This reproduces the material I put together for the Heritage Consultant on the history of the site and its significance.

Transcription

1 WFPA Built Heritage Report Recently the Willoughby District Historical Society was approached by an architectural firm that had been engaged to prepare a Heritage Assessment of Laurelbank, the notable heritage-listed residence on the corner of Penshurst and Laurel Streets in Willoughby. We understand that this is associated with a redevelopment proposal for this property. This reproduces the material I put together for the Heritage Consultant on the history of the site and its significance. Laurelbank, A short history The land on which Laurel Bank house is situated on part of the 600 acre grant made to John Stirling of the Bank of Australia. The land was resumed by the Bank of Australia following the 1842 Depression and was subsequently purchased by William Lithgow, who sub-divided it into allotments at the Township of North Sydney in Laurel Bank was the earliest estate, evidently registered in 1881 and subdivided in 1885, when it was recorded in the Willoughby Council Rate Book Evidently the name Laurel Bank was chosen due to the presence of several large Camphor Laurel trees on the site. The Sydney Morning Herald of Saturday 22 January 1881, p14 contained the following advertisement: ABSOLUTE SALE. SMITH S STRAWBERRY AND TEA GARDENS known as "LAUREL BANK," situated at NORTH WILLOUGHBY, about three miles from the MILS0N'S POINT FERRY. Close to the Public school and new Congregational Church, with a large frontage to the MAIN THOROUGHFARE, along which the omnibuses pass regularly each day. HARDIE and GORMAN have received POSITIVE INSTRUCTIONS from Mr. SMITH to sell by public auction, at their Rooms, Pitt-street, at 11 o'clock on WEDNESDAY, 2nd FEBRUARY, His renowned strawberry gardens and cottages. The land has an area of about THREE ACRES, is all FENCED IN, and well planted with the choicest assortment of the very best kind of FRUIT TREES, EVERGREENS, SHRUBS, &C, comprising: GUAVAS, NECTARINES, PEACHES, APPLES, APRICOTS, PEARS, &c, besides a large number of full grown trees, including PINES, MAGNOLIAS, and other evergreens., About ONE AND A-HALF ACRE Is well planted with the very BEST STRAWBERRIES. Mr. Smith s reputation for fruit and flowers has been well established for many years. THE BUILDINGS consist of two W.B. COTTAGES (one quite NEW), sheds, &c. To any person requiring a large block of land already well cultivated and planted this is a most desirable property. The SITE is one of the VERY BEST for a residence the view, around are charming, and will not be interfered with for many years. The property was evidently purchased by Mr Myerscough at the auction, for in September 1884, T S Huntley, Property Auctioneer of 130 Pitt Street advertised the land for auction on 30 September. This indicated the passing of Mr Myerscough and instructions by the mortgagee to sell the property as follows:

2 LAUREL BANK NURSERY GARDENS NORTH WILLOUGHBY TS. HUNTLEY has been instructed by the mortgagee of the late Mr. Mverscough to sell by public auction (unless previously sold by private contract), of which due notice will be given, All that charming property known as LAUREL BANK consisting of nearly 4 acres of choice fruit and flower gardens in a high state of cultivation, with an Innumerable variety of the very choicest shrubs, camellias, groves,etc.. There is also a nice cottage residence thereon, together with a gardener's cottage. N.B.-This property must be viewed to be fully appreciated. Omnibuses pass It leaving Milson's Point, 11 times daily; fare, 6d., The Sale will take place, on the Ground, on SATURDAY AFTERNOON, 30th September, 1884, at Title, Freehold. Easy terms For any other information apply to T, 8. HUNTLEY, Property Auctioneer, 130, Pitt-street over Mills and Pile's. The purchaser of four allotments (Lots 1 and 2 of Section 1 on Penshurst Street and Lots 3 and 4 of Section 1 on Laurel Street) at this sale was Joseph Griffith. 1 It was he who constructed the brick residence now known as Laurelbank on Lot 1 of the Laurel Bank estate on the corner of Penshurst and Laurel Streets, probably in The new residence was listed in the Council rate book of 1885 and is mentioned in Council minutes during This house has been described as a mixture of architectural styles namely: New Colonial (c1820 to 1850), Gothic (c1840 to 1870) and Italianate (1870 to 1890). New Colonial features include the symmetrical façade, the low hipped roof, the verandah running around three sides (originally four) of the house and the arrangements of outhouses at the rear. The outhouses include a pantry, kitchen, laundry and toilet with a to parapet conceal the flat roof. The former second wing with a maid s room and a bathroom was subsequently replaced by an outside toilet block. The quoins, rendered to look like vermiculated sandstone are typical of the Gothic style. The pointed gable outlined by ornamentally carved barge boards with a turned finial also reflects Gothic style. Most features are Italianate and reflect the period in which Laurelbank was built. 3 In early 1900 Joseph Griffith was in correspondence with Willoughby Municipal Council seeking electric lights in Penshurst Street. He was informed of: the unsuccessful efforts made to induce the Gas Company to allow the electric lights being placed in Penshurst Street and that the Council cannot at present see a way to move on the situation. 4 Water for the house was initially obtained from a well in the backyard equipped with a pump. 5 We do not have a date for the construction of the coach house, though a 1917 plan shows a brick house named Oakly on the site of this structure. The land on Laurel Street was then shown as Allotment 4. 6

