Arena - CBR Stanmore Road & Tuooer Street - Stanmore

 

Arena -  CBR Stanmore Road & Tuooer Street - Stanmore 

Hockingdon – 264 Johnston Street – Annandale – NSW

Hockingdon – 264 Johnston Street – Annandale – NSW

John Young “Witches’ Houses” villa · Built late 1880s · Standing — local heritage (LEP I62)

On the high western side of Johnston Street, master builder John Young stacked Gothic and Romanesque speculative villas above a continuous sandstone wall. Hockingdon and its twin Highroyd carried side spires for his daughters’ income. Lightning took Hockingdon’s spire; verandahs were infilled; a 1970s fire rebuilt stair and roof — yet the elevated silhouette still reads as one of Annandale’s landmark row.

At a glance

• Address: 264 Johnston Street, Annandale NSW 2038
• Pair: Highroyd, 262 Johnston Street
• Built: late 1880s — Heritage NSW assumes 1886–1889; localnotes 1888–1890 (flag)
• Builder: John Young; designer attributed John William Richards and Young (Heritage NSW)
• Early name: Etheldine (Sands 1890, occupied by WD Matthews) → later Hockingdon
• Purpose: speculative income house for Young’s daughters Annie and Nellie (they did not reside there)
• Group: “Witches’ Houses” / Abbey group — Kenilworth 260, Highroyd 262, Hockingdon 264, Greba/Creba 266, Oybin 270, The Abbey 272; Claremont 258 & Rozelle 268 demolished
• Heritage: Leichhardt LEP I62 / Heritage NSW DB 1940064 (local)
• Fate: Standing — private residential; verandahs infilled; spire missing; post-fire repairs

Site & setting

Johnston Street boulevard on the former George Johnston Annandale grant (1799) — North Annandale Estate subdivisions from 1874; Young’s Sydney Freehold company from 1878. Houses sit well above street level behind shared sandstone wall, palisade, arched gate and stone stair (Heritage). Aboriginal Country: Wangal / Inner West corridor — acknowledge at publish.

Timeline

• 1799 – George Johnston Annandale grant (Heritage context).
• 1877–78 – John Young consolidates North Annandale vision / Freehold company.
• Early 1880s – Young reacquires high-side lots south of Weynton Street.
• c.1886–90 – Hockingdon / Highroyd built (flag date window).
• 1890 – Sydney Water plan shows brick house; Sands lists Etheldine.
• 1890s – Spire struck by lightning and demolished (Heritage NSW).
• From 1920s – Multiple lettings; front verandahs progressively enclosed (Heritage).
• Early 1970s – Fire damages stairwell, top floor, roof; rebuilt; tile roof renewals.
• 1980 – Further renovations / window replacements (Heritage).
• Today – Local heritage dwelling in the Witches’ Precinct (Inner West DCP controls).

Architecture & interiors

Three storeys over basement; rendered brick and concrete; steep gables; side tower (metal-capped, spire lost); front double gable and open upper balcony; long southern stair window with leadlight (retain per DCP / Heritage recommendations). Matching form to Highroyd 262. Early reinforced-concrete footings and floors in Young’s Annandale group (H.C. Kent 1924 tradition via Heritage). Do not invent lost interior schedules.

People & anecdotes

John Young — “eminent Australian builder,” Mayor of Leichhardt, Annandale promoter, mason, builder of The Abbey. Annie & Nellie Young — intended beneficiaries of the Highroyd/Hockingdon pair. John William Richards — attributed architect (also Annandale Council Chambers). Annandale Association — 1960s–70s advocacy that helped save the group (Heritage social significance).

Image gallery guidance

1. Keep live historic photograph.

2. Pair elevations with Highroyd 262.

3. 1952 row view Kenilworth–Greba (localnotes).

4. Sandstone wall / arched gate / stone stair.

5. Contemporary streetscape (respect private interiors).

What stands today

Hockingdon stands at 264 Johnston Street as a private residence within the Inner West / former Leichhardt local heritage listing. Street viewing of the elevated facade and shared stone wall is the public experience; interiors are not a museum.

Sources & further reading

• Live post: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2025/06/hockingdon-264-johnston-street.html
• Heritage NSW — House, “Hockingdon,” including interiors (DB 1940064): https://apps.environment.nsw.gov.au/dpcheritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=1940064
• Leichhardt LEP 2013 Schedule 5 — I62
• localnotes — “Annandale – the houses of John Young”: http://localnotes.net.au/?p=206
• Gary Nicholls / Annandale Association — Hockingdon: The Story of a House (1981) cited on Heritage NSW
• Inner West DCP — Witches’ Houses precinct controls
• ramin.com.au — Johnston Street (North) anecdotal photo notes (spire dating soft)

Related on this blog

• Annandale House (Johnston estate predecessor on the ridge)
• Highroyd – 262 Johnston Street (pair)
• The Abbey / Oybin / other Johnston Street witches’ houses (cross-link as posts exist)

Add historic photos with captions and credits from Image gallery guidance.

Leichhardt Lodge – Newtown Road / Brown Street – Newtown – NSW

Leichhardt Lodge – Newtown Road / Brown Street precinct – Newtown – NSW

Mid-19th-century suburban villa of W.H. Aldis · Documented 1858–1862 · Demolished (date unknown) — estate subdivided

Tobacconist William H. Aldis named his Newtown Road house for his friend the explorer Ludwig Leichhardt. The State Library’s 1 March 1862 albumen print — the live scrapbook’s entire post — shows a two-storey verandah house in garden grounds. Stephen Campbell Brown later made it a Brown Street showpiece; subdivision plans still label the Leichhardt Lodge Estate. When the wreckers came is not yet pinned — leave that blank until deeds or a demolition notice surface.

