Page 124 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Sydney

122  SY DNEY AREA B Y AREA

The present portico dates from
1893. The interior is furnished to
reflect Macleay’s occupancy from
1839 to 1845, based on inven-
tories drawn up in 1845 for the
transfer of the house to Macleay’s
son, William Sharp. He took the
house in return for payment of
his father’s debts, leading to a rift
never to be resolved.
Macleay’s original 22-hectare
(54-acre) land grant was sub-
divided for flats and villas from
the 1880s to 1927. In the 1940s,
El Alamein Fountain, commemorating the World War II battle the house itself was divided into
15 flats. In 1942, the artist Donald
1 El Alamein Juanita Nielsen, publisher of Friend, while standing on the
Fountain a local newspaper, vigorously balcony of his flat – the former
took up the conservation battle. morning room – saw the ferry
Fitzroy Gardens, Macleay St, Potts On 4 July 1975, she disappeared Kuttabul hit by a torpedo from
Point. Map 2 E5. @ 311. without trace. An inquest into a Japanese midget submarine.
This dandelion-shaped fountain her disappearance returned The house was restored and
in the heart of the Kings Cross an open verdict, and the case opened as a museum in 1977.
district has a reputation for that captivated Sydney and
working so spasmodically dominated the front pages
that passers-by often murmur of newspapers remains
facetiously, “He loves me, he unsolved to this day.
loves me not.” Built in 1961, it As a result of the actions
commemorates the Australian of the union and residents,
army’s role in the siege of most of Victoria Street’s
Tobruk, Libya, and the battle superb 19th-century
of El Alamein in Egypt during buildings still stand.
World War II. At night, when
it is brilliantly lit, the fountain 3 Elizabeth Bay
looks surprisingly ethereal.
House
2 Victoria Street 7 Onslow Ave, Elizabeth Bay.
Map 2 F5. Tel 9356 3022. @ Sydney
Potts Point. Map 2 E5. @ 311, Explorer, 311. Open 10am–4pm Fri–
324, 325. Sun. Closed Good Fri, 25 Dec. &
∑ sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/ The sweeping staircase under the oval
At the Potts Point end, this elizabeth-bay-house dome, Elizabeth Bay House
street of 19th-century terrace
houses, interspersed with a few Elizabeth Bay House (see pp26–7)
incongruous-looking high-rise has the finest Colonial interior 4 Beare Park
blocks, is, by inner-city on display in Australia. It is a Ithaca Rd, Elizabeth Bay. Map 2 F5.
standards, almost a potent expression of how @ 311.
boulevard. This gracious the 1840s depression cut
street was once at short the 1830s prosper ous Originally a part of the Macleay
the centre of a bitter optimism. Designed in Estate, Beare Park is now
conservation struggle, the fashionable Greek encircled by a jumble of
one which almost Revival style by apartment blocks. A refuge
certainly cost a John Verge, it was from hectic Kings Cross, it is
prominent heritage built for Colonial one of only a handful of parks
campaigner’s life. Secretary Alexander serving a densely populated
In the early 1970s, Macleay, in 1835–9. The area. In the shape of a natural
many residents, buoyed domed oval saloon with amphitheatre, the park puts
by the “green bans” Juanita its cantilevered staircase Elizabeth Bay on glorious view.
(see p33) put in place by Nielsen is recognized as Verge’s The family home of J C
the Builders’ Labourers’ masterpiece. The exterior Williamson, a famous theatrical
Federation of New South is less satisfactory, as the entrepreneur who came to
Wales, fought to prevent intended colonnade and por tico Australia from America in the
demolition of old buildings for were not finished owing to a 1870s, formerly stood at the
high-rise development. Heiress crisis in Macleay’s finan cial affairs. eastern extremity of the park.

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