Purulia

Item details


Name of item:	Purulia
Type of item:	Complex / Group
Group/Collection:	Residential buildings (private)
Category:	House
Location:	Lat: -33.7279264866 Long: 151.1178151370
Primary address:	16 Fox Valley Road, Wahroonga, NSW 2076
Parish:	Gordon
County:	Cumberland
Local govt. area:	Ku-Ring-Gai
Local Aboriginal Land Council:	Metropolitan

Property description

Lot/Volume Code	Lot/Volume Number	Section Number	Plan/Folio Code	Plan/Folio Number
LOT	1		DP	564313

All addresses

Street Address	Suburb/town	LGA	Parish	County	Type
16 Fox Valley Road	Wahroonga	Ku-Ring-Gai	Gordon	Cumberland	Primary Address

Owner/s

Organisation Name	Owner Category	Date Ownership Updated
	Private	19 Mar 99

Statement of significance:


	Purulia is a house and garden designed by one of our most outstanding architects. It is reputed to be William Hardy Wilson's best work. The influence of this house was widespread and it became a prototype for many North Shore homes. (Branch Manager's report 180/81, 21/5/1981). It is also rare as a garden (one of only 5) designed by Hardy Wilson, albeit altered (Broadbent, 1980, modified Read, S., 6/2007). The name 'Purulia' should mean much to architects in Australia, for it was the home of William Hardy Wilson, who has done so much to make Australia conscious of the heritage of fine architecture she possesses. The houses he built and the books he wrote are lessons in good design. His book 'Colonial Architecture in NSW & Tasmania' is known all over the world for its fine drawings and the beautiful buildings illustrated therein. He was a pioneer, for his work was revolutionary in a period which favoured a medley of unnecessarily elaborate styles. A good example of the opposition he encountered was a deputation to the local Council when Purulia was being built to have it condemned as an unsightly building (Beiers, 1948, 47). At a time when Queen Anne (revival) was riding high and in an area with pretensions to being the elite suburb of Sydney, its barrenness brought a deputation from outraged neighbours who claimed the values of their properties would be undermined. Wilson could not be stopped. When it was finished he had created a home of honesty, simplicity, sincerity and integrity. Wilson claimed it was not a masterpiece. But it was his. He never produced anything better and its influence was widespread. It became a prototype for all North Shore homes and, to the next generation, the epitome of respectability (Freeland, 1982, 236-8). A house and garden built by one of our most outstanding architects. The garden has some fine trees planted by Wilson - ginkgos, weeping elms and maples, copper beeches, dogwoods and citrus trees (National Trust, 1976).
	Date significance updated: 12 Jun 07
	Note: The State Heritage Inventory provides information about heritage items listed by local and State government agencies. The State Heritage Inventory is continually being updated by local and State agencies as new information becomes available. Read the OEH copyright and disclaimer.

