

Historic address band: 1–11 Elizabeth Bay Road.
Do not merge with Cheverells at No. 2 (other side / other fate).
Live title “Terraces” and assessment name “Mansions” are the same row.

Sources & further reading

John Oultram Heritage & Design — Fitzroy Gardens and Lawrence Hargrave Reserve Heritage Assessment (City of Sydney Council agenda attachment, 2010) — Tamworth Mansions at 1–11 Elizabeth Bay Road, demolished 1960s
Dictionary of Sydney — “At Potts Point – Tamworth Mansion, Elizabeth Bay Road c1900” (SLV H91.300/675): https://dictionaryofsydney.org/media/4529
City of Sydney — History of Fitzroy Gardens / Lawrence Hargrave Reserve pages
Existing scrapbook post: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2021/07/tamworth-terraces-elizabeth-bay-road.html

Related on this blog

Historic live gallery

Images retained from the live Blogger post:

Cheverells (Cheverelles) – 2 Elizabeth Bay Road – Potts Point / Elizabeth Bay – NSW

Nineteenth-century mansion · Later private hotel / Red Cross officers’ club · Demolished for Gazebo Hotel (opened 1969) · Site now Gazebo Apartments

On the corner of Elizabeth Bay Road and Baroda Lane (now Baroda Street) — east of Fitzroy Gardens — stood the three-storey mansion remembered as Cheverells (also Cheverills / Cherverall’s / live scrapbook Cheverelles). Part of the old Macleay grant band, it housed Captain Deloitte, David Jones of the department store, and later the Hon. W. R. Campbell; became a high-class residential / private hotel; served as an American Red Cross officers’ leave club in WWII; and was cleared for the International Style Gazebo Hotel. The mansion is gone; the corner address is not.

At a glance

Address / site: 2 Elizabeth Bay Road, corner Baroda Lane / Place / Street, Potts Point–Elizabeth Bay edge (live title: Cnr Elizabeth Bay Road and Baroda Lane)
Built: nineteenth-century mansion fabric (exact year / architect not locked in sources used here — do not invent)
Early / notable residents (press tradition): Captain Deloitte; David Jones (David Jones & Co.); Hon. W. R. Campbell (SMH “Progress of the Suburbs”, 1 Nov 1913, citing Dowling; echoed in Sun 4 Jan 1941)
Later use: high-class residential / private hotel (Mrs Kidd pre-war tradition in 1946 clipping); WWII American Red Cross Officers’ Leave Club; postwar Army hostel chapter; Lord Mayor Ald. J. R. Bartley purchase reported Feb 1946 (City Archives newsclipping)
Also associated (secondary wartime notes): later PM Billy McMahon, aviators P. G. Taylor and Jimmy Mollison among former occupants in leave-club lore
Fate: Demolished for Gazebo Hotel (DA / erection trail mid-1960s; hotel opened May 1969 tradition); hotel closed late 1990s; converted to Gazebo Apartments by 2005

Site & setting

Cheverells sat on the Macleay-grant side of Elizabeth Bay Road, on the Baroda corner east of the Fitzroy Gardens cell. City heritage assessment notes the Gazebo Hotel (c.1969) on the site of “Cherverall’s Private Hotel” to the east of the gardens. Live aerial / high scrapbook view shows the pre-Gazebo corner massing against Macleay Regis and the harbour beyond — useful for orientation, not for inventing a floor plan.

Keep separate from Tamworth Mansions at 1–11 Elizabeth Bay Road (south side, demolished 1960s for Ward Avenue / park extension) and from Maramanah / Osterley on the Macleay Street park edge.

Timeline

19th century – Mansion established on Macleay-grant land at the Elizabeth Bay Road / Baroda corner (construction year open).
Early occupancy ladder (press) – Deloitte → David Jones → W. R. Campbell (SMH 1913 / Sun 1941 tradition).
Interwar / 1930s–40s – High-class residential / private hotel chapter (Mrs Kidd); flats conversion noted in secondary wartime summaries.
WWII – American Red Cross Officers’ Leave Club at 2 Elizabeth Bay Road; Director Lady Emilie Coote in unit histories; tens of thousands of men lodged / meals served (13th Air Force unit history tradition via ozatwar summary).
21 Feb 1946 – Kings Cross Times clipping (City Archives): Lord Mayor Ald. J. R. Bartley purchases Cheverills; prior residential use and wartime Army hostel noted.
1963–67 – City Archives DA trail for erection of a private hotel at 2 Elizabeth Bay Road (Goulds Properties Ltd. tradition).
May 1969 – Gazebo Hotel opens (International Style tower; Max Dupain commissioned photography in building lore); assessment date c.1969.
Late 1990s / 2005 – Hotel ceases; apartment conversion complete 2005.
Today – Gazebo Apartments at 2 Elizabeth Bay Road.

Architecture & interiors

Wartime and secondary descriptions: a three-storey masonry mansion / private hotel. No architect attribution in the sources used here. Prefer the live scrapbook corner view and City Archives clippings over invented cedar inventories. The Gazebo that replaced it is a separate International Style chapter — footnote the tower; this post is the mansion.

