Leuralla, garage, outbuilding, amphitheatre, gardens and interiors

Item details


Name of item:	Leuralla, garage, outbuilding, amphitheatre, gardens and interiors
Type of item:	Built
Group/Collection:	Residential buildings (private)
Category:	House
Primary address:	43-69 Balmoral Road, Leura, NSW 2780
Local govt. area:	Blue Mountains

All addresses

Street Address	Suburb/town	LGA	Parish	County	Type
43-69 Balmoral Road	Leura	Blue Mountains			Primary Address
Olympian Parade, Gordon Road	Leura	Blue Mountains			Alternate Address

Statement of significance:


	Leuralla is a fine example of an early twentieth-century permanent residence for a very wealthy family. Its later connections with the Evatt family, well-known in politics and law, have local significance. Leuralla is an imposing two storey house set in extensive grounds. It is a fine example of a large Federation free classical style residence with unusually formal features for the Blue Mountains, such as the entry portico and stair, strict symmetry, and bracketed cornice. As the centre of musical activity in Katoomba-Leura between the wars, Leuralla had high social significance locally. Its publicly accessible museums of toys, railways and Evatts give it today a moderate social significance at the local level. The site includes an unusually stylistic garage with Anglo-Dutch influences. The grounds of Leuralla are a good example of a formal garden laid out by the original owner, Harry Andreas, and later improved by the important landscape designer, Paul Sorensen. The sculpture gardens on the south side of Olympian Parade provide a popular public space as a complement to the gardens. The amphitheatre on edge of the escarpment is a fine early example in the mountains of using a simple restrained design to take advantage of a spectacular setting.
	Date significance updated: 03 Aug 21
	Note: The State Heritage Inventory provides information about heritage items listed by local and State government agencies. The State Heritage Inventory is continually being updated by local and State agencies as new information becomes available. Read the Department of Premier and Cabinet copyright and disclaimer.

Description


Construction years:	1910-1914
Physical description:	Leuralla comprises a two storey house in large formally landscaped grounds which extend across Olympian Parade to the escarpment overlooking the Jamieson Valley. The main house is on the north side of Olympian Parade and faces east to Balmoral Road. A large garage is located in the grounds to the north of the house and a sandstone outbuilding is in the grounds west of the house. The grounds on the south side of Olympian Parade are less formally landscaped and are used as a sculpture garden. An amphitheatre was built in the southern grounds with views over the Jamieson Valley. House A hipped roof symmetrical two storey house facing east to Balmoral Road with short projecting hipped wings on the south and north sides. The house is approached by a wide sandstone stair which has flights from the north and south at the garden level meeting at a central landing and continuing on to a single storey portico. The portico has a first floor balcony with a rendered balustrade. Below the lower flights of the stair is a recessed undercroft on Doric columns leading to the sub-floor space. Within the north and south wings is a ground floor verandah. The front door is multipaned with sidelights and either side of the entry portico are hipped roof bay windows. Other windows are multipane double hung windows, with leadlights windows to the west (rear). Large picture windows open from the south hipped roof wing. The roof is slate with terracotta ridging and a wide bracketed cornice. The 3 chimneys are rendered. The house has rendered walls and a rockfaced sandstone base forming a terrace either side of the entry portico. Garage A Dutch gabled garage on an east-west axis with a glazed tiled roof. Walls are shingled with a weatherboard spandrel. The sides of the Dutch gable are shingled. The east Dutch gable is bracketed. Three sliding framed and sheeted doors are on the east side of the garage and a cat head beam and a dovecote are in the gable over. A 2 over 2 pane double hung window is centred over the sliding doors. Windows are multipane casement on the sides. The rear (west) elevation has a framed and sheeted door and 2 no. casement windows. Sandstone Outbuilding A single storey gabled roof building reached by the driveway from Olympian Parade (south) with a slate roof and terracotta ridging. The gable is timber shingled and the walls are random coursed rock faced sandstone. At the north end is a corrugated steel skillion roofed wing, open on the east side. Amphitheatre The amphitheatre has curved seating cut into the slope facing south to the Jamieson Valley. The seating is paved with slate with sandstone edging. The stage is paved in slate and has a simple steel balustrade. The southern grounds have a pointed picket fence and a pair of framed gates with diagonal boarding to the lower panels and turned posts to the top panels. The fence to the house is slatted with a simple fretwork pattern in the slats. Fenceposts are square with chamfered corners at the tops and ball caps. The driveway gates from the corner of Balmoral Road and Gordon Road have square gateposts with ball caps. The gates are framed braced and dowelled with curved toprails. The gardens to the house block are laid out with formal pathways and mature plantings. The southern section of the site (south of Olympian Parade) has a cleared lawn with an informal sculpture garden featuring large scale cartoon sculptures in the main clearing. The remainder of the south section has native plantings.
Physical condition and/or Archaeological potential:	Good
	Date condition updated:21 Dec 99
Modifications and dates:	Ancillary buildings associated with the railway museum are located northwest of the main house
Further information:	The Blue Mountains Local Government Area is within the Country of the Darug and Gundungurra peoples and Blue Mountains City Council respects their cultural heritage and deep ongoing connection to this Country. This inventory sheet documents the European occupation of the site only, and the heritage significance of the place in this context (assessed against the heritage criteria set by the NSW Heritage Council). This does not therefore, represent a complete history of the place, or represent the perspectives of Darug and Gundungurra Traditional Owners in relation to the colonial impacts on this site. Consultation with Traditional Owners and other Aboriginal stakeholders is required, before Aboriginal Cultural Heritage that may be associated with this place, can be recorded.