At a glance

• Name: Leichhardt Lodge (historic spellings also Leichardt)
• Location: Newtown — Newtown Road / later Brown Street showpiece (Sands; Linda Daniele Newtown walk); subdivision streets Watkin, Wilson, Robey, Brown, Newtown Rd (SLNSW plans)
• Documented occupancy: Sands 1858–9 & 1861 — W.H. Aldis, tobacconist 275 George Street, private residence Leichhardt Lodge, Newtown Road
• Photograph: 1 March 1862 albumen — SLNSW SPF/702 tradition (live image)
• Name origin: friendship with explorer Ludwig Leichhardt
• Later resident: Stephen Campbell Brown MLC (Newtown walk / estate plans “late Hon. S.C. Brown”)
• Fate: House gone; estate subdivided — demolition year unknown (do not invent)
• Disambiguation: ≠ Municipality/suburb of Leichhardt; ≠ unrelated Glebe lodges of similar name

Site & setting

Newtown Road corridor on part of Governor Bligh’s 240 acres, Parish of Petersham (subdivision plan notes). Elevated garden setting in the 1862 view. Aboriginal Country: Gadigal / Cadigal Newtown–King Street corridor — acknowledge at publish.

Timeline

• 1858–61 – Aldis listed at Leichhardt Lodge, Newtown Road (Sands via Historypin).
• 1 Mar 1862 – Dated albumen photograph (live / SLNSW).
• Mid–late 19th c. – Stephen Campbell Brown residency tradition (Newtown local history).
• Subdivision era – Leichhardt Lodge Estate plans (SLNSW Content Lists) — Watkin / Wilson / Robey / Brown / Newtown Rd.
• Demolition – Date not found in consulted sources.
• Live blog 2025-06 – Image stub only.

Architecture & interiors

1862 photograph: two-storey central block, wide ground-floor verandah on slender posts, shuttered upper windows, lower wing to one side, chimneys, garden approach. No architect named in consulted sources. Do not invent interiors.

People & anecdotes

William H. Aldis — George Street tobacconist; friend of Ludwig Leichhardt; DoS note also ties him to Hyde Park Barracks archaeology context as a named tobacconist. Ludwig Leichhardt — namesake only (house, not the explorer’s residence). Stephen Campbell Brown — later long-term occupant / estate name on subdivision plans.

Image gallery guidance

• Keep live 1862 SLNSW plate (credit SPF/702 / Library).
• Leichhardt Lodge Estate subdivision plans (SLNSW).
• Brown Street / Newtown Road site reading today.
• Avoid Surry Hills Shakespeare Hotel captions unless catalog is corrected.

What stands today

The lodge does not stand. Streets of the former estate cover the ground. The scrapbook value is the dated photograph plus Aldis–Leichhardt naming story.

Sources & further reading

• Live post: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2025/06/leichhardt-lodge-newtown.html
• Historypin / SLNSW pin — Leichardt Lodge, Newtown (Sands + 1862 note): https://historypin.org/pins/388472/
• Dictionary of Sydney — Aldis, William H. (Hyde Park Barracks archaeology entry cross-ref)
• SLNSW — Newtown subdivision plans content list (Leichhardt Lodge Estate)
• Linda Daniele — “History walk around Newtown” (Brown Street showpiece / S.C. Brown)
• Soft: SPF/702 Surry Hills catalog wording — treat as conflict, prefer Newtown primary listings

Related on this blog

• Newtown / Surry Hills demolished villas
• Explorer-named colonial houses (verify each carefully)

Add historic photos with captions and credits from Image gallery guidance.

Gallery

 

The Hooper Cottage - 17 Gilderthorpe Avenue - North Randwick - New South Wales. 

Gilderthorpe Avenue, In North Randwick got its name from T.R. Gilderthorpe a Randwick Council Alderman from 1908 - 1917

Orange Street was the original name of Gilderthorpe Avenue.

Hooper Cottage Was Finished in 1847 - 1848

Glenbrook – 19 Cooper Street – Double Bay – NSW

Glenbrook – 19 Cooper Street – Double Bay – NSW

Victorian villa (historic photograph) · Build date / architect / early owners not yet confirmed · Site now apartments (“Glamis”) — villa demolished (date unknown)

The live scrapbook pins a two-storey Victorian bay-and-verandah house to 19 Cooper Street, Double Bay, under the name Glenbrook. Cooper Street still runs through the village; number 19 today is known in agent copy as the Glamis apartment block. Between the sepia villa and the flat building lies a demolition story that archives have not yet handed us in dated form — so this draft refuses to invent one.

At a glance

• Name (live): “Glenbrook”
• Address (live): 19 Cooper Street, Double Bay NSW 2028 (live typo Sreeet)
• LGA: Woollahra
• Evidence in hand: historic exterior photograph (live); modern strata/agent identification of 19 Cooper Street as Glamis apartments
• Built / architect / first owner: Not established from consulted DoS / Heritage NSW / Trove / Woollahra searches this wave
• Fate: Historic villa does not stand; site redeveloped for apartments — demolition year unknown
• Disambiguation: ≠ Glenbrook, Blue Mountains (town, HCA, railway residence SHR)

Site & setting

Cooper Street, Double Bay — harbourside village streets between New South Head Road and the Cross Street / Guilfoyle Park pocket. Aboriginal Country: Gadigal / eastern harbour peoples — acknowledge at publish. Live photograph shows a sloping allotment, low street wall, cast-iron lamp, projecting bay with quoining, two-level verandah with striped blinds, and a secondary building to the side — classic late-Victorian Double Bay fabric, pending firm identification of the negative.