People & anecdotes

David Jones at Cheverells links the Elizabeth Bay Road villa belt to the George Street department-store fortune — same surname gravity as other Cross/Point merchant houses, but keep the address distinct from Maramanah’s Sparke/Hollander story.

The Red Cross officers’ club is why so many American unit histories remember the corner: Sunday teas, musicales, Eugene Ormandy among performers in leave-club lore. Bartley’s 1946 purchase closes the wartime hostel loop before the 1960s hotel clearance.

Gallery placeholder note

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

1. Keep the live high-angle corner photograph (pre-Gazebo mansion massing / Macleay Regis beyond).

Caption idea: Cheverells on the Baroda corner — before the Gazebo.

2. City of Sydney Archives — 1946 Bartley purchase clipping

https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/885974

3. WWII Red Cross / Laessig drawing tradition

Search: ozatwar Cheverells page; unit histories.

4. Gazebo Hotel opening / Max Dupain views — site succession only.

5. Modern Gazebo Apartments exterior at 2 Elizabeth Bay Road — “what stands today.”

6. Compare: Tamworth 1–11; Maramanah; Osterley; Kinneil

What stands today

Cheverells is gone. 2 Elizabeth Bay Road is the Gazebo Apartments tower on the old Baroda corner. Read the street number as mansion → private hotel / Red Cross club → Gazebo Hotel → apartments.

Map pin: 2 Elizabeth Bay Road (cnr Baroda Street).
Spelling variants Cheverells / Cheverills / Cherverall’s / Cheverelles are the same house.
Do not merge with Tamworth Mansions at 1–11.

Sources & further reading

Sydney Morning Herald, 1 Nov 1913 — “Progress of the Suburbs… Potts Point and Darlinghurst” (Cheverells / Deloitte / David Jones / W. R. Campbell): https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/15462331
Sun (Sydney), 4 Jan 1941 — Walter E. Bethel, “Doomed Mansions of Potts Point” (Cheverells on Elizabeth Bay Road)
City of Sydney Archives — Cheverills purchase clipping, 21 Feb 1946: https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/885974
City of Sydney Archives — 2 Elizabeth Bay Road private-hotel erection files (e.g. nodes/view/786037)
John Oultram Heritage & Design — Fitzroy Gardens / Lawrence Hargrave Reserve Heritage Assessment (Gazebo on Cherverall’s Private Hotel site)
ozatwar — Cheverell’s American Red Cross Officers’ Leave Club: https://www.ozatwar.com/civilian/cheverells.htm
Dictionary of Sydney — Gazebo (alternate name Cheverells): https://dictionaryofsydney.org/building/gazebo
Gazebo Apartments — History: https://gazeboapartments.com.au/history/
Existing scrapbook post: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2021/07/cheverelles-cnr-elizabeth-bay-road-and.html

Related on this blog

Historic live gallery

Images retained from the live Blogger post:

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Erskineville House

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Springfield Lodge - Potts Point - Sydney

Springfield Lodge - Springfield Avenue - Potts Point

"Springfield" Lodge was built on land granted to Alexander Baxter on Woolloomooloo Hill. It was demolished in 1934 for the construction of a shopping centre.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Springfield - Charles Rodius - 1834

Friday, June 4, 2021

“Studley Park” House - Narellan

Studley Park House - Narellan

“Kilmory Estate” - Point Piper

Kilmory – 6 Wentworth Street – Point Piper – NSW

Built 1913–1914 · Manson & Pickering / Stuart Bros · Arts and Crafts · Standing (apartment conversion)

Surgeon Sir Alexander MacCormick planted a Scottish Arts and Crafts landmark on the highest Point Piper ground; the RAAF ran Eastern Area from the ballroom years; Jesuits and Franciscans followed; the mansion still commands Wentworth Street as converted apartments. The live post is a blank title — Woollahra’s plaque and DCP carry the facts.

At a glance

Name: Kilmory (also Campion House in Jesuit Prep years; Ave Maria / Franciscan retreat chapter)
Address: 6 Wentworth Street, Point Piper
Built: 1913–1914 for Dr (later Sir) Alexander MacCormick; architect J. W. Manson (Manson & Pickering); builder Stuart Bros.
Style: Arts and Crafts — harled walls, slate roofs, robust chimneys; timber panelling / built-ins (Woollahra / DCP)
Land: Point Piper Estate lots consolidated 1898–1909 (purchase £2,465 for four lots; later reduced/consolidated)
WWII: RAAF Eastern Area Headquarters from May 1942
1946 – Jesuit Fathers / Riverview Prep (Campion House)
1954–55 – Franciscan Missionaries of Mary — retreat house / convent
1998+ – Sold; residential conversion within heritage controls (DCP G2)
Heritage: Woollahra LEP heritage item; site-specific DCP Chapter G2; CMP 1998
Fate: Standing — apartments within conserved mansion + controlled new dwellings in grounds

Site & setting

Largest remaining grand-estate footprint on the Point Piper peninsula (DCP): elevated site with harbour / Rose Bay / Bondi views; formal Wentworth Street gates and winding drive; significant trees and garden structure identified in CMP. Aboriginal Country: Cadigal / Birrabirragal harbour foreshores (use local preferred naming).