Current use:	Museum
Former use:	Residence

History

Historical notes:

The present Leuralla is the second house on the site. The first Leuralla was built in 1903-4 for the well-to-do Harry and Alice Andreas and their young family. This house was burnt down by a bushfire at the end of 1909, but over the next few years was rebuilt by Andreas in its present form. The new design owed something, according to Clive Evatt junior, the present owner, to the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright, the American architect.

Already before the 1909 fire, Andreas had established a major exotic garden, much of which was saved in 1909 and redeveloped around the new house, occupying nearly 5 hectares (12 acres). The amphitheatre overlooking the Jamieson Valley was also constructed before 1909 by Andreas, with the dam and pumping station below to supply the garden with plentiful water.

Harry and Alice Andreas continued to live in the second Leuralla until after World War II. The Evatt connection began only in 1928 when Clive Evatt married an Andreas daughter, Marjorie. H.V. Evatt, the politician and public figure, Clive’s brother, had no particular connection with the house and had a home of his own in Leura Mall. Clive Evatt junior, the son of Clive and Marjorie and grandson of Harry and Alice Andreas, now owns the property and is responsible for the exhibition of H.V. Evatt memorabilia and for the New South Wales Toy and Railway Museum displayed in various buildings.

The music room, with its grand piano, continues to be used, It has special significance as the home of the Katoomba Music Society in the 1930s, when many visiting musicians of international reputation performed there.

Historic themes

Australian theme (abbrev)	New South Wales theme	Local theme
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Accommodation-Activities associated with the provision of accommodation, and particular types of accommodation – does not include architectural styles – use the theme of Creative Endeavour for such activities.	(none)-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	(none)-

Assessment of significance


SHR Criteria a) [Historical significance]	Leuralla is a fine example of an early twentieth-century permanent residence for a very wealthy family. Its later connections with the Evatt family, well-known in politics and law, have local significance.
SHR Criteria c) [Aesthetic significance]	Leuralla is an imposing two storey house set in extensive grounds. It is a fine example of a large Federation free classical style residence with unusually formal features for the Blue Mountains, such as the entry portico and stair, strict symmetry, and bracketed cornice. The site includes an unusually stylistic garage with Anglo-Dutch influences. The grounds of Leuralla are a good example of a formal garden laid out by the original owner, Harry Andreas, and later improved by the important landscape designer, Paul Sorensen. The sculpture gardens on the south side of Olympian Parade provide a popular public space as a complement to the gardens. The amphitheatre on edge of the escarpment is a fine early example in the mountains of using a simple restrained design to take advantage of a spectacular setting.
SHR Criteria d) [Social significance]	As the centre of musical activity in Katoomba-Leura between the wars, Leuralla had high social significance locally. Its publicly accessible museums of toys, railways and Evatts give it today a moderate social significance at the local level.
Integrity/Intactness:	High
Assessment criteria:	Items are assessed against the State Heritage Register (SHR) Criteria to determine the level of significance. Refer to the Listings below for the level of statutory protection.

Listings

Heritage Listing	Listing Title	Listing Number	Gazette Date	Gazette Number
Local Environmental Plan	Blue Mountains Local Environmental Plan 2015	LA015	21 Dec 15	829
Local Environmental Plan - Lapsed	LEP2005	LA015	07 Oct 05	122
Local Environmental Plan - Lapsed	LEP1991	LA015	27 Dec 91	183
Heritage study		LA015

Study details

Title	Year	Number	Author	Inspected by	Guidelines used
Blue Mountains Heritage Study	1983	LA015	Croft & Associates Pty Ltd & Meredith Walker		Yes
Heritage Study Review, Blue Mountains	1992	LA015	Tropman and Tropman	RIJ & PH	Yes
Technical Audit BM Heritage Register	2008	LA015	Blue Mountains City Council	City Planning Branch	No
Technical Review	2010		Heritage Advisor		No
Heritage Review 2016-2017	2017		Blue Mountains City Council		Yes

References, internet links & images

Type	Author	Year	Title	Internet Links
Written	Armitage		The Katoomba-Leura Story
Written	Evatt, Clive, Jr.	1991	Letter to BMCC, 31 May 1991

Note: internet links may be to web pages, documents or images.

(Click on thumbnail for full size image and image details)

Data source


The information for this entry comes from the following source:
Name:	Local Government
Database number:	1170133

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