Timeline

• Late 19th / early 20th c. (undated) – Villa photographed as in live post — date of negative not proven.
• Name “Glenbrook” – Attached by live blog title; not independently verified against Sands/Trove for this street number in this research pass (flag for Sands Directory / rate-book follow-up).
• 20th c. redevelopment – Site becomes multi-unit Glamis at 19 Cooper Street (contemporary agent sources) — construction year of flats not fixed here.
• Live blog 2025-06 – Image stub with misspelt street.

Architecture & interiors

From the live photograph only: two-storey Victorian villa; projecting bay; quoining; hipped roof and chimneys; ground and upper verandahs; basement openings on the fall of the land; secondary structure to one side. No interior evidence. No architect attribution found.

People & anecdotes

None securely tied to this address under the Glenbrook name in sources consulted for this draft. Leave blank rather than guess Double Bay society names.

Image gallery guidance

• Keep live historic photograph; caption as “live scrapbook — Glenbrook, 19 Cooper Street (identification as per blog title).”
• Modern street view of Glamis / 19 Cooper Street for “what replaced it.”
• Pair with other documented Cooper Street / Double Bay villas only when separately sourced.
• Search SLNSW / Woollahra Local History for Cooper Street rate photos before asserting extra plates.

What stands today

The Victorian Glenbrook villa does not stand. 19 Cooper Street is an apartment address (Glamis in agent usage). Private flats — no house-museum access.

Sources & further reading

• Live post: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2025/06/glenbrook-19-cooper-sreeet-double-bay.html
• Contemporary agent/strata references to Glamis, 19 Cooper Street, Double Bay (site fate only — not historic proof)
• Research gaps to close before a richer rewrite: Woollahra Library local history / rate books; Sands Directories “Glenbrook” + Cooper Street; Trove auction notices; SLNSW pictorial catalogue

Related on this blog

• Other Double Bay / Woollahra demolished villas
• Do not cross-link Blue Mountains Glenbrook railway residence as the same house

Add historic photos with captions and credits from Image gallery guidance.

Gallery

Willandra (Wollandra spelling) – 770–782 Victoria Road – Ryde – NSW

Willandra (live slug “Wollandra”) – 770–782 Victoria Road – Ryde – NSW

Disambiguation: misspelt Willandra · Same SHR #00026 house · Not a separate mansion

A single letter turns a State-heritage Georgian into a ghost name. Fix the slug and title to Willandra; keep the photograph; point readers to the Devlin–Manning–Shell–Lucas story already researched for Willandra.

At a glance

• Correct name: Willandra (also Ryde House; school-era Rydalmount)
• Incorrect live forms: URL/title Wollandra — do not treat as a second house
• Address: 770–782 Victoria Road, Ryde NSW 2112 (Council range); SHR primary 782 Victoria Road
• Built: 1841–1844; occupied 1845; builder James Devlin
• Architect: attributed William Weaver (Maguire 1984 — attribution)
• Style: Colonial Georgian — two-storey, five-bay, verandah on stone columns
• Heritage: NSW SHR #00026 (2 Apr 1999); RNE 002928; National Trust; Ryde LEP
• Fate: Standing — City of Ryde; restored 1979–80 (Clive Lucas); Ryde District Historical Society
• See also: full Willandra enrichment (WillandraRyde.html)

Site & setting

Kissing Point ridge / Eastern Farms — John Small 1794 grant; Devlin from 1828; Village of Ryde subdivision 1841. Today a tight corner at Victoria Road / Devlin Street underpass with axial river views. Aboriginal Country: Wallumedegal / Wallumattagal. Full landscape notes in the Willandra draft.

Timeline

(Short spine — details and soft conflicts live in the Willandra draft.)

• 1794 / 1828 – Small grant; Devlin holding.
• 1841–45 – Ryde House built / occupied.
• 1870s–90s – Name settles as Willandra under Manning / Suttor trusteeship tradition.
• 1894–99 – Rydalmount girls’ school (Ellen Pye).
• 1920s–70s – Subdivisions; garage / Shell service-station era on Victoria Road face.
• 1974/76–80 – Council purchase (year soft); Clive Lucas restoration.
• 2 Apr 1999 – SHR #00026.
• Live blog 2025-06 – Image stub under misspelt Wollandra slug; H1 correctly Willandra.

Architecture & interiors

See Willandra draft / SHR: symmetrical Georgian, French doors, fanlight, stone verandah columns, cedar joinery, chimneypieces recovered in restoration. Do not invent a separate “Wollandra” fabric description.

People & anecdotes

James Devlin, Caroline & John Edye Manning, Ellen Pye, Save Willandra campaign — all Willandra names. No distinct Wollandra cast.

Image gallery guidance

• Keep live modern exterior — caption as Willandra, 770–782 Victoria Road (correcting Wollandra slug).
• Prefer c.1870 Devlin family photograph and restoration-era plates listed in the Willandra draft.
• Do not invent a second photo set under the misspelling.

Gallery

What stands today

Willandra stands, State listed, City of Ryde ownership, RDHS open days (confirm hours). There is nothing separate called Wollandra to visit.

Sources & further reading

• Heritage NSW — Willandra (SHR 00026, DB 5045158): https://apps.environment.nsw.gov.au/dpcheritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5045158
• City of Ryde — Willandra historic building (address given as 770–782 Victoria Road)
• Ryde History Hub — Willandra
• Full enrichment: WillandraRyde.html (same house)
• Live misspelt-slug post: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2025/06/wollandra-770-782-victoria-road-ryde-nsw.html
• Related correctly titled live post (if distinct URL retained): Willandra 782 Victoria Road (2024-04) — merge or cross-link; do not run two contradictory histories

Related on this blog

• Primary: Willandra – Ryde (correct spelling)
• Other standing Georgian villas of the County of Cumberland
• Clive Lucas conservation cousins

Add historic photos with captions and credits from Image gallery guidance.

