Across the Border: Kings Cross: History: Hensley Hall

You may remember, back in May last year, I invited you along on a tour of Hensley Hall, the 1912-built former private hotel and boarding house on the corner of Bayswater Road and Ward Avenue.

At the time, caretaker-resident, Barry Minhinnick, was about to be evicted after 20 years of living in the 36-room residence.

Well, almost a year later, Barry the bower bird is gone and a big padlock keeps the front door shut tight. The lettering, Hensley Hall, has been removed from the front facade.

Cyclone fencing has been put across all the window to keep out unwanted guests.

And the entire building has a horrible locked-up, dormant feeling. 

All life has left Hensley Hall. 

It is a building in neglect.

And where is Barry? He says he is happily settled in another inner-city suburb, but I have the impression that after a generation of living in Kings Cross, he misses the old neighbourhood dearly, despite his apparent optimism for his new home. 

And I also think his old neighbourhood, and Hensley Hall, too, miss him  - and need him.

Since Barry left Hensley Hall, the building has been in steep decline.

 Squatters moved in for about three months, using a garbage bin as a ladder to climb over this fence out the back. The police were called and the trio were kicked out about three weeks ago.

But the saddest aspect of the building's decline is the vandalism of Barry's "Simple Garden", which was once a curious paradise of found objects and plants that was bursting with joy and life.

The fence palings have been kicked in, rubbish litters the garden and thieves have taken anything of value, proving that dormant or neglected buildings become easy targets for vandals and their pointless destruction. 

I heard along the grapevine - and I don't know how accurate this is - that the owner has accepted a $100,000 deposit on Hensley Hall, conditional on the building being given development approval from the City of Sydney. 

Apparently, a development application for a 24-room apartment building on the site was approved in 2007. The new would-be owner wants to push that to 54-rooms. 

Apparently the original DA was approved on the condition that the facade of the building, which is an important historic feature of Bayswater Road, be kept if the development proceeds.

But as I said, I have no idea of the truth of any of this, and it's possibly just gossip.

In the meantime, and for the future, I would hope that someone steps in - the City of Sydney, perhaps - to ensure that Barry's garden is maintained now, and also kept in place if the development proceeds. 

The garden is not just part of Barry's legacy or a lesson in reuse and recycling, but it is part of the heritage of the site and a reminder of the life and lives that came before. 

I hope it doesn't disappear from neglect and ambivalence.

Darlinghurst Blog: People: Larry Writer

Larry Writer (above) is a Woollahra-based journalist, author and publisher who is set to become a household name when the new Underbelly television series, based on his 2001 book, Razor, begins airing on the Nine Network on August 21.

Filming of the series only wrapped up a couple of weeks ago and as a treat for My Darling Darlinghurst readers, Writer took some time off set to answer some questions and to provide an insight into the creation of the new Underbelly: Razor, as well as to share his favourite Darlinghurst places and secrets. 

If you haven't already read Razor, you better chop-chop and pop off to the library or Ariel and grab yourself a copy because it is the authoritative book on 1920s and 30s Darlinghurst, a period which saw the birth of organised crime in Australia.

Scene from Underbelly:Razor

Writer's most recent book, Bumper: The Life and Legend of Frank 'Bumper' Farrell, published late last year, is also set in Darlinghurst and traces the career of a "rough as bags" cauliflower-eared policeman who patrolled the streets of Kings Cross, Darlinghurst, East Sydney, Woolloomooloo and Surry Hills from 1940 to 1976. 

Bumper Farrell appears in Razor too, which follows the lives of sly-grogger Kate Leigh, brothel madam Tilly Devine and the crooks, crims, cops and prostitutes around them, and brings the mean streets of historical Darlinghurst to life in meticulously researched detail. 

In 2002, Razor was the joint winner, with Mike Richards's The Hanged Man, of the Ned Kelly Award for Best True Crime. 

It would be fair to describe Razor as a seminal work and with the impending television series, it is likely to experience increased popularity. Victorian-based authors Andrew Rule and John Silvester watched their Underbelly series of true crime books hit the bestsellers list and surpass the 1.5million sales mark following the first television series about Melbourne's gangland wars. 

I look forward to seeing Razor and Writer enjoy the same successes. 

And now, over to Writer:

Tilly Devine (Chelsie Preston-Crayford) takes her dogs for a stroll.

''After the negotiations were completed for Screentime, makers of Underbelly, to use Razor as the basis for the new series, I was invited to come on board as a consultant. 

"I’d heard horror stories of film-makers turning books into train wrecks, but from the first, I was delighted to find that the producers, scriptwriters, researchers, actors and directors’s respect and affection for the people and places in Razor matched my own. 

