Across the Border: Potts Point: Reader Story: Apartment Buildings: Byron Hall

This is a history of Byron Hall written by someone who lives in the building - what could be better than that? 

I enjoy writing about all the excellent early 20th-century buildings, and 19th-century buildings in our area, but it's so much better when it comes from someone who lives in it and loves it. 

Here is Ms X's journey through Byron Hall on Macleay Street - a building that is unmissable if you are into that kind of thing. 

Internal and fireworks pix by Ms X; externals by me.

2011 Sydney New Year's Eve fireworks display from the roof of Byron Hall.

"Given the new year has well past, it's about time I delivered on a promise to a woman I have never met.
"My Darling Darlinghurst is a favourite blog of mine.
"I love hearing stories from 2011 and share the author's fascination with the strange timetable the 311 bus keeps.
"A while back I happened to see that Violet had created a hand-coloured zine and was sharing them with her fans/readers.
"I was quite the excited one on the interwebs, and a quick email secured a copy.
"Shortly thereafter Violet fed it under the front door of my apartment building.
"In return for that kind gesture, I’m introducing her and you to the insides of my home at Byron Hall.

"Byron Hall sits at 97-99 Macleay Street and was designed by Claud Hamilton.
"Hamilton was a fairly prolific architect in the area, and also designed other apartment blocks like The Savoy (1919) and Regent’s Court (1925).
"He and the construction workers of Sydney finished Byron Hall in 1929, the year of the stock market crash and the start of the Great Depression.
"Byron Hall is a mix of styles: many aspects are art deco, some a little Georgian (like the windows), and others classical (such as the pediments).
"Until the 1950s the building was a series of serviced apartments.
"Maids lived on the top level and the caretaker in a small flat on the ground floor.

"The foyer is the grandest part of the building, and the caretaker’s office is usually occupied in the early part of the day by one of the longest-term residents who is now in her 90s.
"She arranges the more basic repairs and trouble shoots any issues, but more than that she is a pretty impressive collective memory of the old building. 

"Just outside the office are the original and still-used letterboxes, so tiny and made for an era when post-delivered objects had a smaller and more uniform size I expect. 

"Anything that does not fit has to sit on top in piles, each resident sorting through the pile. 

"It is terribly inefficient, but a reminder that it really is OK to spend a minute or two extra in the foyer collecting mail and chatting to neighbours. 

"There are two lifts, with wonderfully un-automated doors, which tend to inspire two types of reactions. 

"On the one hand there are the friends who squeal with glee (squee!) at things so well aged and beautiful. 

"On the other, those who cannot be convinced that the lifts, despite recent and full refurbishment, are safe. 

"The basement and an area on the top floor are the two other common spaces.
"The company (the building is company title) still own the flat the maids previously resided in, and you can access a small balcony and a meeting room.
"The view from the balcony is beautiful — straight across The Domain to the city and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
"The meeting room contains the original name board from the foyer, listing some of the first residents against their flat number.

"The basement has a communal laundry and the boiler room. 

"While not quite out of Nightmare on Elm Street, it is a little dark and spooky. 

"The basement also houses the building’s bike racks and ‘The Shed’: a giant old wooden workbench where you can repair things, sand things, paint things and generally make a mess.

"One thing you are always conscious of living in Byron Hall, is how lucky you are. 

"Lucky because the building is wonderful, but also because 2011 is home to a great many people who are without homes. 

"For that reason I'm a Friend of the Wayside Chapel, who live next door to us at Byron Hall. 

"They are often a friend to those who are in need, so perhaps you might think about become friends with them as well?

"The sun is pretty low in the sky as I finish writing this, streaming in to our lounge room and demanding I get organised for dinner. 

"So goodnight from Byron Hall."

Darlinghurst Blog: Apartment Buildings: The Statler and The Hopes

This photograph, taken in 1964, is an absolute gem. Not just because it is a rare historical photograph of The Statler and The Hopes apartment buildings on Darlinghurst Road, but because there is a personal story behind it.

It was sent to me by a woman named Barbara, who lived in the house, from her birth in 1951, to her marriage in 1969.

The car parked out the front belonged to Barbara's father.

"I still have memories of waiting at the bus stop outside the flats, for the 312 to take me to school at St Vincents College," Barbara writes.