 

“Hiawatha” - 70 George Street - Parramatta - New South Wales 

History of Hiawatha from 1883 to 1960
Hiawatha was built in 1883 for Joseph William Withers (c1841-1914), J.P., former 1894-95 Mayor of Parramatta[3]. 

Withers of Surry Hills, N.S.W. became part of Parramatta’s well known families when he married 

Sarah Anne/Annie Eury (c1847-1933) on 11 June 1868 at the home of 

Captain Michael Eury (1817-1888) on George Street, Parramatta. 

She was the eldest daughter of Captain Eury and sister to James Eury (1854-1925). 

In 1883, he had Hiawatha built for his growing family which included his children 

Ernest A. F. (1873-1915), 

twin daughters Blanche Naomi Maud (1876-1950, 

future Mrs Alban Gee) and 

Gertrude Laura May (b.1876, the future Mrs Charles Ernest Byrnes), 

Milton Hedley V. (1878-1960), 

 Edgar Bruce (1879-1919), 

Beatrice Maude A. (1882-1916,

 the future Mrs Eric G. Stokes), 

Montague “Harold” Reginald (1884-1933) 

and Ruby Myrtle Gwendoline Withers (1885-1955, 

the future Mrs Francis J Beale).[4]

In 1891, Withers began his political career representing the Anderson Ward in local council and was elected Mayor of Parramatta in 1894.[5]

By 1903, he instructed Stack and Co. to auction ‘Hiawatha’ and his household items on 7 December, 2pm as he was leaving town.[6] 

On 2 December 1914, he passed away at his last known residence ‘Elstow’, Myagah Road, Mosman, aged 73.[7]

Alexander John Charles Christie
Alexander John Charles Christie (c1870-1933) was the next owner of Hiawatha. 

He was the Superintendent of the Mint and had worked there from junior clerk in 1890 until The Sydney Mint was closed in January 1927. 

Christies was the son of Alexander J. and Mary Ann Christie. 

He was born in Parramatta in 1870 and married Alice Eva McKelvey/MacKelvey in 1898 at St Patrick’s Cathedral.

During the Christie family's residency at Hiawatha, the Christie’s celebrated the birth of their children

 Maria (Marie) Agnes, Alice Veronica (Ronny), Stella, Joseph and John. 

As well as the reception of the marriages of his children from Marie marrying Dr. Terence Aubrey Daly of Macquarie-street, Parramatta, the youngest son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Edward Daly, of Concord on Wednesday 31 August 1921; 

Ronny marrying John I. Gorman, the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Edmond Gorman, of the Riverina, and "San Marino," Beaumaris, Victoria on Wednesday 16 June 1926.

It was also where his beloved wife Alice collapsed while preparing for an outing and died from a sudden heart afflection on 2 September 1932. 

Alexander passed away on Saturday 28 February 1933, aged 63. Devoted Roman Catholics, the Christies were buried at North Rocks Cemetery.[8]
Hiawatha Hiawatha Catering Co. Function Centre

Hiawatha remained in the Christie family while also being used as a place of entertainment for the community until its title was transferred from Joseph Christie to Ruby Florence Tolhurst (nee Rogers) in 1946.[9] 

Ruby Florence Tolhurst was a divorcee and the mother of Ronald Cyril Tolhurst (1916-1996) of Concord West. 

Ronald and Royce Victor Beavis were the registered proprietors of Hiawatha Private Hotel and Restaurant (on 23 October 1946) and Hiawatha Catering Co. Pty Limited (on 13 November 1946).[10] 

They remodeled Hiawatha on 'continental lines' to become a Restaurant, Cabaret, Function Centre and offer guest accommodation.[11] 

On 28 June 1949, Beavis became a joint tenant to the deed.[12] 

He was later joined by George Cecil O’Connell as co-director. O’Connell had previously served in the First World War as a Private of the 10th Australian Light Horse (service number 3440) and postwar had accumulated twenty years' experience in wedding receptions, being the owner of "Parisienne" top-line wedding receptionists in the western suburbs, before joining the Board of Directors of "Hiawathaii" taking over that phase of "Hiawatha's" activities.

Merioola- Edgecliff Road Woolahra - NSW

Merioola- Edgecliff Road Woolahra - NSW 

Built in 1859 - John Edye Manning 

Demolished in 1916

________________________________________________________________________________

The Sun - Monday 4th Fev 1952 - Page 2

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Daily Telegraph - Friday 1st  Feb 1952  - 

Page 9

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Springfield Lodge - Potts Point - NSW

Springfield House – Springfield Avenue – Potts Point – NSW

Built c.1828–1832 · Architect uncertain (Edward Hallen / possible Greenway) · Demolished mid–late 1930s

On Woolloomooloo Hill — before Kings Cross neon, before Springfield Avenue cut the block, before the Village Centre sold groceries where a villa garden once faced the town — Attorney-General Alexander Macduff Baxter raised one of Governor Darling’s conditioned ridge villas. Charles Rodius painted its new arcade and raw plantings in 1832. Later the house became Lady Murray’s girls’ college. By the 1930s the scrapbooks were writing obituaries. Welcome to Springfield House — also Springfield Lodge — an original Darling-grant neighbour of Tusculum, Rockwall and Orwell, now a memory under Springfield Avenue and Llankelly Place.

