Milton Terrace

Item details


Name of item:	Milton Terrace
Type of item:	Built
Group/Collection:	Residential buildings (private)
Category:	Terrace
Location:	Lat: -33.8556075144 Long: 151.2078107420
Primary address:	1-19 Lower Fort Street, Millers Point, NSW 2000
Parish:	St Philip
County:	Cumberland
Local govt. area:	Sydney
Local Aboriginal Land Council:	Metropolitan

Property description

Lot/Volume Code	Lot/Volume Number	Plan/Folio Code	Plan/Folio Number
LOT	82	DP	832148
LOT	83	DP	832148
LOT	84	DP	832148
LOT	85	DP	832148
LOT	86	DP	832148
LOT	87	DP	832148
LOT	88	DP	832148
LOT	89	DP	832148
LOT	90	DP	832148
LOT	91	DP	832148

All addresses

Street Address	Suburb/town	LGA	Parish	County	Type
1-19 Lower Fort Street	Millers Point	Sydney	St Philip	Cumberland	Primary Address

Owner/s

Organisation Name	Owner Category	Date Ownership Updated
	Private	08 Mar 21
	Private

Statement of significance:


	This group of terraces is historically significant as: - a significant example of continuing private investment in fine residential property in Lower Fort Street during the later 19th century and the largest such investment of the period; - its site and buildings were associated from the early 1820s with the firm of William Walker & Co., merchants, the family and business connection continuing with later investment by Walker's son-in-law Donald Lanarch, a noted banker and businessman; - its site of buildings and residences was associated with some of the earliest wharfage (early 1820s) at Millers Point and with merchants important in the development of commercial life in Sydney and beyond. It is also associated with Captain John Nicholson, harbour master; - some of the houses were used from the 1890s as boarding houses and have been in use for over a century by the local community; - it has the potential to contribute to an understanding of several phases of the development of Millers Point. It is of aesthetic significance as: - a very fine example of late Victorian boom style terraces on a site with landmark qualities; - as a rare surviving example of a very grand scale terrace in the "Greek" style. The group is of aesthetic value as a streetscape element, being an outstanding and largely intact group facing Dawes Park with spectacular harbour views to the east. With a slight change in orientation from the terraces further up the street, Milton Terrace creates a strong and handsome termination to the extraordinary collection of 19th century housing forms that make up the western side of Lower Fort Street (DPWS, 2002). Milton Terrace at 1-19 Lower Fort St represents possibly the finest extant row of 1880s terraces in Sydney. It is part of the Millers Point Conservation Area, an intact residential and maritime precinct. It contains residential buildings and civic spaces dating from the 1830s and is an important example of C19th adaptation of the landscape (Tanner, 1986).
	Date significance updated: 12 Jan 04
	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:	1880-1882
Physical description:	Terrace of ten four-storey residences richly detailed in Greek Revival style. Nine of the ten are 6m wide and one is 9m wide, providing the first clue to the origins of what was described at one time as the finest terrace in the Colony. Within two of the terraces and largely intact is the 1827 house built for William Walker in the style of a marine villa. Next to Walker's villa at the time it was constructed was Durham Cottage, built a year earlier for Captain John Nicholson. Both were built on the slopes below the ridge line where there was a path that would soon become Fort Street. Below Walker's villa the land fell away steeply to what was known at the time as Darling Harbour. Close to the shore the water reached a depth of sixty to eighty feet. This was an ideal location for Walker and Co.'s wharf which had been built as a longshore wharf a little earlier (Silva & Dunn, 2020). Grand three storey, five bedroom, Victorian Italianate terrace with basement - one of ten in a row. Decorative facade with large incised motifs and iron lace (Clive Lucas Stapleton & Partners, 2014, 1, 37).. Verandah infill on second storey, deep projecting parapet, and spear fence enclosing small front garden (Clive Lucas Stapleton & Partners, 2014, 1, 37). Each allotment contains a four-storey residence (including basement) with front (to the east) and rear (to the west) gardens (Clive Lucas Stapleton & Partners, 2014, 1, 37). Each terrace is accessed via an entry walkway leading from the Lower Fort Street (footpath) across the front area and front gardens (ibid, 37). Each had two pedestrian gates, located along the front boundary and within the front gardens - these are original and should be maintained or (when missing or damaged) reconstructed/replaced (ibid, 121). Each terrace houe is fenced separately with iron balustrade fencing tot he front gardens and timber paling fencing to the rear gardens (ibid, 37). A c.1900 photograph shows the garden setting (front) to the individual houses. By this date, many functioned as boarding houes and yet signs of middle class gentility remain (ibid, 18). Also to the rear of a number of the allotments are located outbuildings and sheds of varying construction dates, typically used as additional storage space and laundry facilities. Some substantial trees exist within the rear gardens of the terraces, most notably in the ear of no's 1, 17 & 19 Lower Fort Street. The front gardens consist of a mix of tree and shrub plantings with little consistency in form or species selection between the individual terraces (ibid, 37). Storeys: 3 Construction: Painted rendered masonry, corrugated galvanised iron roof. Timber and cast iron balcony. Spear fence cast iron. Style: Victorian Italianate
Physical condition and/or Archaeological potential:	External: Good
Modifications and dates:	External: Verandah infill. Joinery renewed, damaged detailing.


Current use:	Residences
Former use:	Aboriginal land, town lots, Residences

History

Historical notes:

ABORIGINAL OCCUPATION
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 local government area, the traditional owners are the Cadigal and Wangal bands of the Eora. There is no written record of the name of the language spoken and currently there are debates as whether the coastal peoples spoke a separate language "Eora" or whether this was actually a dialect of the Dharug language. Remnant bushland in places like Blackwattle Bay retain elements of traditional plant, bird and animal life, including fish and rock oysters (Anita Heiss, "Aboriginal People and Place", Barani: Indigenous History of Sydney City http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/barani).

Prior to European settlement the Millers Point area was part of the wider Cadigal territory, in which the clan fished, hunted and gathered shellfish from the nearby mudflats. Shellfish residue was deposited in middens, in the area known to the early Europeans as Cockle Bay; the middens were later utilised by the Europeans in lime kilns for building purposes. The Millers Point area was known to the Cadigal as Coodye, and Dawes Point as Tar-ra/Tarra (Sydney City Council, 2019).

With the invasion of the Sydney region, the Cadigal and Wangal people were decimated but there are descendants still living in Sydney today. All cities include many immigrants in their population. Aboriginal people from across the state have been attracted to suburbs such as Pyrmont, Balmain, Rozelle, Glebe and Redfern since the 1930s. Changes in government legislation in the 1960s provided freedom of movement enabling more Aboriginal people to choose to live in Sydney (Anita Heiss, "Aboriginal People and Place", Barani: Indigenous History of Sydney City http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/barani).

Millers Point is one of the earliest areas of European settlement in Australia, and a focus for maritime activities.

Subject Site:
This building is one of a group of ten very grand three storey Victorian terraces built during the 1880s.

Terrace of ten four-storey residences richly detailed in Greek Revival style. Nine of the ten are 6m wide and one is 9m wide, providing the first clue to the origins of what was described at one time as the finest terrace in the Colony.
Within two of the terraces and largely intact is the 1827 house built for William Walker in the style of a marine villa. Next to Walker's villa at the time it was constructed was Durham Cottage, built a year earlier for Captain John Nicholson. Both were built on the slopes below the ridge line where there was a path that would soon become Fort Street. Below Walker's villa the land fell away steeply to what was known at the time as Darling Harbour. Close to the shore the water reached a depth of sixty to eighty feet. This was an ideal location for Walker and Co.'s wharf which had been built as a longshore wharf a little earlier (Silva & Dunn, 2020).

