Tempe House – 1 Princes Highway – Wolli Creek / Tempe – NSW
John Verge Arcadian villa for A. B. Spark · Built 1833–1836 · Caroline Chisholm school · Good Samaritan Magdalene Refuge · Standing with St Magdalene’s Chapel — NSW SHR #00725
Cooks River, a sculpted “Mt Olympus” knoll, and a Grecian villa aimed at the picturesque: Tempe House is John Verge’s Arcadian experiment for merchant A. B. Spark. Insolvent Spark never quite escaped the house; Caroline Chisholm taught young ladies here; the Sisters of the Good Samaritan ran St Magdalene’s Refuge for a century; late-twentieth-century redevelopment kept the villa and chapel in parkland while wiping most institutional wings.
At a glance
- Address: 1 Princes Highway, Wolli Creek (historic Tempe / North Arncliffe estate language) NSW 2205
- Traditional Custodians: Cooks River Country — Gadigal / local river clans
- Villa: 1833–1836 for Alexander Brodie Spark; architect John Verge
- Estate idea: “Vale of Tempe” naming; picturesque grounds; wharf (to 1838); convict-built dam 1839–41; Mt Olympus shrubbery
- Later chapters: Maguire leasehold; Caroline Chisholm girls’ school 1863–65; Good Samaritan purchase 1885; St Magdalene’s Refuge / Chapel 1888 (Sheerin & Hennessy for institutional buildings)
- Heritage: NSW SHR #00725 (2 Apr 1999); PCO pathway from 1990
- Fate: Standing — villa + chapel in Discovery Point / riverside park setting; most Magdalene accommodation wings demolished after landscape-priority conservation decisions
Site & setting
Spark bought Sergeant William Packer’s Cooks River grant land (Packer sold 1826) and staged an Arcadian villa against river and knoll. Carriage drive, coach house and stables followed the dam/road link (stables burned 1844, rebuilt, lasted to 1960). Twentieth-century rail, highway and Discovery Point high-density development squeezed the curtilage; the villa still reads across the river and from Princes Highway against Mt Olympus eucalypts. Fatima Island views remain part of the designed outlook (SHR).
Timeline
- 1809–10 – Early grants; 1826 – Spark purchases Packer land.
- 1831–36 – Verge commission; house completed for Spark’s picturesque programme; entertainment and awarded vine plantings.
- 1839–41 – Convict-quarried stone dam; road access; coach infrastructure.
- 1843 – Spark insolvency listed; remains in residence; dies 1856 still short of his debts; buried St Peters (grave location uncertain).
- 1859 – Maguire brothers buy at auction; lease out (notably to Caroline Chisholm 1863–65).
- 1884–85 – Frederick Gannon purchase then sale to Good Samaritan trustees; St Magdalene’s Retreat / laundry mission; chapel 1888.
- 1940s–70s – Training/rehabilitation emphasis; education, pool, chaplain’s residence accretions; 1977 verandah conservation (Hurst & Kennedy).
- 1989 – Sale to Qantek; 1990 PCO; institutional buildings largely demolished except chapel and iron fencing (landscape priority).
- 2000s – Interciti / Discovery Point staged development south of the core; CMP / archaeological management; villa restoration chapters.
- Today – State-listed villa and chapel in public riverside park frame beside dense redevelopment.
Architecture & interiors
Symmetrical Neo-Classical Georgian / cottage ornée villa — bullnose verandahs, Tuscan timber columns, paired cedar French doors with fanlights, wide eight-panel entrance, fine cedar joinery, colonial marble fireplaces in parlour and dining room, central hall, river-oriented glazing (SHR / Tanner CMP lineage via Wikipedia SHR text). St Magdalene’s Chapel: Victorian Gothic red brick with cream brick and sandstone dressings; vaulted cedar boarded ceiling; stained glass memorialising order superiors.
People & anecdotes
A. B. Spark — 1830s merchant prince, Tusculum (Potts Point) client, St Peters Church trustee, arts patron who made Cooks River a painted subject. John Verge — villa architect. Caroline Chisholm — girls’ educational establishment 1863–65. Sisters of the Good Samaritan — century-long refuge/reformatory chapter (read critically as institutional history).
What stands today
Tempe House and St Magdalene’s Chapel stand within a State-heritage landscape on the Cooks River at Wolli Creek. Parkland and external viewing are the public offer. Pair with Spark’s Tusculum story on this blog for the Verge/merchant client set.
More on Tempe House
Tempe House - Tempe - NSW
Transcription
(Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday 4 October 1930, page 9)
TEMPE.
An Old-time Sydney Mansion.
(BY INEZ RADFORD.)
One of the best-known men in Sydney in the early days was Mr. Alexander Brodie Spark, who arrived here in 1823. Mr. Spark was a much-travelled man. He married the widow of Surgeon Henry Wyatt Radford, of the 45th and 62nd H.M. Regiment, who served in the Peninsular War, and received a silver cup and medal for bravery from his fellow-officers, which are in the family to-day. Dr. Radford's widow had been Miss Frances Biddulph, a direct descendant of Bishop Burnet. Mr. Spark, besides being a successful merchant and shipping agent, was a director of the Bank of New South Wales in 1824, also a director of the Bank of Australia in 1826. He sent a consignment of wool to London by the brig Columbia in 1826.
These are only a few of the activities that Mr. Spark was engaged in. He built and occupied in 1835 the residence known as Tempe, on the western side of Cook's River. He also had a grant from Governor Darling on the heights of Darlinghurst, on which he built a fine mansion known as Tusculum. At one time it was occupied by Bishop Broughton, its first tenant, and was purchased afterwards by Mr. William Long. Tempe was one of the showplaces of Sydney, and many well-known people spent week-ends there, such as Dr. J. Cox and family, Thomas Walker, Hannibal Macarthur, nephew of John Macarthur, Mr. James Mitchell, and others. Mr. Spark designed this house as a retreat from business cares, yet within easy distance of the town of Sydney. The bath, the lodge, and the garden, with its fruit and flowers, remain, but the privacy of the one has been invaded and the grandeur of the other impaired.
After Mr. Spark died, his widow lived in seclusion with some of the members of her family till her death. There is a tablet to the memory of Mr. Spark at St. Peter's Church, Cook's River, and one to the memory of Dr. Radford. It is interesting to relate that Miss Chrissie Spark, the founder of the Girls' Pioneer Club, which was organised before the war, is a descendant of Mr. A. B. Spark.
Sydney Morning Herald - Saturday 4th October 1930 - Pg 9
Sources & further reading
- Heritage NSW / SHR — Tempe House & St Magdalenes Chapel (#00725, DB 5045451): https://apps.environment.nsw.gov.au/dpcheritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5045451
- Wikipedia — Tempe House and St Magdalenes Chapel (portal; SHR CC-BY text)
- Abbott & Little (eds) — The Respectable Sydney Merchant: A. B. Spark of Tempe (1976)
- Howard Tanner & Associates — Tempe Estate CMP (2001) and later management/interpretation plans
- Casey & Lowe — Tempe House archaeology portfolio
- Trove — search: Tempe House Spark; Caroline Chisholm Tempe; St Magdalene’s Arncliffe; SMH 4 Oct 1930 Tempe
Related on this blog
- Tusculum – Potts Point (Spark / Verge cousin story)
- Other Verge villas (Toxteth, Lyndhurst, etc.)
- Cooks River / Wolli Creek landscape posts if present
Historic live gallery
Images retained from the live Blogger post:
