‘Aston’ is a Mediterranean style block of just four apartments in Sydney’s Bellevue Hill. It was designed by architect Ernest A. Scott of Green & Scott Architects, and built by the Welch Bros.
It was completed 1929, just one year after the Spanish Mission-style ‘Del Rio‘ in Elizabeth Bay and ‘Craigston‘ in Brisbane. Read the rest of this entry »
Built in 1912, Craigleith Flats is one of the oldest multistory buildings in Potts Point. The Georgian Style property with seven apartments is up for auction next month.
Although there is very little information on the original architects, in 1934-35 some alterations were carried out by architects Eric Clark Pitt and Charles Clarence Phillips. Pitt and Phillips were responsible for the Macleay-Regis Apartments just around the corner. Read the rest of this entry »
*Update: The apartment sold for $1,050,000.
Wyldefel Gardens is a streamline moderne art deco complex that cascades down its sloping block in Potts Point.
The complex was built in 1936 by prominent art collector W.A. Crowle and his architect John Brogan.
Crowle had lived in the grand mansion ‘Wyldefel House’ which stood at the top of the block. It was built in 1887 by Walter Hall, and sold to Mr. Crowle in 1923. Wyldefel House was demolished in the 1960s and replaced with what Mrs. Crowle described as an ‘ugly block of units’. Read the rest of this entry »
Gladswood House is a 2-storey sandstone manor that has been converted into seven luxury apartments (four in the original house and three in the waterfront addition).
In 1856, merchant Edwin Thomas Beilby purchased a 99 year leasehold on the land from owner Daniel Cooper. Beilby sold the lease two years later to merchant, pastoralist and politician Samuel Deane Gordon for 800 pounds.
Gordon had architect William Munro design the home in a picturesque Gothic style that was favored on the Sydney foreshore. The house, which was originally called ‘Glenyarrah’ was ready to move into by 1864. Roman numerals for 1857 are carved into the stone lintel above the entrance. This date, however, is thought to refer to the date of the original lease to the land. Read the rest of this entry »
Del Rio was the first of the Spanish Mission-style flats to be built in Elizabeth Bay. It is a waterfront building designed by J. Spencer Stansfield and built in 1928, and is reminiscent of Craigston (c1928) in Brisbane.
There are just five (or possibly six, sources vary) apartments in the building, so the waterfront gardens, jetty and mosaic-tiled pool are only used by an exclusive few. Each apartment occupies the whole floor, and many, if not all, have fireplaces. Apartments are on a company title, not strata title, which was fairly normal for that era. Read the rest of this entry »
Juniper Hall in Paddington, Sydney, sold at auction today for $4.551 million to Peter Moran. The Moran family reside in the sprawling 130-year old Swift mansion in Darling Point, which has 56 rooms and was last valued at $60 million. Peter’s mother is said to have been related to the wife of Mr. Robert Cooper, who built Juniper Hall in 1824. He has plans to turn the ground floor into a public gallery, while the upper level will be used as a private residence. Read the rest of this entry »
Tongkah is a Federation Queen Anne / Arts and Crafts style home built in 1910 for Mr. and Mrs. Claud Benalla Quinan. Mr. Quinan was a well-known racing identify and stock broker, and member of the Sydney Stock Exchange for 38 years. He lived in the house until his passing in 1946 at the age of 70. Quinan’s daughter Patricia married Mr. James Bancks, creater of the popular ‘Ginger Meggs’ comic strip in 1938.
It is listed on the NSW Government Environment & Heritage site as ‘Fongkah’ (which appears to be a typo) and is described as an example of the Federation Queen Anne style with American Stick & Shingle style influence. The house, along with many other prominent homes in the area was said to have historical significance as part of the development of the Centennial Park Lands subdivision of 1905, as funds was from the sale went towards the landscaping of the park. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Fairhaven’ was built in 1905 for banker Hugh Massie. The architect was James Peddle. It was later purchased by Mr. Walket Thomas Way and his wife Hettie in 1915 for £3,700 (approximately $335,000 in today’s terms).
The house is listed on the Register of the National Estate and is described in the Australian Heritage Database as a ‘substantial turn of the century North Shore residence’ demonstrating characteristics of early federation style architecture influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Brent-Knowle’ was built in 1914 for financier Major Joseph Henry Booker at a cost of 10,000 pounds (approximately $1 million in today’s terms). The house was designed by architect Bertrand James Waterhouse, and is considered one of his most important early works. Waterhouse designed a number of houses in Shellcove Road, which was one of Neutral Bay’s most select residential addresses.
“Waterhouse could be described as the Sydney equivalent of English architect C.F.A. Voysey, whose Arts and Crafts houses in England were widely admired in the early twentieth century. A typical Waterhouse residence featured asymmetrical, picturesque massing, strongly expressed roofs, usually with dominant gables; porches, balconies and verandahs; and at least one facetted oriel or bay external wall finish, together with areas of timber shingling or tile-hanging. Inside, the main rooms displayed timber wainscoting on the walls and heavy timber beams below the ceilings.” – NSW Government Environment and Heritage. Read the rest of this entry »
Burns Philp was a shipping, retailing and insurance company that grew into one of Australia’s leading corporations until its delisting in 2006. In the late 1800s, James Burn, on behalf of Burns Philp and Co., Ltd. purchased this site in Bridge Street for 20 pounds from a Mr. McDonald. The older shops and offices on the site were torn down to make way for the Burns Philp head office which was completed in 1901 at a cost of 60,000 pounds (approximately $8 million in today’s terms). It was designed by Arthur Anderson of A.L. & G. McCredie & Anderson, with later additions by John Brogan & Associates. Anderson later went on to found the Australian Institute of Architects in 1930. The architectural style is said to be Federation, Romanesque/Late Victorian, Gothic and Neo-Romanesque with Scottish Baronial gables. The stone facade is made from Pyrmont ‘Purgatory’ Sandstone. Read the rest of this entry »
Old estates for sale 