At a glance

• Address / site: Historic Woolloomooloo Hill / Darlinghurst allotment (Baxter’s ~9 acres); later Potts Point / Kings Cross — Springfield Avenue / Llankelly Place / Village Centre block; Macleay Street / Darlinghurst Road frontage in early plans
• Built: plans Oct 1828 (Darling approved 1 Dec 1828); building by 1830; standing for Rodius’s 1832 watercolour
• Architect: uncertain — Edward Hallen named when building began (1830); 1828 plans predate his arrival; Broadbent notes possible Francis Greenway affinities; do not credit John Verge
• Style: distinctive colonial villa with five-bay masonry arcade and balcony to the town front; end gables and central pediment (Rodius / Broadbent)
• Original grantee: Alexander Macduff Baxter, Attorney-General of NSW
• Famous later chapter: Springfield College / Lady Murray’s College (1873–c.1888) — pupils include Dagmar Berne
• Estate context: one of the original Darling 1828 villa-condition grants (SLNSW Villas of Darlinghurst set) — unlike later Macleay-subdivision Gothick lodges
• Heritage status: demolished — no standing villa fabric; street names and neighbouring survivors tell the story
• Fate: cleared mid–late 1930s (DoS / Villas tradition 1934; Reidle still listed Springfield among houses awaiting demolition, Nov 1937; secondary site history has villa gone by 1939 after Woongarra Flats/hotel on the grounds); shopping / Village Centre on the villa ground

Site & setting

Call the ridge what you like — Woolloomooloo Hill, Darlinghurst, Potts Point, Kings Cross. In Governor Darling’s late 1820s dress-circle scheme it was cadastral allotments with rules: one villa, £1,000 minimum, governor-approved elevation, set back from the road, facing Sydney.

Springfield sat on allotment No. 6 — just over nine acres promised to Attorney-General Alexander Macduff Baxter in 1828. Barrie Dyster’s title reconstruction places the eastern edge on Macleay Street where it meets Darlinghurst Road (the El Alamein Fountain locality of later Kings Cross) and runs the rectangle back toward the city — ground later pierced by Victoria, Brougham, Dowling and Forbes Streets. Joseph Reidle, writing in 1937, remembered Roslyn Hall’s Darlinghurst Road lattice gate opening opposite Springfield House.

This was not a later carve-up of Alexander Macleay’s Elizabeth Bay acres (that story produced Larbert Lodge and its neighbours). Springfield belongs with Tusculum, Rockwall, Orwell, Craigend, Goderich and the other Darling-conditioned villas of the SLNSW Villas of Darlinghurst exhibition set.

The name Springfield (also Springfield Lodge / Springfield House) is the scrapbook standard. Secondary heritage notes link it to a natural spring / sandstone well remembered in Springfield Gardens off Orwell Street. Dyster’s 1840s title narrative also calls the estate Tivoli — an alternate label in the mortgage years, not a different mansion.

Today the villa is gone. Stand on Springfield Avenue between Darlinghurst Road and Macleay Street — Harris Farm, Llankelly Place shops, ERA on Springfield — and you are on the story.

Timeline

• 25 Jun 1798 – Alexander Macduff Baxter born, Monzievaird, Perthshire (ADB).
• Jul 1827 – Baxter arrives Sydney as Attorney-General with Spanish heiress wife Maria del Rosaria Anna Uthair (ADB).
• 1828 – Promised ~9-acre Woolloomooloo Hill allotment No. 6 under Darling’s villa conditions (Broadbent / Villas of Potts Point).
• Oct 1828 / 1 Dec 1828 – Plans submitted; Darling approves (Broadbent).
• Feb 1830 – Ambrose Hallen inspects site with architect “Mr E. Hallen” (Broadbent citing Surveyor-General papers).
• Dec 1830 – Office of Public Works reports building in conformity with conditions; still unfinished (Broadbent).
• 24 Jan 1831 – Baxter resigns as Attorney-General; insolvency follows; leaves for Van Diemen’s Land then England (ADB / NSW Parliament).
• 1832 – Charles Rodius watercolour Wolomoloo [sic] [Springfield House] — house and newly planted garden complete (SLNSW DL Pd 258). Baxter imprisoned for debt in London; dies 1834 (Isle of Man; ADB also gives death by 1836).
• 1835 – Goodsir sells the mortgaged grant to Joseph Hickey Grose for £3500 (Dyster).
• 1844–1846 – Grose insolvent; Commercial Bank holds “Tivoli Estate”; 1846 mansion portion sold to Alexander Campbell; bulk acres to Thomas Ware Smart (Dyster).
• 19 Jul 1873 – Madame & Fraulein Hinrichsen’s College for Young Ladies, Springfield, Macleay Street — duties resumed (SMH / R&W citation).
• 1873–1877 – Lady Agnes Ann Murray founds and runs Springfield College / Lady Murray’s College at Springfield Lodge (DoS); stepdaughter Leila among staff (Murray family histories).
• c.1877–late 1880s – Mme de Monsigny (former French teacher) continues the school after Lady Murray; DoS closes the college in the late 1880s (Woodhouse secondary places Monsigny from c.1878–79 and the college open into 1887). 1882 – Dagmar Berne recorded as student (DoS).
• Late 19th century – House extensively remodelled (Broadbent — photographs after this rebuild).
• 1923/24–1930 – Llankelly Lane; Springfield Avenue gazetted linking to Darlinghurst Road (secondary site histories).
• 1931 – Woongarra Flats appear on former Springfield ground (Woodhouse / R&W site history — Richard Stanley Lambton).
• 1934 – Dictionary of Sydney / Villas of Potts Point demolition tradition for shopping / “New Village Centre.”
• 1937 – Woongarra becomes a private hotel (same secondary site history); 30 Nov 1937 Joseph Reidle, SMH: Roslyn Hall and Orwell already ruins; “a similar fate awaits Kellett House, Springfield and Larbert Lodge.”
• By 1939 – Villa cleared (Woodhouse secondary); reconcile DoS 1934 shopping-centre tradition with Reidle’s Nov 1937 “awaits” wording and the by-1939 clearance before asserting a single day.
• 2007–2009 – Old Kings Cross Village Centre demolished; ERA on Springfield / new Village Centre completed (Harris Farm / Llankelly specialty shops).
• Today – No villa fabric. Walk Springfield Avenue and read the lost house against Tusculum, Rockwall, Jenner and Elizabeth Bay House still standing nearby.

