The Abbey (Sydney)
Encyclopedia
Annandale, New South Wales
Annandale is a suburb of Inner West Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Annandale is located within 3-5 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the Municipality of Leichhardt. Annandale's northern end lies on Rozelle Bay,...
, Sydney, Australia. It is listed on the Register of the National Estate
Register of the National Estate
The Register of the National Estate is a listing of natural and cultural heritage places in Australia. The listing was initially compiled between 1976 and 2003 by the Australian Heritage Commission. The register is now maintained by the Australian Heritage Council...
and the New South Wales Heritage Register.
Description and history
The Abbey was built by John Young, a builder who had migrated from EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to Australia. After working for some time as a builder in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Young moved to Sydney and continued a successful career. In 1877, he bought land in what is now the suburb of Annandale, where he had visions of creating a garden suburb that would rival exclusive harbourside suburbs like Darling Point
Darling Point, New South Wales
Darling Point is a harbourside, eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Darling Point is located 4 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of Woollahra Council....
. He proceeded to build an extraordinary group of eight homes along a ridge near Rozelle Bay: The Abbey, Oybin, Kenilworth, Rozelle (now demolished), Greba, Hockindon, Highroyd
Highroyd (Sydney)
Highroyd is a house in the suburb of Annandale, Sydney, Australia. It is listed on the Heritage Register of New South Wales.-Description and history:...
and Claremont (now demolished).
The Abbey was the most outstanding of these homes, an "imaginative, romantic house loosely modelled on a Scottish manor". It was designed in a variation of the Victorian Free Gothic
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
style and incorporated stencil work, hand-painted panels, timber architraves, a Gothic vault and a tower with gargoyles. (Young was the principal builder of St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney
St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney
The Metropolitan Cathedral of St Mary is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney and the seat of the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell. The cathedral is dedicated to "Mary, Help of Christians", Patron of Australia...
, and it was rumoured that he had stolen gargoyles from the cathedral to use on his Annandale homes.) He also used reinforced concrete, which was quite an innovation in those days. Since Young was a Freemason, the house was decorated with Masonic symbols. It was completed in 1882.
Young built the home to impress his wife and encourage her to return from the UK. She did not return and they never lived in it. The Abbey was occupied by housekeepers while Young lived in a house called Kentville, near Rozelle Bay, which has since been demolished. From 1887, the ballroom
Ballroom
A ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding formal dances called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions contain one or more ballrooms...
and stables of The Abbey were used as a boarding house for private schools.
In 1924, the house was subdivided and converted to flats—the beginning of a long period of decline. In 1959, it was acquired by radio engineer Lancelot Davis for the sum of £4500 for his son, Sydney surgeon Dr Geoffrey L R Davis. Dr Davis, an associate of the bohemian Sydney Push
Sydney Push
The Sydney Push was a predominantly left-wing intellectual sub-culture in Sydney from the late 1940s to the early '70s. Well known associates of the Push include Jim Baker, John Flaus, Harry Hooton, Margaret Fink, Sasha Soldatow, Lex Banning, Eva Cox, Richard Appleton, Paddy McGuinness, David...
, continued to lease out some of the original separate units for two decades while proceeding with a long-term restoration of the house.
The Davis family occupied The Abbey for 50 years. Dr Davis died in 2008. In May 2009, the contents of the house were auctioned off by Lawson Auctioneers. The house itself was sold in November, 2009, for $4.86 million. This was a record for Annandale, although it fell short of the $5 million the vendors had been hoping for. It surpassed the $3.35 million paid for Kenilworth in 2007.
Gervase Davis claims the house is haunted. He says he has felt various presences from time to time, and a lady in white has been seen occasionally. Ghost hunters with "ectoplasmic machines" investigated the house in the 1970s. Francesca Davis believes that cats could sense the presence of spirits and her hackles would rise when such a presence came into the room.
The house was sold in 2009. The new owners have set about restoring the house to its original gothic splendor.
The Abbey is listed on the Register of the National Estate
Register of the National Estate
The Register of the National Estate is a listing of natural and cultural heritage places in Australia. The listing was initially compiled between 1976 and 2003 by the Australian Heritage Commission. The register is now maintained by the Australian Heritage Council...
and the New South Wales Heritage Register.
External links
- Annandale – the houses of John Young Local Notes, Municipality of LeichhardtMunicipality of LeichhardtThe Municipality of Leichhardt is a Local Government Area in the inner-west of Sydney, in state of New South Wales, Australia.-History:The Municipality of Leichhardt stands on land that traditionally belonged to the Gadigal and Wangal people, of the Eora nation...
- The Abbey, Annandale at Ramin Communications
- Fiona Gillies The magic touch in inner Sydney Daily Telegraph property section, 24 May 2009