Timeline

1898 – MacCormick buys Point Piper Estate lots at Wentworth / Hill Streets.
1909 – Consolidated title on remaining lots.
28 Apr c.1913 – Building application; 1914 completion; Sands/rates 1915.
1914–18 – War service abroad; family returns to Kilmory 1918; entertainments / ballroom noted by Nesta Griffiths.
c.1931 – MacCormick retires to Channel Islands; house to Craignish Ltd c.1934.
15 May 1942 – RAAF Eastern Area HQ forms at Kilmory (ops book Edgecliff wording — verify vs Craig-y-Mor mess).
1946 – Jesuits; Prep for Riverview; Campion House.
1954–55 – Franciscan Missionaries of Mary; retreat / convent / Ave Maria Centre chapter.
1998 – Offered for sale; later apartment / estate redevelopment under heritage DCP.
29 Jul 2022 – Woollahra plaque to Sir Alexander MacCormick unveiled at Kilmory.

Architecture & interiors

Arts and Crafts mansion by Manson: panelling, built-in furniture, slate roofs, strong chimneys — Scottish vernacular echoes (Mackintosh/Voysey comparisons in secondary writing — stylistic comment only). Ballroom later chapel in religious chapter. Conversion retained mansion envelope under CMP/DCP — describe publicly known exterior/setting; avoid inventing unit interiors.

People & anecdotes

Sir Alexander MacCormick (ADB) — Edinburgh-trained surgeon; University of Sydney; Prince Alfred / St Vincent’s; Listerian antiseptic pioneer in Sydney; Boer War & WWI consulting surgeon; KCMG 1926; yachtsman (RSYS commodore; Thelma, Morna, Ada); built Craignish chambers and gifted The Terraces / Scottish Hospital, Paddington.

Religious communities — Jesuit Prep then Franciscan retreat reused the house without demolishing the landmark.

Gallery placeholder note

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

1. C. W. Bostock Kilmory album (private collection / Woollahra reproduction permissions).

2. Woollahra plaque unveiling photos (council media).

3. Period exterior from Wentworth Street gates / drive.

4. WWII RAAF HQ context photos if cleared.

5. Avoid unlicensed real-estate interiors.

What stands today

Kilmory’s mansion stands, adapted to apartments, with heritage landscape controls on the historic allotment. Private residences — street presence and plaque are the public face. Cross-link Point Piper estates hub post.

Sources & further reading

Live stub: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2021/06/kilmory-estate-point-piper.html
Woollahra — Sir Alexander MacCormick plaque page (Kilmory history): https://www.woollahra.nsw.gov.au/Library/Woollahra-Plaque-Scheme/sir-alexander-maccormick
Woollahra DCP Chapter G2 — Kilmory PDF
ADB — MacCormick, Sir Alexander: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/maccormick-sir-alexander-7322
Griffiths, G. Nesta — Point Piper, Past and Present (1970)
ozatwar.com — Eastern Area HQ Kilmory note (verify addresses)

Related on this blog

Monday, May 24, 2021

Caerleon – 13–15 Ginahgulla Road – Bellevue Hill – NSW (stub)

Caerleon – 13–15 Ginahgulla Road Bellevue Hill – NSW

Corrected stub: the address is 13–15 Ginahgulla Road, at the south-east corner of Kambala Road — not “81 Kambala Road”. Bellevue Hill is spelled Bellevue.

This 2021 entry is retained as a corrected stub pointing to the full 2023 post.

Key facts: Caerleon is a Queen Anne mansion built 1885–87 for Charles Burton Fairfax. Harry Kent prepared the original Sydney plans; Maurice Bingham Adams extensively redesigned them in London; Kent supervised construction. It is listed on the Register of the National Estate as Place ID 2475 and remains a private residence.

Read the full 2023 Caerleon post: 13–15 Ginahgulla Road – Bellevue Hill – NSW

Saturday, April 24, 2021

“Yaralla” - Dame Edauth

“Yaralla”

Friday, April 9, 2021

Brush Farm House - 19 Lawson Street - Eastwood - Sydney - New South Wales

"Brush Farm House" - 19 Lawson Street - Eastwood - New South Wales

This Is One Of Australia's Oldest Houses And Is One Of A Few That Survived From The Macquarie Period.

The House Was Originally Built In The 1820's, Following The Purchase Of The Brush Farm Estate In 1807.

The Verandahs Were Added In The 1880's.

In The First Half Of The 19th Century, The Estate Was Famous For Its Vineyard & Wine Production.

The House Was Also Known As Home For Boys, Eastwood Home For Mother's & Babies, Brush Farm For Mentally Deficient Children, & Brush Farm Girl's Home.

In 1988 The Property Was Transferred To The Department Of Corrective Services & As The Brush Farm Corrective Services Academy Offers Training For Corrections Officers.

In 1990, The Land Was Bought By Ryde Municipal Council And Restoration Of The House Began In May 2006, At An Estimated Cost Over $5 Million. It Now Serves Now As A Community Facility, Exhibition & Meeting Venue.