Description


Designer/Maker:	William Hardy Wilson
Construction years:	1912-1913
Physical description:	Garden The design of Purulia and its garden were closely integrated by Hardy Wilson. The garden design is based on a formal geometry which rises out of the rectangular form of the house. Many of the trees planted by Wilson remain as do the original sandstone flagged path and the octagonal summerhouse. A garage to one side of the front garden was added at a later date and features a colonnaded faade that is most sympathetic to the design of the house and garden. A fine sandstone wall with timber gates defines the street boundary of the property (Branch Manager's report 180/81, 21/5/1981). Of large forest trees he admired only the picturesque angophora (A.floribunda or A.subvelutina), the 'apple oak' of the colonists...; and, presumably the turpentines (Syncarpia glomulifera) which he planted along the rear boundaries of Purulia. He designed 5 gardens: Eryldene (Gordon), Purulia, Macquarie Cottage (Pymble), a garden for 'An Ideal Australian Home' and for a 'Standard Cottage' for the William Moore Trust at Gordon. The latter were not carried out. Purulia and Macquarie Cottage have been altered. Eryldene presents a problem as in its final form it displays so much the taste and horticultural expertise of its owner, Professor Waterhouse, that Wilson's contribution is difficult to assess, and since it predates the other gardens, the influence of 'Professor Pymble' on these should be considered. The similarities between all Wilson's garden plans are marked. From his love and knowledge of colonial gardens came his choice of plants. The range is limited, but it contrasts with the ubiquitous palms, brush box and hybrid roses of contemporary gardens as stringkingly as his unbroken colour-washed walls contrasted with the redness of his neighbours' 'multangular villas'. 'Around the boundaries of Purulia', Wilson wrote, 'there are oleanders (Nerium oleander) red and white. Between the oleanders and the northern front there are perpendicular poplars (Lombardy poplar, (Populus nigra 'Italica')) to balance the horizontal lines of the building. On the southern side the distant city will be framed through olives (Olea europaea) grown grey, twisted and fruitful. In a wide circle around the house there are oranges (Citrus aurantium) and mandarins (C.reticulata). Camellias are slowly opening dark glossy leaves before the wall spaces. Beside the stone flagged path bordered with box (Buxus sempervirens), that leads from gate to door, there are fragrant shrubs, diosma (Coleonema pulchrum), lemon verbena (Lippia citriodora), lavenders (Lavandula spp.).' Wilson planned his gardens with layouts of an easy, but nevertheless rigorously applied formal geometry, which owes little to colonial or contemporary English garden design (to which Wilson makes no reference in any of his writings). They are unmistakably gardens designed by an architect who, though admiring the architectural work of Lutyens, probably knew little of current English gardens. This geometry ... reached its extreme in his own house, Purulia, where the rectangular bungalow is centred in a circle of citrus trees, a conceit which can only be appreciated fully in plan form. Upon this circle Wilson playfully constructs an elaborate network of arcial and radial paths, cross paths and further circles. The geometry is complex but not forced and the architectural detailing is deliberately simple - flagged paths and summer houses with columns of whitewashed tree trunks. Behind the house an apsidal planting of fruiting olives surrounds a sundial on the central axis and screens a semi-annular kitchen and fruit garden. The positioning of the summer house at Purulia, on the cross-axis of the central path and diagonally to the right of the front door, is similar to the positioning of the more sophistocated one at Eryldene. The simple stone-flagged central path is common to all the gardens, yet it is a cottage detail, not found in the old colonial gardens of the County of Cumberland which Wilson knew. (Broadbent, in National Trust, 1980, 65-70). The garden has some fine trees planted by Wilson - ginkgos, weeping elms and maples, copper beeches, dogwoods and citrus trees (National Trust, 1976). House Designed for servantless living, the house was a simple rectangle in plan with plain plastered walls painted white, a low-pitched roof covered in multi-coloured shingle tiles and with boxed eaves. The windows, simple rectangles with Georgian sashes and louvered shutters, were protected by striped canvas awnings. (Freeland, 1988, 236-8). (Wilson) wrote: 'It is a rectangular cottage covered with an unbroken hipped roof. As the walls arose square, bleak and factory like, consternation filled the souls of neighbours dwelling in multi-angular villas. By the time the brickwork was finished their indignation could not be contained....I found an artist making shingle tiles and from him secured curved uneven, overburnt and many coloured rejects from myriads of flawless tiles...The roof of Purulia is like a venerable Persian rug of quiet and glowing colour.' Features include well proportioned rooms and windows, the typical Wilson use of stone and whitewashed walls, louvred shutters, the colonnaded facade of the garage, the summer house, the brass door step and the general utility of the house and garden. (National Trust, 1976).
Physical condition and/or Archaeological potential:	Many of the trees planted by Wilson remain as do the original sandstone flagged path and the octagonal summerhouse. (Branch Manager's report 180/81, 21/5/1981). Remove faulty gutters and install appropriate gutters and downpipes consistent with the original specification (from the State Library); restore damaged eaves soffits; restore deteriorated original distinctly-designed wrought iron handrails; demolish intrusive rear-yard swimming pool and restore original rear lawn, garden area and paving consistently with the original garden plans (also in the State Library); remove two large inappropriate trees in order to reinstate garden and remove threat of tree fall and damage to the house (grant application, 3/2019).
	Date condition updated:12 Jun 07
Modifications and dates:	A large portion of the garden was removed many years ago when the rear portion of the original block was subdivided. A garage to one side of the front garden was added at a later date and features a colonnaded façade that is most sympathetic to the design of the house and garden. (Branch Manager's report 180/81, 21/5/1981).