"I remember the coke man delivering coke to the cokehouse out the back and stoking the boiler, and the ice man delivered blocks of ice to each flats' door, where it stood in a puddle until you brought it in and put it in the ice-chest. 

"We've come a long way since then."

These days, the grandeur of the twin buildings (The Statler on the left and the The Hopes on the right), is obscured by trees, and passing by you would rarely notice the intricate details of these 19th century buildings, which were once grand homes belonging to the Docker family. 

This 1935 historical photograph (above) looks north down Darlinghurst Road, with St John's Church on the right.
To the left, you can see the chimneys of The Statler and The Hopes, and perhaps, just faintly, you can see the whisper of an outline of the decorative metal finials atop the building, which are still there today.

Barbara's parents moved from a hotel on Oxford Street, to The Statler in 1948.

"Growing up I had heard rumours that it used to be the home of one of the 'hanging court judges'," Barbara writes. 

"Recently my husband and I noted one of the real estate agents advertised it as having been built as a home for the sisters at Saint Vincent's Hospital, however the inside indicates that it was built as a large private home.

"From our research to date it seems that The Statler and The Hopes, next door, were built as homes at the same time around 1880, after the southern end of Darlinghurst road was redefined. 

"The Hopes appears to have always been the Hopes, then 99 Darlinghurst Road (now 251-255 Darlinghurst Road). 

"The Statler was originally 'Nyrambla', and 101 Darlinghurst Road (now 257-261 Darlinghurst Road).

"Both were owned initially by the Docker family."

"Nyrambla (now The Statler) was owned by Wilfrid Lawerence Docker (1848-1919; above) and his wife Ada Mary Lord (1851-1917), who married in 1875 and by 1882 were living at the house," Barbara writes.

"It seems they had no children. He was a banker and accountant, and both were very strong members of the St John's Church community. 

"One of the Houses at SCEGGS was named after Wilfrid, who was first treasurer of the School Council (1895–1919)."

"The Hopes was owned by his brother Arthur Docker."

The excellent Trove website backs up Barbara's research and sheds even more light on the Docker family. Firstly, it seems that Arthur was based in England, so perhaps let out The Hopes to another family. 

Secondly, I think Wilfrid and Ada moved into Nyrambla in 1884, because in July of that year there was an advertisement in the Sydney Morning Herald for a clearance sale at Nyrambla, "the residence of Mr George Mair and former residence of Mr Charles Fairfax".

There was also another Docker brother called Edward Hay, who was an orchardist based in Parramatta.

But the big wig among the four Docker brothers was Ernest Brougham Docker (above), who was a District Court Judge for 38 years until his retirement in 1918. This photograph was taken in 1909 by pioneering photographer Harold Cazneaux. 

Judge Docker lived at Elizabeth Bay until his death in August 1923. His funeral was held at St John's Church and a report of the event, and tributes to him, were published in the Sydney Morning Herald. 

The "Girls' Friendly Society" mourned his loss and according to the Herald, "earnestly prayed that his great example might inspire younger men".

Judge Docker was also an amateur photographer and the State Library of NSW has in its collection, an album of photographs taken by the judge and his father, Joseph Docker MLC (1801-1884), who held the positions of Postmaster-General and Minister of Justice in the NSW Government. 

Back at The Statler and The Hopes . . . after Wilfrid's death in 1919, both Nyrambla and The Hopes were converted into flats. 

Barbara delved into the rate assessment books and found that by 1930, The Hopes was being called St Pancras flats, while in 1945 and 1948 it was known as Fernleigh.

I can find no trace in Trove of either of these names in Darlinghurst, but I did find St Pancras mentioned in this old City Surveyor's map, which I came across at the City of Sydney Archives a year or so ago.

It clearly shows St Pancras sitting at the rear of The Hopes. I suspect it was an addition that was put on in the 1920s or 30s, which formed this courtyard (below):

St Pancras would be the one with the blue door, while the early-Victorian era The Hopes is the cream building on the left (picture from a Richardson and Wrench Bondi Junction advertisement). 

The two buildings had a colourful owner in the 1930s: Samuel Curotta, a Sydney man who made "large sums of money" through city and suburban property deals.