Tuesday, March 9, 2021

“Holtermann” Mansion - Lavender Bay - NSW

Holtermann’s Mansion (“The Towers”) – Lavender Bay / North Sydney – NSW

(Correcting live “Holterman” / “Lavendar” / “Lavander”)

Boom-era Italianate mansion with viewing tower · Completed 1874–75 for Bernhardt Otto Holtermann · Demolished / encased mid-1930s within Sydney Church of England Grammar School (Shore)

Gold paid for the tower; the tower paid for the panorama. Holtermann’s Italianate pile above Lavender Bay was less a quiet villa than a camera platform — Charles Bayliss’s wet-plate harbour views from twenty-seven metres up still define colonial Sydney for many scrapbook readers. Shore School swallowed the site; the 1930s brick encasement finished what time had started. Spell the man’s name with two n’s.

At a glance

Name: The Towers (North Sydney Council / contemporary press); live blog “Holterman Mansion”
Location: ridge above Lavender Bay, near Blue and William Streets, North Sydney (At Home in North Sydney)
Built: commenced wealth-phase move 1874; house completed 1875 (At Home); ADB: palatial house with tower completed 1874 on heights of St Leonards — keep 1874–75 range
Builder / owner: Bernhardt Otto Holtermann (1838–1885) — gold miner, MLA St Leonards, photography patron
Style: boom-era Italianate with dominant central tower (c.27 m vantage), verandahs, classical pilasters (At Home description)
Famous use: platform for Charles Bayliss / Holtermann large-format harbour panoramas (Philadelphia 1876 etc.)
After Holtermann: bought by Thomas Dibbs (of neighbouring Graythwaite); sold to Sydney Church of England Grammar School (Shore)
Fate: mid-1930s — house and tower encased in modern brickwork and essentially demolished (At Home); Shore campus occupies the ground
Spelling fixes: Holtermann (not Holterman); Lavender Bay (not Lavendar/Lavander)

Site & setting

North Sydney / St Leonards heights overlooking Lavender Bay and the harbour — Cammeraygal Country. Holtermann first occupied sprawling St Leonards Lodge at Crows Nest, then built The Towers on the ridge. Neighbouring Graythwaite (Dibbs) frames the later sale story. The tower’s purpose was photography as much as display: views north-east and north-west as well as the famous harbour sweep (At Home).

Timeline

1838 – Bernhardt Otto Holtermann born Hamburg (ADB).
1858–59 – Arrives Australia; meets Beyers; Hill End / Hawkins Hill years.
19–20 Oct 1872 – Star of Hope / Holtermann specimen — world’s largest reef-gold specimen tradition (ADB: 630 lb / 286 kg). Soft: some popular pages round wealth to “1871”.
c.1871–74 – Leaves active prospecting; Sydney years; St Leonards Lodge then mansion project.
1874–75 – The Towers built/completed; stained-glass window of Holtermann with the “nugget” (ADB).
1875 – Bayliss panoramas from the unfinished/finished tower; claimed among largest wet-plate photographs.
1876 / 1878 – Exhibition medals Philadelphia / Paris (ADB).
1882–85 – MLA for St Leonards; advocates North Shore progress and a harbour bridge contribution (ADB).
29 Apr 1885 – Dies on his 47th birthday; buried St Thomas’s (ADB).
Post-1885 – Dibbs purchase; sale to Shore School.
Mid-1930s – Mansion/tower encased / demolished into school fabric (At Home).
Live blog 2021-03 – Single historic image stub, misspelt title.

Architecture & interiors

Italianate mansion typical of mining-magnate display: central tower with Corinthian-suggestion pilasters, verandah cast iron, decorative masonry (At Home). Interiors sparsely described in consulted sources — contemporary papers called it fit for a nobleman (Singleton Argus 27 Oct 1875, cited At Home). Stained-glass self-portrait with the specimen is the signature interior anecdote (ADB). Prefer SLNSW exterior/panorama plates over inventing room schedules.

People & anecdotes

Bernhardt Otto Holtermann — German-born miner-made-good; Hill End partner of Beyers; MLA; immigrant-publicist via photography. Charles Bayliss (and earlier Beaufoy Merlin) — the cameras behind the Holtermann Collection. Thomas Dibbs — Graythwaite neighbour; intermediary owner. Shore School — long custodian of the site after the mansion’s erasure.

Image gallery guidance

1. Keep live historic mansion/tower photograph.

2. SLNSW: The Towers shortly after completion 1875 (drive unfinished) — At Home hero image.

3. Bayliss panorama sections from the tower (Lavender Bay / Milsons Point).

4. Holtermann with specimen / stained-glass tradition illustrations.

5. Modern Shore campus view of the site (what replaced it) — label clearly as successor fabric.

What stands today

The Towers does not stand as a readable mansion. The Shore School campus occupies the Lavender Bay ridge site; mid-1930s brick encasement destroyed the Italianate house and tower. Remember the place through the Holtermann Collection at the State Library of NSW and through surviving panorama plates — not through a house museum.