Current use:	residence
Former use:	Aboriginal land, timber-getting, residence

History

Historical notes:

Wahroonga is Aboriginal land:
The meaning of 'Wahroonga' - an Aboriginal word - is 'our home'.

Material in rock shelters reveals that Aboriginal people inhabited the surrounding region at least from the last ice age some 20,000 years ago. Several different languages and dialects were spoken in the Sydney Harbour area before the arrival of the First Fleet. 'Kuringgai' was the language spoken on the north shores (DEST & DUAP, 1996, 42, 135, 138). When Europeans chose the south side of the harbour for the settlement of the First Fleet in 1788, they chose the territory of the Darug-speaking people, who inhabited the region from the southern shores of Sydney Harbour west to the Blue Mountains. Both the Darug and the Kuringgai groups suffered catastrophic loss of life in the smallpox epidemic that swept through the indigenous population in 1789, with a death rate estimated to have been between 50 per cent and 90 per cent. Over the following century there were numerous documentary recordings of the movements of surviving Kuringgai people within the Ku-Ring-Gai locality, both attending Aboriginal gatherings and collecting European rations such as blankets. There are also several oral history accounts of small clans travelling through the district in the late nineteenth century. In the 1950s at least a few local Aboriginal people were known to be still living within their traditional territory (Ku-Ring-Gai Historical Society, 1996, 12-13).

Early Europeans in the district
Before the railway (constructed late nineteenth century) and later the Sydney Harbour Bridge (opened 1932) made the north shore easily accessible, the Kur-Ring-Gai area was remote from Sydney Town and consisted mainly of isolated white rural communities earning their livelihood from agricultural activities such as timber-getting and market gardening. Wahroonga first experienced suburban development after the railway line from Hornsby to St Leonards was opened in 1890, when the first suburban roads were constructed followed by the first homes, built around 1896. The Shire of Ku-Ring-Gai was first constituted in 1906 with just six councillors, who took temporary offices in the grounds of St John's Church at Gordon (ibid, 1996, 12-18).

George Caley (1770-1829), a botanist sent to the colony in 1795 by Sir Joseph Banks from London to collect flora specimens for Kew Gardens, was one of the first white men to explore this bushland area. In 1805 he walked along a cattle path on the ridge towards Fox Valley, near the 640 acres that were later granted to Thomas Hyndes by Governor Darling (1825-31). The north-western part of the grant, known later as Pearce's Corner extended past the present Sydney Adventist Hospital (today this area marks the boundary of three suburbs: Normanhurst, Waitara and Wahroonga) - and honours an early settler whose name was Aaron Pierce. He arrived with his wife in 1811, received a conditional pardon and worked as a timber cutter along the ridge from Kissing Point to the present Pacific Highway (formerly Lane Cove Road). Three tracks converged at this point and Pierce built a hut to house his family and set out an orchard. He was said to reside there by 1831, and the corner was then known as Pierce's Corner). A village developed on the opposite corner (Pearce's Corner Township, later renamed Normanhurst)) around St. Paul's Church (which today is in Wahroonga).

On Hyndes' death the grant was bought by John Brown and became known as Brown's Paddock. When he died in 1881, it was resurveyed and the larger portion became Fox Ground Estate, purchased by a Francis Gerard (Pollen, 1988, 260-2).

Before the railway (late nineteenth century) and later the Sydney Harbour Bridge (1932) made the north shore easily accessible, the Ku-Ring-Gai area was remote from Sydney Town and consisted mainly of isolated white rural communities earning their livelihood from agricultural activities such as timber-getting and market gardening (ibid, 1996, 12-18).