Curotta was raking in 109 Pounds a week through rent at The Hopes, and probably just as much from The Statler. He also owned the Omrah Private Hospital, just down the road on the corner of Farrell Avenue (now the Altamont Hotel):

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Curotta appeared before the Registrar in Bankruptcy in August 1933, with secured debts of over 30,000 Pounds and unsecured liabilities of 7,546 Pounds.
His estate was valued at 143,750 Pounds, so he wasn't in too much trouble, but he did have to explain the reason why he had 2000 Pounds stashed in a locker at his home. 

"Making money was no trouble to us," Mr Curotta said.

"My position was good, but the banks were crook."

*

SOURCES:

Barbara, former resident of The Statler

Trove

City of Sydney Archives

State Library of NSW

Across the Border: Rushcutters Bay: People: Lester Sinclair

I received an email recently from Canberra-based writer Chris Vening who is writing a biography about Australian author Lester Sinclair (above), who wrote and published children's books during the war years under the pen-name John Mystery. Sinclair was born in the UK in 1894 and migrated to Australia from New Zealand, where he had joined a circus.

Sinclair wrote about 300 John Mystery books and they were massively successful. According to historian Derrick Moors, between 1944 and 1946 Woolworths supermarket chain signed a contract with Mystery's publisher, Publicity Press, for 9.5 million copies of around 230 different titles. 

Many of the books were printed on poor quality and yellow paper because that was all that was available during the war. Moors notes that in My Little Sailor's Book, Mystery wrote a note to his readers apologising for the shortage of books and reminding them that, ''the fighting services must of course, come first in everything and, therefore, paper for my books is not so easy to obtain as in normal times . . . the government has been good to us, and everyone is doing everything possible to give you books.''

Moors also says one of the ''enduring'' aspects of the books is Mystery's Dear Cobber letters, in which he encouraged his young readers to write to him at Adventure Castle, Sydney:

Sinclair built the folly, Adventure Castle, at Illawong on the Georges River in Sydney's southern suburbs and lived there with his wife, Ellen Sinclair, who was a cook book author and food writer with The Women's Weekly in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Unfortunately the castle has since been demolished and replaced by units, although some of Sinclair's commissioned animal carvings, by artist Ilja Chapman, still survive in the sandstone cliffs of the property. 

Before Sinclair moved to the castle, he lived at The Alexander apartment building on Bayswater Road in Rushcutters Bay. And that is why Vening wrote to me. 

According to Vening, Sinclair lived at 11/67 Bayswater Road between about 1938 and 1942 and this was the period when he met Ellen. I'm afraid I was not much help to Vening as I could find absolutely nothing about the Alexander building in the usual archives that I trawl. 

But I did refer him to Trove and other online archives and he was able to find a reference to The Alexander from 1919, when it was apparently 35 Bayswater Road, not number 67. I actually think the building looks like it's from a later period, say late 1920s, early 30s, but I am no expert on architecture. 

I was going to buzz number 11 and see if I could convince the resident to let me have a look for Vening's sake, but then I really don't want to enhance my reputation as a local weirdo any further.

Anyway, if you know anything about The Alexander, its history and residents, specifically in the period when Sinclair lived there; or if you have any old photographs of the building, please contact Vening: vening@netspeed.com.au

Sinclair died on October 5, 1974. I can't wait to read Vening's book, as Sinclair's life sounds quite colourful. 

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Sinclair Picture Source: State Library of Victoria

Adventure Castle Picture Source: Sutherland Shire Council Library

John Mystery: The Nation's Storyteller, by Derrick Moors

Darlinghurst: Apartment Buildings: The Westbury

The Westbury apartment building, at 221-223 Darlinghurst Road was once a private hotel, known as The Imperial, with a colourful bunch of permanent residents, among them, many sailors who worked out of Woolloomooloo.

The six-storey building was built in the early 20th century and in the 1980s mid-1990s was converted in to an apartment building with 65 units. 

Whenever I have been apartment-hunting in Darlinghurst, I have often noticed rentals available in the Westbury but I was warned off even doing an inspection as I was told the studios were tiny. 

But now, after checking out the building last weekend, I am wondering if perhaps I could have handled living in a smaller space if only to have access to the Westbury's excellent rooftop swimming pool.

The not-for-profit Australia's Open Garden Scheme organisation last week launched its 2011 program by inviting people to have a sticky beak at the relatively new $638,000 rooftop garden at The Westbury. 

Entry cost $6 with the funds raised going to charity. 

I couldn't resist, so set off with my horticulturalist friend, Ruby Molteno, to have a snoop around The Westbury. 