Sources & further reading

At Home in North Sydney (North Sydney Council) — ‘The Towers’: https://www.athomeinnorthsydney.com.au/the-towers.html
ADB — Holtermann, Bernhardt Otto (1838–1885): https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/holtermann-berhardt-otto-3787
State Library of NSW — Holtermann Collection
Live post (misspelt URL retained): https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2021/03/holterman-mansion-lavendar-bay-nsw.html
Wikipedia — Bernhardt Holtermann (portal; verify against ADB / At Home)

Related on this blog

Graythwaite / North Sydney ridge houses — search labels
Holtermann Collection / photography scrap posts if present
Other demolished Lavender Bay / Milsons Point mansions

Historic live gallery

Images retained from the live Blogger post:

“Mundarrah Towers” - Clovelly Beach - New South Wales

Mundarrah Towers – Burnie Street / Little Coogee (Clovelly) – NSW

Castellated marine villa · Core mid-19th century; towers added c.1874–76 · Demolished mid-1920s (sources 1923 / 1926) — Clovelly Hotel later on part of the estate

Before Clovelly had a tram, a hotel, or even its modern name, the western head of the bay was dominated by a castellated pile called Mundarrah Towers. The live blog post is almost pure photograph — keep every image; this scrapbook puts a researched spine under them without inventing an architect or a single demolition day.

At a glance

Location: Land around Burnie Street, overlooking the western end of Clovelly Bay (then Little Coogee); Mundarrah Street remembers the house (Randwick Council)
Earlier names on the same ground: Rockbrook / Rock Brook (Dr Dickson / Dixon); Aberburnie (John Campbell) (Randwick ourstory / Bennett research)
Grand phase: Samuel Bennett (proprietor, Australian Town and Country Journal / Evening News world) bought August 1874; towers and renovations c.1874–76; family in residence from 1877 (Bennett research)
Style: Castellated / towered marine villa absorbing an earlier homestead (Randwick / Bennett)
Estate: c.20 acres at purchase (Bennett); subdivided from c.1908–1910 as Little Coogee Beach Estate etc.
Fate: Demolished mid-1920s — 1926 (Randwick Council / ourstory) or 1923 (Bennett site / some secondary); Clovelly Hotel from 1925 on part of the former estate (Randwick / Bennett)
Heritage today: Demolished — street name + photographs only

Site & setting

Gadigal / Bidjigal coastal Country — fishing and camping country later called Little Coogee, then Clovelly (name change associated with 1913 progress-association campaign; Wikipedia / Randwick). In 1834 William Charles Greville paid £40 for 20 acres on the beachfront; Greville Street remembers him (Randwick ourstory).

Through the nineteenth century the head of the bay was dominated by one grand estate. Mundarrah Towers sat on the slopes overlooking the western end of the bay around today’s Burnie Street. Neighbouring Gordon’s Bay held Cliffbrook (Thompson; later Commonwealth Bank governor; substantially demolished 1976) — another lost coastal mansion in the same Randwick story (Randwick Council).

Timeline

1834 – W. C. Greville purchases 20 acres at Little Coogee cove for £40 (Randwick ourstory).
1853 / 1860s – Dr Dickson / Dixon builds a mansion (Rockbrook / Rock Brook) with elaborate gardens; later first returning officer for Randwick municipal elections 1859 (Bennett: 1853; Randwick historic suburbs: “1860s”; ourstory: Dixon then sales chain).
1860 / 1866 – Sold toward John Campbell; renamed Aberburnie (ourstory: 1860; Bennett: 1866 — soft flag).
1872 – George Renwick purchase (Bennett); quickly on to Samuel Bennett.
Aug 1874 – Samuel and Eliza Bennett purchase ~20 acres with homestead, stables, coach-house and dairy as retirement marine villa (Bennett research).
1874–76 – Renovations; towers added; estate expanded 1875–77; Bennetts move in 1877 (Bennett).
1878 – Samuel dies while landscaping on the estate; Eliza mistress until 1886 (Bennett).
1886–88 – Mundarrah Towers Trust; consolidation by Alfred Bennett 1888; Alfred forced to sell 1895 (Bennett).
1908–1910 – Disposal / subdivision of Mundarrah Estate; Walter Lumley buys The Towers 1910; Little Coogee Beach Estate Section 1 sale 1910 (Bennett).
1913 – Locality name Clovelly gains currency (Wikipedia / Randwick).

1923

1926

1925–present – Clovelly Hotel on part of the former estate ground (Randwick / Bennett).
Today – Mundarrah Street; hotel and suburban Clovelly; photographs in SLNSW / local collections.

Architecture & interiors

Period photographs show a multi-towered, castellated marine villa — stone or rendered walls, steep roofs, and the “towers” that gave the place its later name after Bennett’s 1870s works absorbed the earlier Dickson/Campbell house (Randwick: Bennett “absorbing Dixon’s original house”). No consulted source names an architect for the tower phase — leave blank rather than guess. Interiors are poorly documented in the public web sources used here; prefer captioned album views over invented room schedules.

People & anecdotes

Samuel Bennett — newspaper proprietor linked to The Australian Town and Country Journal and the Evening News circle; bought Little Coogee ground as a quiet retirement seat six miles from the CBD (Bennett research / Randwick). Eliza Bennett ran the house after Samuel’s 1878 death until 1886. Later Bennett-family tenure (Alfred; trust; forced sale) and early twentieth-century subdivision turned one marine villa into the street grid Clovelly knows.

Randwick Council’s suburban history still treats Mundarrah Towers and Cliffbrook as the “hidden heritage” of the northern coastal suburbs — grand houses erased for hotel, flats, and tram-era streets.