The harbour barrier delayed suburbanisation of the district and in the early 1880s the tiny settlement was judged too small to warrant a railway line. Access to Milsons Point remained difficult although a coach service plied that route from 1881 to 1887. By 1885 it was also possible to travel to Sydney via the 5 bridges road crossing the water at Fig Tree, Gladesville, Iron Cove, Glebe Island and Pyrmont (AHC - indicative place listing - Mahratta Avenue Urban Conservation Area).

Railway and tramway plans for the area were discussed by the authorities in the 1880s (Scobie, 2008, 9). The single-track North Shore railway line that went from Hornsby to St Leonards in 1890 finally reached Milsons Point in 1893. The North Shore Ferry Company had been carrying passengers from Milsons Point to Circular Quay since the 1860s and by the 1890s around 5 million people crossed the harbour by this means every year. Offering suburban subdivisions along the railway line in advance of the stations, speculators developed Ku-ring-gai well before completion of the North Shore Bridge in 1932 set off another flurry of real estate promotion. Ku-ring-gai grew slowly in the 19th century, its population being 4,000 by 1901. However, over the next two decades its population quadrupled. By this time, with its large residences in beautiful, leafy surrounds, it had changed from a district with a dubious reputation to one that attracted people of high socio-economic status, 73 per cent of whom were home owners.

When the railway line came through the North Shore from St. Leonards to Hornsby, a station opened in this area on 1/1/1890 and was called Pearce's Corner. The construction name had been Noonan's Platform because the property belonging to Patrick Noonan came within the new railway's boundary. The name was changed to Wahroonga on 30/8/1890 (AHC - indicative place listing - Mahratta Avenue Urban Conservation Area). The section between Hornsby and St. Leonards was built by E.Pritchard & Co. contractor (Scobie, 2008, 9).

Wahroonga first experienced suburban development after the railway line from Hornsby to St Leonards opened in 1890, when the first suburban roads were constructed followed by the first homes, around 1896. The Shire of Ku-Ring-Gai was first constituted in 1906 with six councillors, who took temporary offices in the grounds of St John's Church at Gordon (ibid, 1996). The post office opened on 15/10/1896. In 1898 Abbotsleigh School for girls moved to Wahroonga. In 1899 when only 3 houses stood in Fox Valley Road, Wahroonga, the Seventh-Day Adventists purchased land there and erected a large building by 1903. This evolved into 'The San' or Sanitarium hospital (Pollen, 1988, 260-2).

During the interwar years of 1921 to 1933, the population increased by 45 per cent from 19,209 to 27,931 with a 68 per cent rise in the number of occupied dwellings, the proportion of brick to weatherboard being 5:1. The same sort of increase occurred from 1933 to 1947 when a further 43 per cent of people moved into the district bringing the total population to 39,874 and adding 3,564 houses. Even greater restriction on the use of timber and fibro occurred in this period so that 3,182 of these were brick. Clearly, Ku-ring-gai suffered less in the 1930s depression than other municipalities where development was much slower. Its people also encountered less unemployment - only slightly behind Vaucluse with 16 per cent unemployed, Ku-ring-gai and Mosman registered 18 per cent unemployed in 1933 - although the proportion of owner occupation did fall to 68 per cent (AHC - indicative place listing - Mahratta Avenue Urban Conservation Area).

Purulia:
The real spirit of the 20th century came to Australian architecture with the domestic work of a quartet of practitioners after the First World War. Between them they encompassed all the virtues and the vices, the strengths and the weaknesses which have marked the last 50 years...The only thing they had in common was a conviction that architectural thinking had to start at a more basic level than anything that had been known for a hundred years...

The group of thinking-architects responsible for ushering in the 20th century were William Hardy Wilson, Robin Dods, Harold Desbrowe-Annear and Walter Burley Griffin. They worked in different places and they worked individually...But between them they covered most of the ideas and attitudes that followed. Because, with the exception of Griffin, they worked almost exclusively on houses, their effect was strongest on domestic work. The same depth of thought and changes which they brought to homes did not begin to percolate into other types of building, which merely acquired from them the vices of individualism to compound their blatant stylism, for another 40 years.

