| Historical notes: | The ‘Eora’ people was the name given to the coastal Aborigines around Sydney. Central Sydney is therefore often referred to as ‘Eora Country.’ Within the City of Sydney, the Traditional Owners are the Gadigal and Wangal bands of the Eora. With European occupation of the Sydney region from 1788, the Gadigal and Wangal people were largely decimated but there are descendants still living in Sydney today.
For information about the Aboriginal history of the local area see the City’s Barani website: http://www.sydneybarani.com.au/.
The Conservation Area lies outside the first boundaries of the Township of Sydney established by Governor Phillip in December 1792. During the 1830s, Governor Darling created fifteen exclusive villa estates for senior government officials. Known initially as the Woolloomooloo Heights, this cluster of villa estates and the area immediately surrounding them was subsequently renamed Darlinghurst- Darling for the Governor and ‘hurst’ being an Old English word for ‘a wooded hill’. The Conservation Area lies on land once part of two of Darling’s villa estates, being James Laidley’s five acre grant of 1828, known as Rose Bank, and William Cordeaux’s (1831), later Ambrose Hallen’s (1838), nine acre grant Rose Hall.
The fifteen grants that Darling made on the Woolloomooloo Heights were intended to fulfil a number of purposes. The villa estates terminated the vista from Sydney and were intended to be a showpiece of ordered development. Equally important was the need to create a place where government officials, whose duties required their daily attendance on the township but whose social position demanded out of town estates, would be content to reside. The Woolloomooloo Heights offered spectacular harbour views and possessed an abundance of the space, seclusion and fresh air that were the rationale behind the villa lifestyle.
Governor Darling selected the nominees for the allotments on Woolloomooloo Heights in 1828. With the exception of the prosperous merchant Alexander Sparke, all were government employees; there were no emancipists. The grantees do not appear to have obtained legal title to their land until they had agreed upon a series of conditions, the most important of which was the building of one only villa on each allotment to the value of not less than £1,000 within the period of three years from the promise of the grant. In addition, the plans for the building were to be approved by the Governor. The villas of Woolloomooloo Heights were designed by the leading colonial architects of the day, including Edward Hallen and John Verge. Not all, however, were impressed with the estates of Woolloomooloo Heights. The first owners of the various estates were admonished by one observer for destroying the natural prospect of the area by ‘setting about themselves’ with ‘murderous hoe and grubbing axe’.
James Laidley (1786-1835) had arrived in the Colony in 1827 to take up the position of Deputy Commissary-General, a position of great responsibility in a Colony that still continued to experience food shortages. The villa Rose Bank was constructed in 1831, probably to a design prepared by John Verge. The Laidley family did not long enjoy their new home. James died intestate in 1835 and the property was sold to the merchant Robert Campbell. By 1848, Donald Lanarch was occupying the villa. The site of the villa is now occupied by The Pallisades in Farrell Avenue.
Laidley’s neighbour, Ambrose Hallen (d.1845), was the Town Surveyor, appointed in 1829 on the strength of a letter of recommendation from the English engineer, Thomas Telford. Three years later, in 1832, Hallen was appointed Colonial Architect, a position from which he resigned in 1835. Hallen was the architect of the villa Rose Hall, built upon this grant. The site of the villa is now occupied by Harry Seidler’s Horizon.
Adjoining Laidley’s grant to the south, and also part of the Study Area, was a five acre and ten rood grant made to William Long under the hand of Governor Richard Bourke in 1835 in fulfilment of a promise made in 1824. The conditions attached to this grant of land were noticeably different than those on the neighbouring villa estates. This land had originally been granted to James Haukinson and was subject to a yearly Quit Rent of one shilling from 1 January, 1831 unless redeemed within forty years at the rate of 20 years purchase. No land was to be sold for five years and two acres were to be cleared and cultivated or permanent improvements carried out to the value of eight pounds and ten shillings.
Although wealthy, the owner of this land, William Long (1797-1876) would have been excluded from the villa estates that bordered his land. Long was an emancipist who had made his fortune by trading wine and spirits, in hotels and through investing in city property. Ironically, he eventually purchased one of Darling’s original villa estates, Tusculum, in 1848. He resided in Darlinghurst until his death in 1876, gradually enlarging the grounds of his estate to around five acres. Upon his death in 1876, he would leave an estate valued at over £100,000. What he used the subject grant for, if anything, is not known.
The principal means of access into and out of Darlinghurst and the surrounding area during this period was by means of a track that lead from Sydney Township to South Head. First marked on maps and plans in the early 1790s, this track is thought to have followed existing paths established by the Gadigal and referred to them as the Maroo. The track was subsequently formalised into a road, South Head Road (later Old South Head Road and now Oxford Street) by Governor Macquarie in 1811. Oxford Street defines the southern most boundary of the Study Area.