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 is image-led — keep, sequence, and caption; do not invent URLs.

1. Exterior / towers from the bay or Burnie Street approach (live post)

2. Garden / estate slopes toward Little Coogee

3. Alexander Sutherland view of Little Coogee c.1870–80> (State Library Victoria — Bennett site credit)

4. Subdivision / Clovelly Hotel era contrast

5. Mundarrah Street nameplate / modern bay — memory without the house

What stands today

Nothing of the mansion. Clovelly Hotel (from 1925), Mundarrah Street, Burnie Street suburban fabric, and the bay itself. Pair with Randwick’s Cliffbrook story and other Eastern Beaches demolitions on this blog. Respect private property; photograph from public streets and the bay foreshore only.

Sources & further reading

Randwick City Council — Historic suburbs (Clovelly / Mundarrah Towers): https://www.randwick.nsw.gov.au/about-us/history/historic-places/historic-suburbs
Randwick ourstory — “Clovelly 2031”: https://ourstory.randwick.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/2178
Bennetts of the Evening News — Mundarrah Towers timeline: https://bennettsoftheeveningnews.com/residences/mundarrah-towers/mundarrah-towers-little-coogee-clovelly/
Wikipedia — Clovelly, New South Wales (council-derived summary; check citations)
Live post: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2021/03/mundarrah-towers-clovelly-beach-new.html
SLNSW / Trove — search Mundarrah Towers, Little Coogee, Clovelly Hotel

Related on this blog

Cliffbrook – Coogee
Clovelly – Watson’s Bay (different Clovelly — Sir John Robertson’s Vaucluse estate; do not conflate)
Eastern Beaches / Randwick mansion posts — search labels

Historic live gallery

Images retained from the live Blogger post:

“Kinneil” - Potts Point - NSW

“Kinneil” - Potts Point NSW

Originally Barnclueth -

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sydney Morning Herald - Tuesday 30 November 1937, page 13

Sydney Morning Herald - Tuesday 30 November 1937, page 18

“Osterley” - Fitzroy Gardens - Potts Point

Osterley – 62 Macleay Street – Potts Point – NSW

Built mid-19th century (see date note) · Demolished 1927 · Site became the first stage of Fitzroy Gardens (landscaped 1939)

Osterley was the Macleay Street house whose clearance opened the first slice of today’s Fitzroy Gardens. Demolished in 1927, interim-used for miniature golf and tennis, it was resumed and landscaped in 1939 — originally to be named for Alderman Ernest Tresidder before politics delivered the Fitzroy name. The Paradise Theatre planned for this ground was never built.

At a glance

Address: 62 Macleay Street, Potts Point (City of Sydney). ADB places the Broadhurst matrimonial house at 72 Macleay Street — reconcile before hardening a single number on a heritage plaque
Built: City of Sydney park history — 1870s. City heritage assessment narrative — mid-1850s for barrister Edward Broadhurst. Do not invent a compromise year
Early household: Edward Broadhurst (1810–1883), barrister (“father of the Bar”); wife Harriet Lucy, née Greenhill; marriage 7 May 1853; father-in-law Stephen Greenhill settled a Macleay Street house on them (ADB)
Later: Daughter Frances Harriet inherits (1884 in heritage assessment); later private occupants include Sir Adrian Knox immediately before 1927 demolition (assessment caption)
1927: Minerva Centre Limited purchase reported at £25,000 in heritage assessment; house demolished 1927
Interim uses: Tom Thumb Miniature Golf (early 1930s); Grimes’ Garage / commercial tennis with kiosk (late 1930s)
Fate: Landscaped into Fitzroy Gardens 1939 (first stage); name shifted from Tresidder to Fitzroy (ward / Governor FitzRoy)

Site & setting

Part of Alexander Macleay’s 1841 Elizabeth Bay Estate subdivision — the same high Macleay Street band that held Maramanah and Tenilba. Osterley’s demolition created the first public open-space bite; Maramanah (1943 purchase, 1954 demolition) and Tenilba enlarged it.

Timeline

1853 – Edward Broadhurst marries Harriet Lucy Greenhill; ADB: Stephen Greenhill settles a house at 72 Macleay Street on them as matrimonial home (England visit 1859 excepted).
mid-1850s / 1870s – Osterley fabric date: follow either the heritage-assessment mid-1850s Broadhurst association or the CoS “built in the 1870s” park page — both published; not silently merged.
1883 – Broadhurst dies (7 April); bronchial retirement from practice (ADB).
1884 – Heritage assessment: Frances Harriet inherits and lives on.
March 1927 – Photographed vacant / immediately prior to demolition; Sir Adrian Knox recently vacated (CoS Archives image 1544 via heritage assessment).
1927 – Demolished after Minerva Centre Limited purchase (£25,000 in assessment). Paradise Theatre for Macleay Street never realised; Minerva Theatre proceeds on Orwell Street (1939).
early 1930s – Tom Thumb Miniature Golf Course on the cleared site.
late 1930s – Grimes Garage and commercial tennis / kiosk.
1939 – Resumed and landscaped as the first stage of what becomes Fitzroy Gardens (Tresidder name dropped).
1943–54 – Park enlarged via Maramanah / Tenilba (see Maramanah draft).
Today – Fitzroy Gardens plaza and fountain precinct.