William (later Hardy) Wilson had been born in Sydney in 1881. His search for architectural truth, a deep love and appreciation of beauty, an interest in history and an abiding faith in the concept of the artist-architect led him to strive for the pre-Victorian virtues. But his was not mere copyism. Sensitive to the underlying qualities of colonial architecture, he sought to apply their timeless principles to his own work.

In 1905 Wilson went to England and enrolled in the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London and also worked a a draftsman for William Flockhart in Bond Street. The chief draftsman in that office, Leonard Rothrie, introduced him to the Chelsea Art Club, where he met English sculptor Francis Derwent Ward and Scottish painter George Henry, as well as Australian artists including Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and George Lambert.

In 1908 Wilson and Stacy Neave (another architect from Sydney) commenced their grand tour of Europe and North America, where they found the work of McKim, Mead & White and the American Colonial Revival style particularly impressive. It was during this tour that Wilson realised the influence of geography was crucial to the development of art and architecture.

In 1911 Wilson changed his name legally to William Hardy Wilson and joined Neave to form Wilson & Neave. When Neave served in World War 1, Wilson closed the practice and concentrated on writing and completing his drawings of old colonial architeture in NSW and Tasmania and building his own house, Purulia (completed 1916)(Edwards, 2013, 768).

In 1912 he built, after years of thought, his own home, Purulia, at Wahroonga, a suburb to the north of Sydney. Designed for servantless living, the house was a simple rectangle in plan with plain plastered walls painted white, a low-pitched roof covered in multi-coloured shingle tiles and with boxed eaves. The windows, simple rectangles with Georgian sashes and louvered shutters, were protected by striped canvas awnings. At a time when Queen Anne (revival) was riding high and in an area with pretensions to being the elite suburb of Sydney, its barrenness brought a deputation from outraged neighbours who claimed the values of their properties would be undermined. Wilson could not be stopped. When it was finished he had created a home of honesty, simplicity, sincerity and integrity. Wilson claimed it was not a masterpiece. But it was his. He never produced anything better and its influence was widespread. It became a prototype for all North Shore homes and, to the next generation, the epitome of respectability (Freeland, 1982, 236-8).

Anticipating the changing domestic situation, he planned Purulia as a 'maidless flat' and made the kitchen a pleasant family room. Overall, the house was very modern for its time. Describing the building of Purulia, he (Wilson) wrote: 'It is a rectangular cottage covered with an unbroken hipped roof. As the walls arose square, bleak and factory like, consternation filled the souls of neighbours dwelling in multi-angular villas. By the time the brickwork was finished their indignation could not be contained....I found an artist making shingle tiles and from him secured curved uneven, overburnt and many coloured rejects from myriads of flawless tiles...The roof of Purulia is like a venerable Persian rug of quiet and glowing colour.'

Purulia's features include well proportioned rooms and windows, the typical Wilson use of stone and whitewashed walls, louvred shutters, the colonnaded facade of the garage, the summer house, the brass door step and the general utility of the house and garden. (National Trust, 1976).

In seeking out and drawing the buildings for his 'Old Colonial Architecture in New South Wales and Tasmania', Hardy Wilson became aware of the siting and gardens of early colonial houses. He was the first to recognise and appreciate a characteristic mid-19th century style of gardening in New South Wales. For nearly 50 years his was the only voice stressing its importance and his descriptions - as vivid and full blown as the late summer gardens he visited - are still the most evocative. Wilson looked at these gardens with a painter's eye, not the analytical eye of a designer. He was neither botanist not horticulturist. He appreciated their siting, colour and texture rather than their layout and details...