3 Change of ownership We do not have a date for the death of Joseph Griffith, but his wife Maria Griffith applied to the Register General s Department on 10 March 1920 for the transfer of the land (2 rod 16 perches) including the premises Laurelbank to her name. 7 Doctor and Mrs Florance moved into Laurelbank in 1925 or 1926, which they purchased as a deceased estate through R T Forsyth Real Estate. They found the house was in a badly neglected state and, due to their limited finances, they undertook repair and renovation work over an extended period. Mrs Florance was told that the house was convict-built, while one of their workmen found handconvict made clouts on site. It was a brick building, but cement rendered to look like stone. The walls and foundations were very thick. There was a pantry opposite the bathroom and a trapdoor leading down to a cellar. Some years later the Florances converted the cellar into a shower room, though the ceiling height did not permit standing in this space. The front door had four Waterford glass panels featuring flower designs, together with sidelights and an arched fanlight, while the interior doors had frosted and clear glass panels with blue or red glass inserts with white stars. The design etched into the fanlight is said to be the badge of the Coldstream Guards. 8 The garage, which had room for two carriages and a loft on top, had been the coach house. When the Florance boys were attending Shore School, they chose to have their birthday parties and similar events in the loft with the eats being provided in the house. 9 Mary Thom, who grew up in East Willoughby, recalls that Laurelbank served as Dr Florance s surgery in the 1930s and 1940s. 10 By 1944, the land on which the house, stables, etc, stood was registered to Mrs Lilian Emily Florance. 11 Heritage status By 1985, Laurelbank was owned by Ku-ring-gai Lodge Pty Limited. The 1970s had been a decade of cultural change in Australia which, among other trends, generated public concern for the built and natural heritage of our communities. The 1973 Commission of Inquiry into the National Estate, chaired by Justice Robert Marsden Hope, set in chain a series of events that would result in statutory powers to protect significant heritage sites. The Hope Report expanded the concept of heritage values beyond fine buildings to industrial, archaeological and natural sites and these concepts were legislated in the Australian Heritage Commission Act 1975, which established the Australian Heritage Commission (AHC). As pressure mounted to protect built heritage in New South Wales, the State Government established the Historic Buildings & Sites Advisory Committee chaired by the influential town planner Nigel Ashton. Subsequently, the Wran Government introduced the Heritage Act 1977, which established the Heritage Council of NSW with powers to protect significant heritage items. 12 The 1974 Willoughby Council elections saw a significant change in the composition of aldermen with a number of candidates with environmental platforms elected, while there was also a corresponding revival in public involvement through local progress associations and other community-based action groups. In Chatswood, the threat to classic Federation houses from the expansion of commercial and retail businesses in the centre led to the formation of the Chatswood Concerned Citizens Committee

4 (CCCC) in the early 1980s. The CCC arranged for National Trust officials to undertake a heritage survey of the neighbourhood from Victoria Avenue to Mowbray Road. The outcome was that the single heritage listed house was joined by 19 additional houses on the National Trust Heritage Register and the South Chatswood precinct as an Urban Conservation Area in Willoughby Council funded a city-wide Heritage Study in 1986 to identify buildings and precincts and, from this, the Minister for Urban Affairs & Planning formally gazetted the Willoughby Local Environment Plan (LEP) 1995 on 15 November In addition to an extensive list of heritage buildings and structures, the LEP provides the legal foundations for 12 heritage conservation areas within Willoughby City. 13 View of Laurelbank at Penshurst Street, Willoughby in June R F McKillop photo Lauralbank was recognised as a significant heritage gem and by December 1985, Willoughby Council initiated the process for the Heritage Council to issue an interim conservation order on the property. 14 It was subsequently announced that Council may purchase the property for the community use, including the proposed local history museum. The Willoughby District Historical Society was seeking a suitable venue for such a museum at this time, but the unexpected transfer of a Federation cottage in Johnson Street Chatswood to the Society in the will of a member during 1988 ended that search. 15 Bob McKillop, Curator, Willoughby Museum 1 RB (NW) 1885, Laurel Bank Estate, Penshurst Street. 2 Esther Leslie file, L Laurelbank Estate 3 Meg Johnson, Architecture of Laurel Bank Cottage, WDHS Newsletter, January February 2005, pp3 5; North Shore Advocate, 11 December Willoughby Municipal Council Minutes of 2 April 1900, folio 296.

5 5 Note in Esther Leslie file, L Laurelbank Estate 6 Plan RPA of 1917 of Lot 4 Section 2 of Laurelbank Estate. 7 Registrar General, Application No of 10 March Dr R B Florance, personal communication with Meg Johnson. 9 Transcript of letter from Mrs L E Florance, PO Box 334, Bowral, understood to be the wife of one of the Florance sons; Esther Leslie file, L Laurelbank Estate. 10 Mary Thom, 26 September RB 1944, , Esther Leslie file, L Laurelbank Estate 12 McKillop, Robert F, Managing our Waste: an environmental history of Flat Rock Creek and the Willoughby Incinerator, , Castlecrag, MWA International, 2012, pp McKillop, Bob, Pictorial History Willoughby, Alexandria, Kingsclear Books, 2015, pp North Shore Times, 6 December 1985, p3; North Shore Advocate, 11 December North Shore Times, 10 August 1988.