The northern most boundary of the Conservation Area is also formed by an early government road, being William Street. William Street was designed during the early 1830s by Sir Thomas Mitchell and was to serve two main functions. The first was to connect the township of Sydney with the newly opened New South Head Road, which lead into the reaches of modern day Woollahra. William Street, named by Mitchell in honour of the reigning monarch, was also intended to form a ‘great cross’ with George Street, a worthy addition to the growing Colony. The full realisation of Mitchell’s plan was, however, to be circumvented by the power of the wealthy Darlinghurst estate owners, who objected to a public thoroughfare running through their estates.
The exact line of Darlinghurst Road varies on early maps, particularly towards the southern most end and its junction with Oxford Street. When the road was created is not clear, but it would appear to have originated as a track along the ridge line from Old South Head Road providing access to the Darlinghurst villa estates. The road was originally known as Woolloomooloo Road.
Sydney expanded substantially between 1850 and 1890. Modern day Surry Hills, Darlinghurst and Woolloomooloo comprised the largest area of freehold land adjacent to the township. Although the conditions on Darling’s villa grants were not formally rescinded until 1847, the subdivision of these estates commenced five years earlier, around the time that the growth of Sydney found expression in the newly incorporated City of Sydney (1842). Immediately to the east of the Conservation Area, Thomas Mitchell at Craigend was among the first to subdivide and sell his estate. Victoria Street was laid out as a result of this subdivision. Rose Bank and Rose Hall continued to be held largely intact for sometime, although terraces are shown fronting William Street on land part of the Rose Hall Estate by the Trigonometrical Survey of Sydney of 1865 and Kirketon Lane (later Road) is also in evidence by this time. When a second trigonometrical survey was undertaken in the mid 1880s, terraces line Kirketon Lane (Road) and now extend along the William Street boundary of Rose Bank.
The modern day street pattern within the Conservation Area was created by subdivision of these estates after this time. Although shown on the 1865 plan, Kirketon Road was first listed in John Sands Directories in 1905. The following year there was a single listing, for a bootmaker. Until 1920, the listings for Kirketon Road were commercial listings, no doubt a reflection of its location directly behind Darlinghurst Road. By 1915, there were listings for a dry cleaner, a cabinet maker and a motor garage.
By contrast, Rosebank Avenue, first listed in Sands Directories in 1877, was a place of private residences. From the early 1900s, onwards, an increasing number of ‘residentials’ are listed for the street. Clapton Place, first listed in 1907, was similarly residential in character, with 2 listings in this year, one being for the residence of Scott Skirving, medical practitioner at Clapton. The villas Rose Bank and Rose Hall continued to survive into this period. Rose Bank was a private residence that was last listed in Sands Directory (off Rosebank Road) in 1919. By the early 1920s, Rose Hall had become a Red Cross convalescent home for soldiers and later a Red Cross Hostel. The villa was last listed off Clapton Place in 1929. Rose Hall was not the only medical related facility within the area. Molong Private Hospital was listed in Sands Directory in Rosebank Avenue from at least 1905 until 1910. Lister Private Hospital could also be found in this street from around 1910 until at least 1925.
The period 1920 to 1935 was to be one of considerable change in the Conservation area as a substantial number of residential flat buildings were constructed. Residential flat buildings had emerged as a viable housing option during the first decade of the nineteenth century. The number of residential flat buildings in Sydney increased dramatically during the 1920s before being halted by the onset of the Great Depression directly challenging the cherished suburban ideal of detached houses with gardens that had prevailed since 1900. The advantages and disadvantages of residential flat buildings were avidly debated by the press.
Interwar period residential flat buildings in Sydney were built in a wide variety of architectural styles, including Art Deco, P&O, Georgian and Classical Revival and the emerging Moderne Styles.
When Farrell Avenue was first listed in Sands Directory in 1921, the three residential flat buildings that now line the northern side of the street had been constructed and were known as (now No. 2-4) Richmond Hall, (now No. 6-8) Rosebank Hall and (now No. 10-12) Buick Lodge (later Windsor Hall). By 1925, The Biltmore Flats had been constructed on the southern side of the street, to be joined the following year by Tennyson House, The Cecil and Donna Roma Flats (later Martin Hall).
Clapton Place was extended to its current length in 1921. Residential flat buildings were similarly constructed along its length over the following ten years. The first residential flat building in Clapton Place, Harrow Mansions, was first listed in 1921. By 1926, The Victor, The Rex, Beuradia Flats could all be found in Clapton Place.
By the last published Sand Directory of 1932-3, Rosebank Avenue was a mixture of private residences, residentials, commercial businesses and had two residential flat buildings, Marmino Flats on the western side and Wyong Flats on the eastern.
Following World War II, the next major phase of development within this area is represented by the construction of multi-storey residential flat buildings over the last twenty years. The massing and scale of these buildings is at odds with the earlier Inter-war period residential flat buildings. |