Of large forest trees he admired only the picturesque angophora (A.floribunda or A.subvelutina), the 'apple oak' of the colonists...; and, presumably the turpentines (Syncarpia glomulifera) which he planted along the rear boundaries of Purulia. He designed 5 gardens: Eryldene (Gordon), Purulia, Macquarie Cottage (Pymble), a garden for 'An Ideal Australian Home' and for a 'Standard Cottage' for the William Moore Trust at Gordon. The latter were not carried out. Purulia and Macquarie Cottage have been altered. Eryldene presents a problem as in its final form it displays so much the taste and horticultural expertise of its owner, Professor Waterhouse, that Wilson's contribution is difficult to assess, and since it predates the other gardens, the influence of 'Professor Pymble' on these should be considered. The similarities between all Wilson's garden plans are marked.

From his love and knowledge of colonial gardens came his choice of plants. The range is limited, but it contrasts with the ubiquitous palms, brush box and hybrid roses of contemporary gardens as stringkingly as his unbroken colour-washed walls contrasted with the redness of his neighbours' 'multangular villas'.

'Around the boundaries of Purulia', Wilson wrote, 'there are oleanders (Nerium oleander) red and white. Between the oleanders and the northern front there are perpendicular poplars (Lombardy poplar, (Populus nigra 'Italica')) to balance the horizontal lines of the building. On the southern side the distant city will be framed through olives (Olea europaea) grown grey, twisted and fruitful. In a wide circle around the house there are oranges (Citrus aurantium) and mandarins (C.reticulata). Camellias are slowly opening dark glossy leaves before the wall spaces. Beside the stone flagged path bordered with box (Buxus sempervirens), that leads from gate to door, there are fragrant shrubs, diosma (Coleonema pulchrum), lemon verbena (Lippia citriodora), lavenders (Lavandula spp.).'

Wilson planned his gardens with layouts of an easy, but nevertheless rigorously applied formal geometry, which owes little to colonial or contemporary English garden design (to which Wilson makes no reference in any of his writings). They are unmistakably gardens designed by an architect who, though admiring the architectural work of Lutyens, probably knew little of current English gardens. This geometry ... reached its extreme in his own house, Purulia, where the rectangular bungalow is centred in a circle of citrus trees, a conceit which can only be appreciated fully in plan form. Upon this circle Wilson playfully constructs an elaborate network of arcial and radial paths, cross paths and further circles. The geometry is complex but not forced and the architectural detailing is deliberately simple - flagged paths and summer houses with columns of whitewashed tree trunks. Behind the house an apsidal planting of fruiting olives surrounds a sundial on the central axis and screens a semi-annular kitchen and fruit garden.

The positioning of the summer house at Purulia, on the cross-axis of the central path and diagonally to the right of the front door, is similar to the positioning of the more sophistocated one at Eryldene. The simple stone-flagged central path is common to all the gardens, yet it is a cottage detail, not found in the old colonial gardens of the County of Cumberland which Wilson knew. (Broadbent, in National Trust of Australia (NSW), 1980, 65-70).

Another notable Wilson designed house of this era was Macquarie Cottage, Pymble (1919) for H.Dunstan Vane (Edwards, 2013, 769).

In 1920 Wilson & Neave took on John Berry as partner, becoming Wilson, Neave & Berry (1920-27), a firm noted for the Colonial Revival style of architecture for domestic design: fat, low-squatting Georgian boxes with colonnaded verandahs, spider-web fanlights on entrance doors and multi-paned windows with shutters. The firms style followed the Colonial Revival based on the United States idiom, but also looked to Australian colonial architecture for inspiration. This style became very popular in the 1920s (Edwards, 2013, 770).

In 1921 Wilson went to China and took lessons in Chinese painting under Kungpah King (Jin Chen); his travels to China's major cities, Peking (Beijing), Hangzhou, Shanghai, Canton (Guangshou) and Macao had a profound influence in his architectural philosophy and design (ibid, 769).

After Wilson's visit to China in 1921, the firm incorporated Oriental motifs and details, examples of which are found at Eryldene, Gordon (1914-36) and Peapes Department Store, Sydney (1923)(ibid, 770).

In 1922 Wilson sold Purulia and travelled to England and Europe, where, in Vienna, he supervised the collotype reproductions for 'Colonial architecture in NSW and Tasmania' (1924), his publication that would foster great interest in an Australian Colonial Revival.