The corridors of endless doors are just like those in an old-fashioned hotel with gaudy red carpet and eggplant- and peppermint-coloured two-tone walls.

A lift took us up to level six where we then skipped up a flight of stairs to the rooftop. 

Australia's Open Garden Scheme's primary sponsor is the ABC, which promotes the scheme's various events through their radio stations and website. So the small crowd of 25 or so people looked just like your stereotypical ABC listener: slightly left leaning, opinionated baby-boomers. 

The crowd was there to check out the garden and to also listen to a talk by the roof's landscape architect, Mark Harper (the chap standing in the middle with the brown hat), from Atlantis Design. As usual, with such talks, people like to ask questions, which is fine by me. But one man in the crowd appeared to be fed up with people asking questions during the talk and kept on huffing, ''Can't they wait until the end to ask questions''. 

I could barely hear what Mr Harper was saying anyway, so Ruby and I decided to ditch the talk to go and explore the garden.

The stand-out part of the garden is this swimming pool, which has an infinity edge that looks across to Sydney Harbour with the Opera House and Harbour Bridge clearly visible. To give you an idea on how the design has improved, here is a picture of the old swimming pool:

Looks pretty dinky, and apparently the pool was leaking, causing all sorts of bother. 

The rest of the garden design is in the Clover Moore functionalist-style, with lots of flat, grey granite surfaces, neat, squared-off corners and six varieties of the ground-dwelling plant, Sedum.

There are also three Red Frangipani (Plumeria acutifolia) trees, surrounded by water-tolerant Agave (Foxtail) and Senecio (Chalky Sticks) plants. In order to stop the frangipani trees from blowing over in the wind, they had to have chains tied to their trunks, which have then been screwed in to the bases of the planter boxes. Wind is the biggest problem on roof gardens, which is why most of the plants are so low down on the ground. Even so, Ruby and I thought there was way too much use of Sedum, especially when small shrubs could have probably been used in areas sheltered by the wall (below left): 

Ruby and I both prefer wilder and more natural looking gardens, one of which we happened to spy on the roof of a nearby building:

But another important factor behind Mr Harper's design was to create something that was low-maintenance. Most residents were apparently not interested in watering and weeding the garden, even though I would have put my hand up in a flash. I love the smell of a watered garden at the end of a hot day. 

The  sleek new Westbury roof garden and swimming pool does puts its southern neighbour to shame:

The northern neighbour's roof was even worse, with a curious collection of handbags:

One of the greatest things about The Westbury roof was the views. Oh my goodness it was good to see Darlinghurst from above. The Top of the Town looked like a box for collecting insect specimens:

The Coca-Cola sign in Kings Cross looked like a toy:

But best of all were the good spying opportunities down to Star Car Wash, Victoria Street and St John's Church:

And there's this especially sneaky view of Iona:

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''The Green Roof'' Facts:

Roof Area: 460sqm

Construction Cost: $510,000 ($1200/sqm)

Project Cost: $638,000 ($1500/sqm)

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Australia's Open Garden Scheme

www.opengarden.org.au

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Mark Harper, Landscape Architect

Atlantis Design

02 8507 0288

www.atlantisdesign.com.au

Darlinghurst: Retailers: Dust

Dust is not actually dusty at all, in fact it is quite clean considering the amount of bric-a-brac, antiques and curios that fill its display windows, shelves and tables. Dust has been operating from this tiny shop in The Rutland apartment building, on the corner of Liverpool and Hardie streets, for the past ten years. When I lived on Hardie Street, I would pass this shop most days and always wave hello to the owner, Stephane, who was usually standing or sitting by the entrance:

But in all that time I only popped inside his store once, and had never actually spoken to him, until this past week. Stephane, I was surprised to learn, has a French accent. He is also very knowledgeable about the period and origin of the thousands of items in his store. 

Before setting up shop in The Rutland, Stephane hosted a stall at the Bondi Markets for seven years, so he has been in the antiques game for almost two decades and can source the most interesting items, such as these colourful tin food carriers from Timor: 

Stephane, like me, is also a fan of Formula One, and prior to coming to Australia, he used to work at the Monaco Grand Prix. I'm sure he has dozens of stories to tell, so why not visit his shop and say hello.

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Dust

381 Liverpool Street

Darlinghurst NSW 2010

02 9332 2854

0414 493 346