Architecture & interiors

Forget Verge’s severe Regency stucco for a moment — but do not swing all the way to Gothick either. Springfield was something rarer on the hill: a masonry-arcade villa designed for Sydney’s heat and for the westward view back to town.

James Broadbent, working from Rodius’s 1832 watercolour (the best early evidence before late-Victorian remodelling muddied the photos), reads:

• A five-bayed ground-floor arcade with a covered balcony above
• Solid balustrade formed by the upper zone of the arcade
• Gables at either end and a central pediment on the principal (Sydney-facing) front
• French doors opening into the arcade and onto the balcony
• Detached offices with blind arches under gable-pediments — closely akin to Greenway’s St John’s Rectory, Parramatta

Baxter’s own October 1828 letter shows the arcade as an afterthought: upper windows to be “cut down to a balcony… which will run along the front of the House facing Sydney.”

Architect note: Ambrose Hallen named Edward Hallen as architect when building began in 1830 — but Edward had only arrived in 1829, so he cannot have authored the 1828 approved plans. Broadbent leaves open a Francis Greenway hypothesis on stylistic grounds and concludes the designer is unknown. Prefer that honesty. Do not credit John Verge.

Room schedules and measured drawings have not been chased for this enrichment. Broadbent notes a hearthstone inscription reported during 1920s alterations (Dowling / JR AHS tradition) — treat as a reported find, not a pinned foundation date.

People & anecdotes

Alexander Macduff Baxter — “Dandy” Baxter to Governor Darling — is the name the grant remembers, and almost nobody else’s favourite Attorney-General. ADB is frank: inexperienced in court, extravagant, alcoholic, violent toward his Spanish heiress wife when twin daughters arrived, bankrupt as he fled for a Tasmanian judgeship Arthur would not let him take. He barely outlived Marshalsea debtors’ prison. Springfield’s plans were among the first Darling approved on the hill; whether Baxter ever slept under the finished arcade is doubtful — the house was still building when he collapsed into insolvency, and Rodius paints a completed villa only after he had gone.

The land did not wait for romance. Goodsir the mortgagee, Joseph Hickey Grose the overstretched trader, the Commercial Bank, young merchant Alexander Campbell (mansion slice, 1846) and developer-politician Thomas Ware Smart (the rest of the acres) are the title story Barrie Dyster reconstructed from the Sparke Papers. Smart’s quick profit on the Macleay Street frontage is suburbanisation in miniature — the dress circle learning to sell frontage by the foot.

Then the scrapbook changes key from drawing-room to schoolroom. Madame Hinrichsen advertised briefly in 1873. Lady Agnes Ann Murray — widow of Speaker / Legislative Council President Sir Terence Aubrey Murray, mother of Hubert Murray of Papua and classicist Gilbert Murray — opened Lady Murray’s College in the lodge the same year. Deportment, needlework, dancing: the curriculum that Dagmar Berne rejected before private chemistry lessons and a place in Sydney University’s medical school. Dictionary of Sydney keeps the college at Springfield Lodge through Mme de Monsigny into the late 1880s (secondary site writing places her takeover from about 1878–79 after Lady Murray’s years).

By November 1937 Joseph Reidle was writing “Ghosts in Crinolines.” Roslyn Hall and Orwell were already ruins; Springfield was named in the same breath as Kellett House and Larbert Lodge as houses whose fate still “awaits.” Whether the Dictionary of Sydney’s 1934 shopping-centre demolition is a few years early, or Reidle was remembering a house already doomed, the end was the same: arcade gone, Avenue and Village Centre in its place.

Gallery placeholder note

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

Do not invent URLs — search these collections and embed with proper acknowledgement. Keep the Rodius view already on the live posts and re-credit SLNSW.

1. Charles Rodius, Wolomoloo [sic] [Springfield House], 1832

Search: SLNSW DL Pd 258 / a140012; already on 2021/2025 posts. Caption idea: Arcade and new garden — the best evidence of Baxter’s villa before later remodelling.

2. Springfield c.1900 photograph

Search: DoS / SLNSW Mitchell [v/83]. Caption idea: After the late-Victorian rebuild — still Springfield, no longer Rodius’s raw villa.

3. 1828–1832 Woolloomooloo / Darlinghurst grant maps

Search: SLNSW; House of Commons 1832 coast sketch; Villas of Potts Point exhibition. Caption idea: Allotment No. 6 on the dress-circle ridge.

4. Lady Murray and pupils, 19 Nov 1874

Search: NLA Murray family photographs PIC/7714/20 (DoS media); https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-147036072 Caption idea: Springfield College — crinolines on the old villa’s lawn.

5. SMH Reidle “Ghosts in Crinolines,” 30 Nov 1937

Search: Trove article 17408467 (and continuation page clipped on the live post). Caption idea: Springfield named among the last survivors — November 1937.

6. Roslyn Hall / Orwell / Larbert compare set from the same Reidle pages

Search: Trove; existing blog Roslyn / Orwell / Larbert posts. Caption idea: Neighbours in the same obituary.

7. Springfield Avenue / Village Centre / Llankelly Place today

Search: City of Sydney imagery; own site photos. Caption idea: What replaced the arcade — shopping under the old name.