"I read all the scripts as they were written and attended conferences, and there and on the phone I was asked all kinds of questions: What were the common expressions used in that era? What did the Tradesman’s Arms look like then? What is 'gingering'? What would a Darlinghurst street look like in 1928? Where did the gangsters access their cocaine? What brand beer, wine and spirits did Kate Leigh sell? What did Snowy Prendergast do before he became a gangster in Darlinghurst? What are the lyrics of Tilly Devine’s favourite song, 'The Marquis of Camberwell Green'? Whatever happened to the survivors of the razor gang wars?"

"The actors wanted to know their character’s back stories, how they spoke, what they wore, any other idiosyncrasies that could help them make their character real. 

"The production designers moved heaven and earth to find authentic period clothing, razors and guns, furniture, props and cars. 

"They also invited me to play a 'wealthy businessman' in a nightclub. I hope I don’t end up on the cutting room floor!"

Two razor-gangers are taken aback when north shore schoolgirl Nellie Cameron (Anna McGahan) proposes a career as a prostitute.

Violet: Are you happy with the finished product?

Writer: ''I’m delighted. It rocks! It’s very Underbelly in that it’s fast and racy and assaults the senses, but the acting, direction and design is wonderful, and it’s true to the spirit of my book, and more importantly to the people and the places of Darlinghurst in the 1920s and 30s.''

Kate (Danielle Cormack) or Tilly? – who is your favourite and why?

"I am very fond of them both, but I think Tilly is a little closer to my heart. 

"They are both brilliant mixes of good and bad, kindness and cruelty, greed and altruism, but I’m intrigued by the way Tilly fought her way up from abject poverty to be so successful, despite her husband Big Jim Devine, her treacherous gang, her own demons. 

"Somehow, and against much of the evidence, she seems more vulnerable. 

"I like too that she was always singing and knew how to party . . . even if those parties often ended in mayhem. I’m very glad that she was never my neighbour."

What would Kate and Tilly think about the television series?

"They’d be sitting on their lounge surrounded by their henchmen and women and loving every moment. Both had a keen sense of self-promotion. I reckon Tilly would be griping though that the actress who plays her, Chelsie Preston Crayford, is not nearly as beautiful as her."

How enjoyable was the writing process of Razor?

"I became obsessed with the people and the era during the three and a half years when I was researching and writing Razor. I enjoyed every moment, and it was such a pleasure. 

"I had a fulltime job so I’d be up at 3am before I went to my day job, and then again till late at night. Most of my weekend was occupied on the project. 

"I was in such a zone I didn’t realise I was working terribly long hours. When I finished I fell in a heap. My family was very glad to have me back from living in the 1920s."

You lived at Hensley Hall for a time. Have you lived at any other houses in the area?

"Hensley Hall was the only place I lived in Darlinghurst, though when I was in my teens and 20s I lived in many share terraces in Paddington and Kings Cross. Now I live in Woollahra with my family. 

"In 1958, when I was eight, I lived with my Aunt Dolly in Hensley Hall. I remember sword fighting my brother with copper sticks from the laundry, and him spitting toothpaste out of our first floor window onto a passerby who banged on the front door. 

"Often, before I set off to Darlinghurst Primary School or to the movies, my aunt told me if I saw them coming I should steer clear of Tilly Devine and Kate Leigh."

What is your favourite thing about Darlinghurst?

"I like the places that figured in Razor that are still there to see and experience: The Strand Hotel (above) where Frankie Green shot Barney Dalton and Wally Tomlinson; the Tradesman’s Arms pub (now the East Village), Charlotte Lane where Norman Bruhn was assassinated, Tilly’s former brothel and home at 191 Palmer St, the little lanes around Palmer St, (Chapel, Berwick, Woods, Palmer) which are beautiful and peaceful today but were once Tilly’s kingdom; even the empty space where 104 Riley Street used to be beguiles me – that’s where Kate Leigh lived and sold sly grog and shot Snowy Prendergast dead."

What's your favourite restaurant in the area?

"It’s just closed down but the Bayswater Brasserie was a great haunt in my younger, single days . .  . Arthur’s night club too. I enjoy the schnitzel at Una’s. 

"Billy Kwong’s (above) serves superb food but I don’t go often, because I don’t enjoy queuing for a table and then being hustled out the moment I’m finished so the people standing outside in the street in the cold with their noses pressed to the front window eyeing my table can be seated."

What's your favourite pub in the area?

"The Dolphin in Crown Street . . . Yes, I know I’m a dinosaur, but I like it not for what it is today, but for what it was, a wild and crazy Irish sports pub, where Bumper Farrell would go to drink Guinness and sing Irish ballads (very badly but enthusiastically)."

What's your favourite secret in the area?