In 1925 Wilson returned to Sydney, where he became disillusioned with the state of Australian architecture and began writing his view sand ideas in a fictionalised biography 'The dawn of a new civilisation' (1929) under a pseudonym of Richard Le Mesurer.

In 1927 he completed his last design - the tennis pavilion (later called the Tea House) at Eryldene in Gordon for Prof. E.G. and Janet Waterhouse - the epitome of 'a new style in architecture, the development in one style of Chinese and European classic', retired from practice and left for England (Edwards, 2013, 769, 770).

Historic themes

Australian theme (abbrev)	New South Wales theme	Local theme
1. Environment-Tracing the evolution of a continent's special environments	Environment - naturally evolved-Activities associated with the physical surroundings that support human life and influence or shape human cultures.	Gardens-
1. Environment-Tracing the evolution of a continent's special environments	Environment - naturally evolved-Activities associated with the physical surroundings that support human life and influence or shape human cultures.	Changing the environment-
1. Environment-Tracing the evolution of a continent's special environments	Environment - naturally evolved-Activities associated with the physical surroundings that support human life and influence or shape human cultures.	Cultural: Plains and plateaux supporting human activities-
2. Peopling-Peopling the continent	Ethnic influences-Activities associated with common cultural traditions and peoples of shared descent, and with exchanges between such traditions and peoples.	American colonial architectural influence-
2. Peopling-Peopling the continent	Ethnic influences-Activities associated with common cultural traditions and peoples of shared descent, and with exchanges between such traditions and peoples.	Chinese fine and decorative arts influence-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings	Gardens and landscapes reminiscent of an 'old country'-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings	Landscapes and gardens of domestic accommodation-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings	Landscapes demonstrating styles in landscape design-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings	Landscapes and parklands of distinctive styles-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Accommodation-Activities associated with the provision of accommodation, and particular types of accommodation – does not include architectural styles – use the theme of Creative Endeavour for such activities.	Residential-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Accommodation-Activities associated with the provision of accommodation, and particular types of accommodation – does not include architectural styles – use the theme of Creative Endeavour for such activities.	Marine villa-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Accommodation-Activities associated with the provision of accommodation, and particular types of accommodation – does not include architectural styles – use the theme of Creative Endeavour for such activities.	A Picturesque Residential Suburb-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Accommodation-Activities associated with the provision of accommodation, and particular types of accommodation – does not include architectural styles – use the theme of Creative Endeavour for such activities.	Housing townsfolk - urban villas-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Accommodation-Activities associated with the provision of accommodation, and particular types of accommodation – does not include architectural styles – use the theme of Creative Endeavour for such activities.	housing (suburbs)-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Accommodation-Activities associated with the provision of accommodation, and particular types of accommodation – does not include architectural styles – use the theme of Creative Endeavour for such activities.	gentlemen's residences-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Accommodation-Activities associated with the provision of accommodation, and particular types of accommodation – does not include architectural styles – use the theme of Creative Endeavour for such activities.	Eccentric residence-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Accommodation-Activities associated with the provision of accommodation, and particular types of accommodation – does not include architectural styles – use the theme of Creative Endeavour for such activities.	Adapted heritage building or structure-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Accommodation-Activities associated with the provision of accommodation, and particular types of accommodation – does not include architectural styles – use the theme of Creative Endeavour for such activities.	Architectural design-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Accommodation-Activities associated with the provision of accommodation, and particular types of accommodation – does not include architectural styles – use the theme of Creative Endeavour for such activities.	Federation era residence-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Accommodation-Activities associated with the provision of accommodation, and particular types of accommodation – does not include architectural styles – use the theme of Creative Endeavour for such activities.	Bungalows-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Accommodation-Activities associated with the provision of accommodation, and particular types of accommodation – does not include architectural styles – use the theme of Creative Endeavour for such activities.	Housing professional people-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Accommodation-Activities associated with the provision of accommodation, and particular types of accommodation – does not include architectural styles – use the theme of Creative Endeavour for such activities.	