8. Compare set: Tusculum, Rockwall, Elizabeth Bay House, Orwell site (Minerva / Metro)

Search: MHNSW; existing blog posts. Caption idea: Ridge survivors and ridge ghosts — Springfield belongs with the ghosts; Minerva stands on Orwell’s ground, not Springfield’s villa core.

What stands today

Springfield House / Lodge does not stand. The villa was cleared in the mid–late 1930s. What you visit is the site, the street names, and the neighbours that survived.

• Walk Springfield Avenue from Darlinghurst Road toward Macleay Street — Village Centre / Harris Farm / Llankelly Place occupy the former villa commercial ground.
• Look for the Springfield Gardens well-cap memory off Orwell Street (secondary heritage note — spring / name story).
• Pair the visit with standing houses on this blog’s beat: Tusculum (AIA NSW, Manning Street), Rockwall (Rockwall Crescent), Jenner House (Macleay Street), Elizabeth Bay House (Onslow Avenue museum).
• Remember the lost peers in the same 1937 obituaries: Orwell House (Minerva / Metro on its site), Roslyn Hall / Roslyn House, Larbert Lodge, Grantham.
• Do not confuse this Springfield with other Australian Springfields — this is Baxter’s Woolloomooloo Hill villa.

No public house museum, no remnant arcade. The enrichment is the Rodius watercolour, the school memory, the Avenue that kept the name, and the habit of looking up.

Sources & further reading

• James Broadbent, The Australian Colonial House — Woolloomooloo Hill / Springfield chapters (via Potts Point Preservation excerpt): https://pottspointpreservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Broadbent_reduced.pdf
• State Library of NSW / Potts Point Preservation — Villas of Potts Point (2002): https://pottspointpreservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Villas-of-Potts-Point.pdf
• Dictionary of Sydney — Springfield Lodge: https://dictionaryofsydney.org/building/springfield_lodge
• Dictionary of Sydney — Springfield College media / Lady Murray pupils 1874: https://dictionaryofsydney.org/media/58658
• Dictionary of Sydney — Baxter, Alexander; Murray, Agnes Ann
• ADB — ‘Baxter, Alexander Macduff (1798–1836)’: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/baxter-alexander-macduff-1756
• NSW Parliament — Mr Alexander Macduff Baxter (former member)
• Barrie Dyster, ‘Inventing the Suburbs and Making a Fortune’, Leichhardt Historical Journal No. 11 (1982)
• Charles Rodius — SLNSW DL Pd 258, Wolomoloo [sic] [Springfield House], 1832
• NLA — Murray family photographs guide (PIC/7714 incl. Springfield College 19 Nov 1874): https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-147036072
• Joseph Reidle, ‘Ghosts in Crinolines…’, SMH, 30 Nov 1937: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17408467
• ADB — Murray, Sir Terence Aubrey (context for Lady Agnes Murray’s widowhood / school)
• Andrew Woodhouse / Richardson & Wrench — Jolly Swagman site history (Springfield College / Woongarra / by-1939 demolition — secondary): https://www.rwebay.com.au/jolly-swagman-backpackers-hostel/
• Existing scrapbook posts: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2025/05/springfield-house-potts-point-nsw.html ; https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2021/06/springfield-house.html

Related on this blog

• Orwell House – Orwell Street – Potts Point (neighbouring Darling-grant villa; Minerva / Metro on its site)
• Tusculum – Potts Point
• Rockwall – Potts Point
• Jenner House – Macleay Street – Potts Point
• Elizabeth Bay House – Elizabeth Bay
• Larbert Lodge – Macleay Street – Potts Point (later Gothick; not a Darling original allotment)
• Campbell Lodge – Potts Point
• Roslyn House – Potts Point
• Kinneil – Potts Point
• Maranamah – Macleay Street / Darlinghurst Road – Potts Point
• Craigend – Darlinghurst
• John Verge – Colonial Architect (context — Verge did not design Springfield)
• Progress Of The Suburbs – Potts Point – SMH 1913
• Stately Homes Of Old Potts Point – Daily Telegraph 1933
• Original Villas of Darlinghurst

Historic live gallery

Images retained from the live Blogger post:

Oak Cottage - Liverpool Street - Darlinghurst

 

Oak Cottage - Liverpool Street - Darlinghurst 

Greenoaks - Darling Point

Greenoaks (later Bishopscourt) – 11–21 Greenoaks Avenue – Darling Point – NSW

Built from 1841 cottage / 1846–49 mansion works · Architects J. F. Hilly (1846+); Edmund Blacket (1859–60); Leslie Wilkinson (1935) · Standing — private residence (Anglican Archbishop’s house 1911–2015)

Thomas Woolley’s Percyville cottage became Thomas Sutcliffe Mort’s Gothic showplace — armour, picture gallery, Guilfoyle garden — then, from 1911, Bishopscourt for Sydney’s Anglican archbishops. Blacket’s academic Gothic and Wilkinson’s 1935 wing still read from Greenoaks Avenue. Sold out of church hands in December 2015. The live blog post is almost pure album: keep the pictures; this text supplies the spine.