"I have to say the Razor hangouts. How many times do we go past the East Village pub, or the Chard Building on William Street (above) without even thinking that the Tradesman’s Arms was the most notorious pub in town, and the Chard Building was once the site of the Fifty Fifty Club, Phil “The Jew” Jeff’s temple of cocaine, prostitution, illegal alcohol and gambling, where Tilly and Kate and Nellie Cameron and Guido Calletti and Frank Green and Big Jim Devine and the other gangsters mingled with Premiers, sports stars, business leaders and celebrities."

What's your favourite Darlinghurst building?

"The old Darlinghurst Police Station (above). With its ageless sandstone and pointy round roof it reminds me of a castle in a fairy tale, and in many ways it was. 

"This is where the baddies were locked up, where Bumper Farrell ruled, where those fabulous mug shots that have been published in Peter Doyle’s magnificent books City of Shadows and Crooks Like Us were taken, and where Lance Hoban, an old time cop who I interviewed for Razor, found a cache of Guido Calletti’s razors that had been confiscated when he was arrested."

Inspector William Mackay (Craig Hall) patrols the dangerous streets of Darlinghurst.

''Darlinghurst is my heartland in many ways, and I adore it. It retains the dangerous and gloriously seedy miasma of earlier times, and it continues to resist change and fads better than many Sydney suburbs.

''I hope it never becomes too cool, and I hope they never demolish Hensley Hall.

''Oh . . . and it’s lucky to have a chronicler like you, Violet.''

*

Underbelly: Razor will premiere on the Nine Network on August 21.

Sign up to the My Darling Darlinghurst Facebook page and my Twitter account for updates.

All Underbelly: Razor photographs courtesy of, and copyright to, the Nine Network.

Across the Border: Kings Cross Blog: Hensley Hall

My dear friend John Webber was telling me last week that Barry Minhinnick, who has been the caretaker-resident at Hensley Hall since 1992, was about to be evicted. If you live in the area, you would  know Hensley Hall, a grand old former private hotel at 35-39 Bayswater Road. You would probably also recognise Barry from either seeing him sitting on the front-steps of Hensley Hall playing guitar, or just around the streets of the Cross on his latest bicycle. 

I was quite bewildered about the news of Barry's potential eviction, so John and I rushed over to Hensley Hall to see if he was home. We cased the joint from the back alley . . .

. . . and around the side past Barry's ''Simple Garden'', which he has been developing over the past ten years from objects salvaged from construction sites and dumpsters:

It's a really creative garden with sculptures and garden beds made from old spring-beds, hot-plates, ovens, fence palings and other found objects.

The garden was the subject of a Gardening Australia television segment last month called, A Kings Cross Treasure.

It has also inspired the imaginations of many people who walk by.

When John and I came around to the front of Hensley Hall, there were piles of books on the front steps and along the footpath that Barry was giving away for free.

Luckily, while having a snoop through the books, Barry spotted us, stuck his head out the window and called out: ''News gets around fast.'' He was referring to the eviction and then invited us inside to explain. I can't go into the details of the eviction as it is subject to court proceedings, but I can take you along on a tour of Hensley Hall.

Barry is in packing up mode, so there were piles and piles of books everywhere. He is also a bower bird, so the place is full of curios, both historical and just plain interesting.

We sat in Barry's kitchen while he filled us in on the history of Hensley Hall and showed us some of his collection.

Barry moved into the residence in 1992, shortly after it closed down as a boarding house.

While packing up his belongings he came across this old copy of The Sydney Morning Herald from 1989. He had kept it because it was about the fire in the Down Under Hostel, on Darlinghurst Road, in which six backpackers lost their lives. 

According to the headlines, Abe Saffron owned the building, which was just next to McDonalds on the strip.

Barry has also collected a dead rat (which I nearly trod on):

Some oil paintings salvaged from the Hampton Court Hotel on Bayswater Road, which is currently being converted into apartments:

Electrical boards:

And latrines:

Anyway, as Barry was telling us, Hensley Hall was built in 1912, designed by architect Barry Greig, and the present owner purchased it in 1938.

The last person to live in the building before Barry was a Rat of Tobruk called Ernie Joyce. Joyce was among dozens of tenants in the then boarding house in the 1980s, but during that decade the owner evicted everyone, save for Ernie and about four other diggers. 

As the diggers dropped off, Ernie remained and was kept company by his friend, Austin Roonan. But when Austin died inside Hensley Hall, Ernie became too frightened to live on his own, so he moved out and Barry moved in to keep the squatters away.

There are 36 rooms in Hensley Hall, which are located across two wings and a double storey building in the back yard. 

I must admit that I rather lost my bearings while being led through the rabbit warren of rooms.

The building is presently owned by Hensley Hall Pty Ltd, a company directed by John Chapman and Stephen Williams, who are based in the suburbs south of Sydney.

