Friday, September 13, 2013

Sydney Gothic Queen Anne

Sydney Federation Gothic Queen Anne


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Hartford, 244 Glebe Point Road GLEBE, asking $4.5m
Hartford, 244 Glebe Point Road GLEBE, asking $4.5m
Charlesville, 10 Grafton St BALMAIN EAST, expecting $3.5m
Charlesville, 10 Grafton St BALMAIN EAST, expecting $3.5m
Typical Melbourne Queen Anne 1895 - 1910
Typical Melbourne Queen Anne 1895 - 1910

Queen Anne Style 1895 - 1910

Derived from English and American styles that revived elements from the architecture of Queen Anne’s reign (1702-14), these picturesque houses were deliberately complex, creating a kind of vigorous grandeur[1]

Here are two contrasting 1890s Sydney properties, both worth many millions of dollars and both in Gothic Queen Anne style:
  1. the first a very Victorian era house internally,echoing Melbourne post-boom housing
  2. the second while also of Queen Anne style, and built in the same decade, is now quite Edwardian in interior style.



andrezj_plichta_malbork_castle_290x290.jpgGothic Malbork Castle (formerly Mareinburg), Poland, begun before 1280victorian-gothic-carpenter-3095610.jpgAmerican Victorian Gothic house


queenanne1.jpgAmerican Queen Anne with Gothic features
Gothic architecture is most familiar as the architecture of many of the great cathedralsabbeys and churches of Europe. It is also the architecture of many castlespalacestown hallsguild halls, universities and to a less prominent extent, private dwellings.
Tthe Gothic style was expressed most powerfully in the great churches, cathedrals and in a number of civic buildings, its characteristics lending themselves to appeals to the emotions, whether springing from faith or from civic pride. 

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Rheinstein Castle, Germany showing fortress towers and castellation of the walls
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Basilica of the Assumption of Mary, Krakow, Poland showing finials above towers
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The Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, Italy showing castellation of roof line

Neo-Gothic buildings have many of these features:

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West front of Notre Dame Cathedral, Reims, France


Strong vertical lines and a sense of great height
  • Pointed windows with decorative tracery
  • Gargoyles and other carvings
  • Pinnacles

In the industrial revolution of the 19th Century, Gothic ornamentation jumped from requiring expensive hand-made detailing to much cheaper mass-produced effects. Waning religious influence allowed homes to mirror larger Gothic churches, family homes becoming an ideal of the family Gothic castle.

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USA Romanesque Revival Architecture with arched doors and tower arcades

Gothic influences on the mass-produced Queen Anne style are:
  • conical towers (replacing steeples)
  • front-facing gables
  • ridge ornaments replacing castellation
  • finials on roofs
  • leadlight glass windows (replacing intricate stained glass) and
  • the sets of small coloured panes of glass above feature windows (as coloured highlighting)
  • bullseye window replacing the grand rose window
  • ornate gable ornament (instead of ornamented galleries or frilly barge boards)
  • gable ventilators
  • bulky buttresses (to support side chimneys)
  • verandah valances and friezes as attractive pseudo-gothic ornamentation
  • arched window brickwork or arched entrance corridor

Haberfield Gothic

In 1901, Haberfield developer Richard Stanton, advertised some available house designs as being of 'domestic Gothic' style, which historian Vincent Crow describes as having a 'characteristic cone', usually on a verandah roof. [1] These are also called 'turrets' and are usually round or pyramid-shaped towers. The tall narrow towers are amusingly known as 'candle-snuffers'.[2]

1. Glebe Gothic Queen Anne


  • This home was built for American-born dentist E. Randolph Magnus in 1898. The home, with Scottish Baronial elements, is also said to have an American influence, which is apt given the background of its first owner.
  • I couldn't give this first estate greater justice than by quoting from the Radical Terrace blog last year, (still on hiatus), the property being still on the market in 2013. - As published on: 15 October 2012 from Radical Terrace


A Queen Anne Mansion in Glebe’s Toxeth Park Estate Lists for $4.5m+


Hartford, 244 Glebe Point Road GLEBE, House for Sale in GLEBE, NSW by Ken Jacobs 
In 2013, For sale - $4,150,000
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Hartford, a Queen Anne mansion on Glebe Point Road has listed through Christie’s agents Ken Jacobs and Darren Curtiswith $4.5m+ expectations. The home sits on a high point of Glebe Point Road on the edge of the prestigious Toxeth Park Estate. Toxeth Park, the c1831 mansion of George Allen, remained in bucolic isolation for its first 50 years.
  • When Allen’s property was subdivided by his son in the late 1880s, a covenant was placed on new development requiring all homes be built of either stone or brick.
  • The covenant further stipulated that no pubs or drinking establishments be placed on the land. These restrictions encouraged a higher socio-economic class of Sydneysiders to populate Glebe Point than were beginning to settle the neighbouring Balmain Peninsula and other portions of Glebe closer to the University of Sydney campus.
  • The strictly residential nature of the Toxeth Park Estate and Glebe Point continued well into the 20th Century, its prestige buoyed by easy access to the CBD via a tramway running in front of the subject property along Glebe Point Road.
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"A c1909 map, over a decade after Hartford’s construction, showcases the more prestigious Toxeth Park Estate, with the tram line in red running along Glebe Point Road, terminating before the street falls in elevation to the harbourfront.