At a glance

• Address: 11–21 / 11A Greenoaks Avenue, Darling Point NSW 2027 (Woollahra)
• Built: Woolley cottage Percyville 1841 (Hilly); Mort lease 1845 / purchase 1846 (£2,500); mansion transformation from 1846; SHR construction years 1846–1849; Blacket additions from 1859–60
• Architects: J. F. Hilly; Edmund Blacket; Leslie Wilkinson (1935 western wing / remodelling)
• Style: Victorian Academic / Picturesque Gothic Revival sandstone mansion; Guilfoyle romantic garden remnant
• Original owners: Thomas Woolley (ironmonger); then Thomas Sutcliffe Mort (1816–1878)
• Estate: Originally ~11 acres; Mort core ~2.8 ha; major subdivisions 1892 (Langtree) and 1911 (Greenoaks Avenue)
• Heritage: NSW SHR #00362 (2 Apr 1999); former PCO 26 Apr 1988; RNE; National Trust; Woollahra LEP
• Fate / current use: Standing — private residence after Anglican sale December 2015 (~$18 million; DoS / SMH Domain reporting on SHR)

Site & setting

Yarranabbee / Darling Point — Gadigal and neighbouring clan Country; heavily timbered until New South Head Road and 1830s grants. Mort’s Greenoaks sat among Darling Point villas (Swifts, Carthona, Lindesay). Michael Guilfoyle landscaped from 1849 — SHR: “leading and model private garden of NSW.” Double Bay “Exotic Nursery” on Mort land supplied plants. Much garden lost to Greenoaks Avenue subdivision (1911); remnant trees and romantic slope survive around the house (SHR).

Timeline

• 1841 – Thomas Woolley buys ~11 acres; Percyville two-storey stone cottage (Hilly) (SHR / DoS).
• 1845–46 – Mort leases then purchases cottage + ~2.8 ha for £2,500; renames Greenoaks; Hilly enlargements (DoS / SHR).
• 1849+ – Guilfoyle garden; Mort horticultural prizes and society roles (SHR / ADB Mort).
• 1857–59 – Mort in England; Alton Towers purchases (armour, pictures, oak furniture) (SHR).
• 1859–60 – Blacket: picture gallery, porte-cochère, stables/kitchens, stair hall stained glass (SHR / DoS).
• 1878 – Mort dies at Bodalla; widow Marianne remains into 1890s (DoS / SHR).
• 1892 – Sold to grazier Michael Campbell Langtree; subdivision begins (DoS).
• 1910 – Part sold to Church of England for £6,750; renamed Bishopscourt; dedicated Oct 1910; Archbishop Wright from 1911 (DoS).
• 1911 – Greenoaks Avenue / residue subdivision (~8–9 acres) (SHR).
• 1935 – Leslie Wilkinson remodelling / western wing; chapel works in same era (DoS / SHR — wording varies on chapel designer; prefer SHR Wilkinson association).
• 1960s–2012 – Repeated sale debates; Synod votes to sell (DoS).
• Dec 2015 – Sold ~$18m to private buyer; ends 105 years of church ownership (DoS / SHR citations).
• Today – Private residence; State Heritage listed; not open as a museum.

Architecture & interiors

Dressed sandstone, steep slate roofs, stepped gables, Victorian Tudor windows and carved doors; Mort arms carved in stone (SHR / RNE notes). Blacket porte-cochère in Gothic chapel form (1860); grand stair with stained glass; panelled library; picture gallery once showing ~200 works and armour, open monthly to the public (SHR). Wilkinson’s 1935 wing extended over former stables. Later church-period alterations (Clamp 1911–13; Ross & Rowe; 1965 Fowell Mansfield Maclurcan with Wilkinson) changed kitchens, porte-cochère (removed 1965), and private apartments — flag complexity rather than inventing a single “original” interior.

People & anecdotes

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort — auctioneer, wool sales innovator, refrigeration pioneer, Mort’s Dock, AMP founder, St Mark’s Darling Point benefactor (ADB / SHR). Married Therese Laidley (link to Rosebank’s Laidley world). Michael Guilfoyle — Chelsea-trained nurseryman; Greenoaks made his colonial reputation (SHR). Edmund Blacket — friend and architect. Archbishops from Wright through Davies used the house; DoS lists seven by 2013 before the sale saga.

Sydney Morning Herald “Progress of the Suburbs” (13 Sep 1913) called Greenoaks the show place of Darling Point and finest Elizabethan specimen in the colony (quoted in DoS).

Image gallery guidance

Live post is an SLNSW / Mort Album feast — keep, sequence, and caption; do not invent new URLs.

1. Exterior / Darling Point Road album views

2. Drawing room – Mort Album

3. Tennis court gardens & harbour

4. SLNSW FL1088160–series interiors and elevations (already embedded)

5. Guilfoyle garden remnants / Dying Gladiator statue location (nearby Greenoaks Ave — DoS Mona and Greenoaks)

6. St Mark’s Darling Point — Mort / Blacket church gift context

Gallery

What stands today

Greenoaks / Bishopscourt stands as a private State Heritage house. No public museum access. View from Greenoaks Avenue only as polite streetscape; do not trespass. Pair with St Mark’s Darling Point and (from the street) other Darling Point villas. Related demolished neighbour on this blog: Retford Hall.

Sources & further reading

• NSW SHR — Bishopscourt / Greenoaks (SHR 00362): https://apps.environment.nsw.gov.au/dpcheritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5045448
• Dictionary of Sydney — Kim Hanna, “Bishopscourt” (2015): https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/bishopscourt
• Dictionary of Sydney — “Mona and Greenoaks”: https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/mona_and_greenoaks
• ADB — Alan Barnard, “Mort, Thomas Sutcliffe (1816–1878)”: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mort-thomas-sutcliffe-4258
• Sydney Morning Herald, 13 September 1913, “Progress of the Suburbs” (DoS quotation)
• Live post: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2025/05/greenoaks-darling-point.html
• SLNSW — search Greenoaks / Bishopscourt / Mort Darling Point

Related on this blog

• Retford Hall – Darling Point
• Greenoaks Cottage – Darling Point
• Blacket / Darling Point church posts — search St Mark’s