By the 1840s, Walker's villa was home to Miss Jane Walker, daughter of William and Elizabeth. In 1845, Jane married Donald Larnach who acquired Walker's villa and Nicholson's Durham Cottage, which he demolished after 1875 to
build Milton Terrace. Larnach was a successful merchant who became a financier and was elected a director of the Bank of New South Wales in 1846 and magistrate for Sydney in 1847 (ibid, 2020).

In 1879-80 Larnach added another storey to Walker's villa and divided it into two residences. Another five residences were added on the southern side and three to the north to complete Milton Terrace. It is thought that Milton Terrace was built to coincide with the Sydney International Exhibition of 1879, and there was a direct view of the Garden Palace across Sydney Cove from the front of Milton Terrace (ibid, 2020).

Early residents of Milton Terrace included musicians, arts administrators and bankers, and the residences were individually occupied, but by the late 1880s a few had been turned into boarding houses. This was a trend that
continued through the 1890s, and by the turn of the century most of the larger houses of Dawes Point had become boarding houses for maritime workers, and the merchants and bankers had left (ibid, 2020).

In the early 20th century plans were developed for new wharf facilities in Walsh Bay, and a new road along the shoreline so that goods could be transported easily to and from the wharves. The Sydney Harbour Bridge was part of the same
plan (ibid, 2020).

The entire area of The Rocks, Dawes Point, and Millers Point was to be redeveloped and all privately owned property was resumed under the Darling Harbour and The Rocks Resumption Areas. Many historic houses were demolished in the early years of the 20th century. Millers Point and Dawes Point changed dramatically. Large warehouses and workers flats were built and dominated the neighbourhood. The land at the rear of Milton Terrace was excavated for Hickson Road and the new wharves of Walsh Bay (ibid, 2020).

In 1906, the Sydney Harbour Trust renovated Milton Terrace as a series of boarding houses that were in the most part run by women who were from the maritime community of Millers Point. In this way, widows and single women maintained homes for single men and couples who worked on the wharves of Walsh Bay and Cockle Bay (ibid, 2020).

Ownership of Milton Terrace was tranferred to the Maritime Services Board around 1937, and following the moving of port activities from Sydney Harbour to Port Botany, the MSB transferred ownership of its residential properties to NSW Housing (ibid, 2020).

First tenanted by Department of Housing in 1984.

Between 2014 and 2018... the residents of goverment-owned housing in Dawes Point were displaced and the
properties sold. The Milton Terrace properties were amongst the last to be sold by the govenment, and new owners have spent the past few years restoring and renovating the properties to an extraordinarily high standard (ibid, 2020).

The entire terrace has been scaffolded, roofs repaired, verandahs reinstated, and the exterior repaired and repainted in a
consistent heritage colour scheme. Inside the properties have been restored and renovated with great attention paid to
the heritage significance of each property, but the homes that have emerged are as individual as their residents (ibid, 2020).

Historic themes

Australian theme (abbrev)	New South Wales theme	Local theme
1. Environment-Tracing the evolution of a continent's special environments	Environment - naturally evolved-Activities associated with the physical surroundings that support human life and influence or shape human cultures.	Changing the environment-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Commerce-Activities relating to buying, selling and exchanging goods and services	Trading amongst the Australian colonies-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Commerce-Activities relating to buying, selling and exchanging goods and services	Trading between Australia and other countries-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings	Landscapes and gardens of domestic accommodation-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Transport-Activities associated with the moving of people and goods from one place to another, and systems for the provision of such movements	Building and maintaining jetties, wharves and docks-
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.	Building settlements, towns and cities-National Theme 4
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.	Housing ship owners and maritime traders-
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.	Housing industrial workers-
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.	Housing townsfolk - terraces and cottages-
5. Working-Working	Labour-Activities associated with work practises and organised and unorganised labour	Working on the waterfront-

Recommended management:


	Prepare individual CMPs for each house; restore verandahs to front, removing infill and repair/replace damaged or missing cast iron elements; consider restoration of interior decoration to the most intact of the group.