Architecture & interiors

Rate valuations cited in the heritage assessment describe neighbouring Greenhill/Broadhurst-band Macleay Street houses of the 1860s–70s as brick, three floors, about eight rooms — useful context, not a measured description of Osterley’s final form. The March 1927 photograph (CoS Archives) is the demolition-eve elevation to seek and caption.

People & anecdotes

Edward Broadhurst (ADB) Cambridge rebel who forfeited his degree rather than make a religious declaration; colonial barrister of large practice; duel controversy with Robert Lowe (1844–45); Legislative Council; never a judge despite being talked of as “father of the Bar. Osterley/Macleay Street was the domestic frame for that career.

Sir Adrian Knox — High Court Chief Justice; keen gardener; last private name attached to the house in the 1927 photo caption tradition.

David N. Martin / Minerva Centre — bought for a theatre dream (Paradise) that became a park instead — one of the Cross’s better near-misses.

Gallery placeholder note

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

1. Keep / replace the single live-post image with a properly credited Osterley view if the present file lacks caption.

2. City of Sydney Archives image 1544 — Osterley, March 1927, pre-demolition.

3. ADB / library portraits of Edward Broadhurst.

4. Fitzroy Gardens formation plans and 1939 landscaping.

5. Compare: Maramanah and Tenilba — the three-house park story.

6. Minerva Theatre, Orwell Street — the theatre that was built when Paradise was not.

What stands today

Osterley is gone. Its ground is the original cell of Fitzroy Gardens at 60–64 Macleay Street. Stand by the El Alamein Fountain and read the park as demolished houses.

Sources & further reading

City of Sydney History of Fitzroy Gardens: https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/histories-local-parks-playgrounds/history-fitzroy-gardens
City of Sydney Council — Fitzroy Gardens / Macleay Street heritage assessment (2010 agenda attachment PDF; Osterley section)
ADB — Edward Broadhurst: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/broadhurst-edward-3057
Dictionary of Sydney — Minerva Theatre / Metro Kings Cross (Paradise never built)
Existing scrapbook post: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2021/03/osterley-fitzroy-gardens-potts-point.html

Related on this blog

Historic live gallery

Images retained from the live Blogger post:

“Maramanah” - Cnr Darlinghurst Road And Elizabeth Bay Road - Potts a Point

“Maramanah” - Cnr Darlinghurst Road, Macleay Street & Elizabeth Bay Road - Potts Point NSW

Thursday, March 4, 2021

Former St Peters Rectory – 188 Forbes Street – Darlinghurst – NSW

Built c.1872–1873 · Architect not attributed here · Standing (RNE-listed former rectory)

On the triangle lot where Forbes Street meets Clapton Place — polychrome brick, steep patterned slate, cast-iron balcony, metal digits 188 on the sawtooth brick band — stands the house the Register of the National Estate recorded as St Peters Rectory (former). It was raised for the Anglican parish of St Peter’s (church by O. H. Lewis, 1866–67; hall by Benjamin Backhouse, 1873) and later returned to private residential use. Welcome to 188 Forbes Street — the rectory, not Barham inside SCEGGS, not the sandstone church/hall group at Bourke / St Peters Street, not Rose Hall under Horizon.

At a glance

Address / site: 188 Forbes Street, corner Clapton Place, Darlinghurst NSW 2010 (RNE location note; live-post street number confirmed on facade)
Built: c.1872–1873 (Wikipedia Darlinghurst heritage list / recent agent tradition 1872–73; City of Sydney Archives bond for awnings at 188 Forbes Street dated in the 1871 series — treat build window as early 1870s, not an exact day)
Architect: not attributed for the rectory in sources used here — do not assume O. H. Lewis or Benjamin Backhouse without a primary credit (those names belong to the church and hall)
Style: freestanding multi-storey Victorian Gothic villa; polychromatic patterned brickwork; steep gabled / patterned slate roof; elaborate patterned brick chimneys; delicate cast-iron cantilevered balcony; attic level; garage inserted at southern end 1947 (RNE)
Original use: rectory for St Peter’s Church of England, Darlinghurst (parish church 1866–67 on Bourke / St Peters Street; hall 1873 on Forbes Street)
Estate context: Edward Deas Thomson / Barham grant country; St Peter’s precinct assembled from mid-century lots; church purchased further Forbes Street terraces in 1924 for forecourt (separate from this rectory lot)
Heritage status: Register of the National Estate place 1985 (registered 21 Mar 1978) as St Peters Rectory (former); noted on Wikipedia Darlinghurst heritage list; standing private house. The Sydney LEP item I300 “Former St Peter’s Church of England Group” is addressed at 159–163 Bourke / Forbes Street (church, hall, store) — do not casually merge lot numbers; rectory identity rests on the RNE sheet and street fabric
Fate: standing; sold as renovated private residence (Aileen Sage Architects upgrade cited in 2025 marketing)

Site & setting

Forbes Street here is the lower Darlinghurst ridge edge toward the old St Peter’s parish — Barham and SCEGGS upslope, Clapton Place / Farrell Avenue toward the Rosebank and Rose Hall flat precinct, Bourke Street carrying the sandstone church that is now SCEGGS Great Hall. The rectory’s triangle lot and Clapton Place corner give it a freestanding silhouette rare among the terrace walls.