I imagine that if they choose to sell Hensley Hall, they could make millions, based on its location. But the building would have to be demolished as there are vast sections that are just rotting away from the rain. Barry mainly lives in the front section of the building, which is less damaged, and he even demonstrated the ''bucket of water out the window'' method that he has to employ when it rains.

It's a sad end to a once grand building, which was initially known as Mercedes.

The first mention of the building in The Sydney Morning Herald was in September 1921 when Harold Julian Wilberforce of 52 Bayswater Road, sued Marie Boeck, the boarding-house keeper of Mercedes for the recovery of 75 Pounds in damages (the value of a suitcase, jewellery and personal effects) as well as 10 Pounds for alleged detention. 

Mr Wilberforce had been a boarder at Mercedes and when he enlisted in the AI Forces in February 1918, he arranged for two suitcases of his belongings to be stored at the boarding house while he was away at camp. But when he returned from war only one suitcase could be found. 

Ms Boeck claimed that Mr Wilberforce had actually taken one of the suitcases with him before he went to war. Judge Curlewis of the NSW District Court found in Ms Boeck's favour. 

On Tuesday November 13 1934, there appeared in the Social and Personal column of the Herald, this short mention:

''Mrs David Aitken has returned from Moree. She is staying at Mercedes, Bayswater Road, until her own flat at Darling Point, which she let while she was away, is vacant.''

On April Fools Day, 1935, an advertisement was placed in the Herald:

''Watch - Lost Gold Elgin Watch and Gold Fob in Bayswater Road between Alexander Flats and Mercedes Private Hotel at 1pm Sunday. Person who picked up phone FL2343 or return to Mercedes, 39 Bayswater Road, Darlinghurst. Reward.''

In 1936, the owner of Mercedes, Neville Mayman, began placing advertisements in the accommodation pages of the Herald:

Established a quarter of a century.

For better food, better service, and better and cleaner accommodation.

Very moderate breakfast and terms for permanent or casual guests. 

Unfailing hot water, laundry facilities free.

Inquiry and inspection invited.

Neville Mayman, proprietor, Tele FL2343.

Three years later, in 1939, the building was mentioned in the ''From Day to Day in Sydney'' column in the Herald, when Mrs L. M. Bloom hosted a fundraiser at her Bayswater Road home, Mercedes. About 150 people attended to raise money for the Lord Mayor's Bushfire Relief Appeal. 

The building's name must have changed from Mercedes to Hensley Hall in the 1940s, for in January 1942 among the many To Let listings in the Herald there was:

''Kings Cross, Hensley Hall, 37 Bayswater Road - Attractive, furnished flats, community bathrooms, kitchenettes, accommodate one and two persons, rentals include clean linen, daily cleaning, electric light. Low rents. T Elliott and Co, FL 2721, Kings Cross.''

Similar advertisements continued to appear into the 1950s. 

Razor author Larry Writer was born in Sydney in 1950. At the age of seven his parents split up and Writer and his mother went and stayed at her sisters's place at Hensley Hall. 

''We stayed there six to eight months and I went to Darlinghurst Primary for a while,'' Writer told the Sun Herald's Matt Condon in 2001.

''I remember people sitting around in their singlets and braces watching the horse racing on television.''

I imagine Hensley Hall stayed in much the same state right up until the early 1990s when Barry moved in. But without much investment in keeping the building upright, it is really starting to crumble. 

After looking through the front wing, we headed out the back where there is a two-storey building. We climbed up a spiral staircase in the building to a kind of loft apartment, which opened on to a large outdoor area.

The outdoor area looks down to Roslyn Street and would be a great place for a party.

From the rooftop, Barry took us back downstairs and outside to an entrance to the second wing, which is really falling to bits and quite dangerous to be in or near:

We had to walk really carefully over the floor, which had pretty much rotted away and was covered with old roof sheeting. We also had to be careful not to stomp around or make too much noise as the vibration could have caused the ceiling to fall off. It was dangerous but Barry really wanted to show us this amazing stairwell:

Back in John's rock photography days he apparently paid Barry $100 to use the stairs as a set for a photograph of Australian hard-rock band, The Screaming Jets. In those days - say mid 90s - the stairs were still in good condition, but look at them now. John has promised to dig out that Screaming Jets photo, so that I can see what the stairwell once looked like (when he does, I'll add it to this post). Now though, I don't think the stairs would even be safe to walk on and the ceiling also looks like it could collapse at any minute:

Still, I'm not averse to a bit of a ruin and I find it quite remarkable that this dilapidated 99-year-old building still exists in the busy heart of Kings Cross in 2011. After John and I farewelled Barry and wished him luck, we stopped again to look at the free books on the front step and noticed this little piece of Minhinnick wisdom:

''Who knows, maybe along our journey through life we may pause and contemplate the beauty of learning, in so doing building a positive world. Happy reading.''