"By in large, most prominent homes along Glebe Point Road have survived the test of time, albeit with several notable examples of post-war apartment block construction. The usual tale of single family mansion-turned-multi-family-turned-boarding house rings true for many of the homes in this stretch. However, ‘Hartford’ was owned by the Presbyterian Church until - we believe - a sale to private hands occurred in December 1998 for $1.52m.

"According to publicly available records, the home last traded hands in April 2006 for $3.24m, a record for Glebe at the time. In the last few years, there has been a high precedent of prestige sales set for the Toxeth Park-precinct of Glebe. Well-renovated homes on small blocks have traded for big sums: 40 Toxeth Park Rd (608sqm) for $4.2m in Nov 2011 and 55 Hereford St (680sqm) for $3.8m in Dec 2011). Although Hartford is situated on the busier Glebe Point Road, its massive 1,113sqm allotment affords some level of privacy. 

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"The interiors of the three-storey, 5-bedroom, 6-bathroom home appear to maintain the same floor plan as at the time of construction. While the home has maintained its character features, a dramatic interior reinvention will need to take place to firmly entrench this home as being one of Sydney’s best. All in though, we have no qualms seeing this home sell well above its $4.5m+ expectations, and it may just set a single family record for the suburb. Few other homes in Glebe are as well qualified."
William Morris-inspired Leadlight glass windows
William Morris-inspired Leadlight glass windows
The listing: Hartford, 244 Glebe Point Road, Glebe

Below: more images and a FLOOR PLAN
Victorian arch and Leadlight glass
Victorian arch and Leadlight glass
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Original fireplace and Leadlight
Original fireplace and Leadlight
An original bathroom
An original bathroom
Wrought-iron balustrade
Wrought-iron balustrade

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2. A Rare and Historic Peninsula Home

Charlesville,10 Grafton St BALMAIN EAST
Wrought-iron verandah decoration
Wrought-iron verandah decoration
"Elevated and facing due east to Barangaroo, the locally known captain's house, 'Charlesville' is a circa 1890's Queen Anne Federation home which offers everything now and opportunity for later.

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"A freestanding brick home it boasts harbour and city skyline views and would suit discerning buyers who seek and respect comfort, space and privacy in the Peninsula Waterfront precinct.
Victorian-style Leadlight glass
Victorian-style Leadlight glass
  • "Located in a quiet cul-de-sac within East Balmain and adjoining Ewenton Park which laps the harbour foreshore at Cameron's Cove, this tranquil oasis is 500m metres across the water from the CBD.
  • "With only two owners in it's long life the original features of the home remain in pristine condition. Four marble and tile ornamental fireplaces, western red cedar timber windows and doors, wedding cake ceilings, kauri floors and spectacular leadlight are just a few.
  • "Modern updates include a large kitchen with european appliances and granite benches with butlers sink, air conditioning, gas, swimming pool, spa and rainwater tank storage.
  • "Accommodation provides four large bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, three living areas and poolside entertainment room. Set amongst landscaped gardens there are four distinct outdoor living spaces contained in this fully secure and private block of approximately 750 sqm.
  • "Rounding off the list of features, secure and remote garaging for four cars via Grafton Lane."

Victorian arch and Edwardian picture rails
Victorian arch and Edwardian picture rails
Original fireplace
Original fireplace
Carpet overlays original floorboards except in hallway
Carpet overlays original floorboards except in hallway
Rare Queen Anne Federation home in Balmain



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Lyndsey Douglas

Original doorframes and picture rails
Original doorframes and picture rails
external image searchlogo_21127.GIF10 Grafton St BALMAIN EAST
Photo Gallery
Rare Queen Anne Federation home in Balmain
"A $3.5m+ historic Queen Anne Federation home, on a secure and private 750 sqm will hit the market next week in Balmain.
"The one-level circa 1890′s home has original features in pristine condition and was, at the time of erection, the Ship’s Captain’s house for Jubilee Wharf.

  • "Today 10 Grafton Street, Balmain East has a modern european kitchen with granite benches and butlers sink, three and a half bathrooms and a heated inground pool and spa.
  • "The four-bedroom, four-garage home has both “location and position” according to marketing agent Emily Sim of Ray White Balmain
  • “The home has a due-east harbour and city skyline view and sits on a quiet cul de sac location in Balmain East. The gorgeous original architectural features are in wonderful condition,” Ms Sim said.
“The Queen Anne features are most rare for this area.”




  1. ^ http://www.cv.vic.gov.au/stories/what-house-is-that/11725/queen-anne-house/

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