Live-post photographs (nine images) are mostly close fabric: Tudor-rose sandstone stops, cream-and-red arched window surrounds, sawtooth brick channel, balcony soffit, and the metal 188 — enough to lock the address to the polychrome Gothic villa the RNE described. Keep captions; do not invent a different mansion behind the number.

Timeline

Jan 1835 – Edward Deas Thomson grant recorded; Barham built early 1840s (still inside SCEGGS); mid-century subdivision creates the Forbes / St Peters Street lots (Heritage NSW St Peter’s group history).
1866–67 – St Peter’s Church built (O. H. Lewis); vestry additions later (Wikipedia / SHR church precinct).
1869–1870 – Church buys adjoining Forbes Street lots; some already house-occupied (group history).
1871 series – City of Sydney Archives: bond for awnings at 188 Forbes Street (early address evidence).
c.1872–1873 – Rectory raised in Victorian Gothic polychrome brick (RNE description; build years from secondary heritage list / agent tradition). Church hall by Benjamin Backhouse, 1873, on Forbes Street (separate building).
1924 – Church purchases five Forbes Street terraces and demolishes them for entry/forecourt to the church (Wikipedia) — precinct change, not demolition of 188.
1947 – Garage incorporated at southern end (RNE).
21 Mar 1978 – Register of the National Estate registration as St Peters Rectory (former), place ID 1985.
1993 – St Peter’s Church closed and sold to SCEGGS (Great Hall / Playhouse) — rectory’s later private life is separate from the school’s church conversion.
2020s – House marketed and sold as renovated freestanding residence; street number and polychrome fabric unchanged.

Architecture & interiors

The RNE sheet is the architectural spine: three-storey brick residence with attic; patterned walls and patterned slate roof; facade enlivened by a delicate cast-iron cantilevered balcony at first-floor level; very steep gable roof with elaborate patterned brick chimneys; 1947 garage at the southern end. Significance text calls it a fascinating example of polychromatic patterned brickwork in a quaint Victorian villa, Gothic style suited to rectory use, contributing to the lower Forbes Street / Clapton Place streetscape.

Live images match that reading — cream/red voussoirs, floral sandstone label stops, sawtooth recessed brick, balcony timber soffit. Do not invent interior inventories or an architect name for the rectory.

People & anecdotes

This house’s identity is parochial before personal: built as the dwelling for St Peter’s clergy while the sandstone church and Forbes Street hall served the congregation. Parish associations recorded for the church precinct (Charles Kemp, Henry Connell, Lebbeus Hordern, Patrick White among later church-linked names) belong to the worship story — cite them as precinct colour, not as proven rectory residents, unless a directory entry is in hand.

Edward Deas Thomson’s Barham grant is the deeper land layer; SCEGGS’s later ownership of the church/hall is a neighbour story. The rectory’s twentieth-century private chapters (including the 1947 garage and recent architectural upgrade) explain why the polychrome villa still faces Forbes Street when so much parish housing was cleared for the 1924 forecourt.

Gallery placeholder note

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

Preserve all nine live images (detail-heavy). Suggested caption order:

1–2. Sandstone floral / Tudor-rose label stops — Gothic stop on polychrome brick.

3–4. Arched window with cream/red voussoirs and balcony soffit — Cast-iron balcony above; RNE facade reading.

5. Metal street number 188 on sawtooth brick band — Address locked to the rectory villa.

6–9. Further brick / iron / roof details from live set — keep any existing captions; add credit if City Archives / agent photos are mixed in.

Also search: AHDB photo database for place 1985; City of Sydney Archives Demolition Books only if wrongly filed — this house stands.

What stands today

The former rectory stands at 188 Forbes Street as a private house. Walk the Clapton Place corner for the gables and balcony; continue to SCEGGS Great Hall (former St Peter’s Church) and Playhouse (former hall) for the parish set; glance to Barham inside the school grounds and to Horizon for Rose Hall’s vacant sky.

Map pin: 188 Forbes Street, Darlinghurst (cnr Clapton Place).
Do not treat LEP I300’s 159–163 address as this lot without a current inventory sheet that explicitly includes 188.
Do not confuse with Barham (215 Forbes Street tradition / SCEGGS) or Belgrave Terrace further along Forbes.

Sources & further reading

Australian Heritage Database — St Peters Rectory (former), 188 Forbes St, Darlinghurst (RNE place 1985): https://environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl?mode=place_detail;place_id=1985
Heritage NSW — Former St Peter’s Church of England Group (LEP I300 / database 2420326) — precinct context only: https://apps.environment.nsw.gov.au/dpcheritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=2420326
Wikipedia — St Peter’s Church, Darlinghurst (church/hall architects and 1924 forecourt)
Wikipedia — Darlinghurst (heritage list entry for 188 Forbes Street: St Peters Rectory (former))
City of Sydney Archives — bond for awnings at 188 Forbes Street (1871 series record)
Existing scrapbook post: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2021/03/188-forbes-street-darlinghurst-nsw.html