Recommendations

Management Category	Description	Date Updated
Recommended Management	Review a Conservation Management Plan (CMP)
Recommended Management	Prepare a maintenance schedule or guidelines
Recommended Management	Carry out interpretation, promotion and/or education

Procedures /Exemptions

Section of act	Description	Title	Comments	Action date
CMP-Endorse	Conservation Plan submitted for endorsement	Revised CMP with FAQs for 11 Lower Fort Street submitted by for endorsement		Jul 15 2014
CMP-Endorse	Conservation Plan submitted for endorsement	Preface for No. 7 Lower Fort Street - Millers Point		Oct 23 2015
CMP-Endorse	Conservation Plan submitted for endorsement	Preface for No. 9 Lower Fort Street, Millers Point		Oct 23 2015
CMP-Endorse	Conservation Plan submitted for endorsement	Preface for 13 Lower Fort Street, Millers Point		Oct 23 2015
CMP-Endorse	Conservation Plan submitted for endorsement	Preface for No. 15 Lower Fort Street, Millers Point		Oct 23 2015
CMP-Endorse	Conservation Plan submitted for endorsement	Preface for No. 19 Lower Fort Street, Millers Point		Oct 23 2015
CMP-Endorse	Conservation Plan submitted for endorsement	Preface for No. 17 Lower Fort Street, Millers Point		Oct 23 2015
CMP-Endorse	Conservation Plan submitted for endorsement	Preface No. 5 Lower Fort Street - Millers Point		Nov 23 2015
57(2)	Exemption to allow work	Standard Exemptions	HERITAGE ACT 1977 ORDER UNDER SECTION 57(2) TO GRANT STANDARD EXEMPTIONS FROM APPROVAL I, Penny Sharpe, the Minister for Heritage, on the recommendation of the Heritage Council of New South Wales and under section 57(2) of the Heritage Act 1977: revoke the order made on 2 June 2022 and published in the Government Gazette Number 262 of 17 June 2022; and grant an exemption from section 57(1) of the Act in respect of the engaging in or carrying out the class of activities described in clause 2 Schedule A in such circumstances specified by the relevant standards in clause 2 Schedule A and General Conditions in clause 3 Schedule A. This Order takes effect on the date it is published in the NSW Government Gazette. Dated this 29th day of October 2025 The Hon Penny Sharpe MLC Minister for Heritage For more information on standard exemptions click on the link below.	Nov 7 2025

Standard exemptions for engaging in or carrying out activities / works otherwise prohibited by section 57(1) of the Heritage Act 1977

Listings

Heritage Listing	Listing Title	Listing Number	Gazette Date	Gazette Number	Gazette Page
Heritage Act - State Heritage Register		00885	02 Apr 99	27	1546
Heritage Act - s.170 NSW State agency heritage register
Local Environmental Plan	CSH Local Environmental Plan 4		07 Apr 00
Register of the National Estate			21 Oct 80

Study details

Title	Year	Number	Author	Inspected by	Guidelines used
Department of Housing s170 Register	1998		Brooks & Associates		Yes

References, internet links & images

Type	Author	Year	Title	Internet Links
Written	Heritage Design Services, Department of Public Works & Services (DPWS)	2002	Conservation Management Guidelines: NSW Dpt. Of Housing properties, Millers Point
Written	Higginbotham, E.	1991	The Rocks & Millers Point Archaeological Management Plan
Written	Howard Tanner & Associates	1986	Millers Point Conservation Study
Written	Lucas, Stapleton and Partners Pty	2015	1-19 Lower Fort Street, Millers Point - Conservation Management Plans - with Frequently Asked questions for 5, 7, 9, 13, 15, 17 & 19 LFS
Written	Silva, Isabel; and Dunn, John	2020	Milton Terrce (history)	View detail

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:	Heritage NSW
Database number:	5045672

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