Housing famous families-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Land tenure-Activities and processes for identifying forms of ownership and occupancy of land and water, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal	Sub-division of large estates-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Land tenure-Activities and processes for identifying forms of ownership and occupancy of land and water, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal	Changing land uses - from rural to suburban-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Land tenure-Activities and processes for identifying forms of ownership and occupancy of land and water, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal	Surveying by Augustus Alt-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages	20th century Suburban Developments-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages	Subdivision of urban estates-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages	Creating landmark structures and places in suburban settings-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages	living in the suburbs-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages	Impacts of railways on urban form-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages	Impact of railways on suburban development-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages	A Picturesque Residential District-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages	Garden suburbs-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages	Suburban Consolidation-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages	Developing suburbia-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages	Role of transport in settlement-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Architectural styles and periods - 20th century colonial revival-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Architectural styles and periods - Interwar Georgian revival-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Patronising artistic endeavours-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Designing to evoke nationalistic feelings-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Landscaping - 20th century interwar-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Landscaping - 20th century interwar-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Landscaping - 20th century post WW2-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Landscaping - Federation period-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Adaptation of overseas design for local use-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Creating an icon-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Designing landscapes in an exemplary style-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Designing landscapes in an exemplary style-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Performing in artistic and creative ways-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Creating works of art-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Creating works of literature-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Building in response to natural landscape features.-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Designing in an exemplary architectural style-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Interior design styles and periods - Edwardian-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Capturing iconic landscapes in art-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Interior design styles and periods - Inter War-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Domestic life-Activities associated with creating, maintaining, living in and working around houses and institutions.	Ways of life 1900-1950-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Domestic life-Activities associated with creating, maintaining, living in and working around houses and institutions.	Ways of life 1950-2000-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Domestic life-Activities associated with creating, maintaining, living in and working around houses and institutions.	Living in a bushland setting-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Domestic life-Activities associated with creating, maintaining, living in and working around houses and institutions.	Living on the urban fringe-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Domestic life-Activities associated with creating, maintaining, living in and working around houses and institutions.	Ornamental Garden-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Domestic life-Activities associated with creating, maintaining, living in and working around houses and institutions.	Living in a new house-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Domestic life-Activities associated with creating, maintaining, living in and working around houses and institutions.	Living in a new house-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Domestic life-Activities associated with creating, maintaining, living in and working around houses and institutions.	Living in, adapting and renovating homes for changing conditions-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Domestic life-Activities associated with creating, maintaining, living in and working around houses and institutions.	Living in suburbia-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation	Outdoor relief-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation	Visiting gardens-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation	Gardening-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation	Activities associated with relaxation and recreation-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation	Visiting heritage places-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation	Gathering at landmark places to socialise-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation	Leisure-Includes tourism, resorts.
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Social institutions-Activities and organisational arrangements for the provision of social activities	Belonging to an historical society or heritage organisation-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Social institutions-Activities and organisational arrangements for the provision of social activities	Developing local clubs and meeting places-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Social institutions-Activities and organisational arrangements for the provision of social activities	Developing clubs for social improvement-
9. Phases of Life-Marking the phases of life	Persons-Activities of, and associations with, identifiable individuals, families and communal groups	Associations with William Hardy Wilson, architect, artist, writer, conservationist-
9. Phases of Life-Marking the phases of life	Persons-Activities of, and associations with, identifiable individuals, families and communal groups	Associations with Mr Foden, English multi-industrialist-

Recommended management:

Recommendations

Management Category	Description	Date Updated
Recommended Management	Produce a Conservation Management Plan (CMP)
Recommended Management	Prepare a maintenance schedule or guidelines
Recommended Management	Carry out interpretation, promotion and/or education

Procedures /Exemptions

Section of act	Description	Title	Comments	Action date
57(2)	Exemption to allow work	Standard Exemptions	SCHEDULE OF STANDARD EXEMPTIONS HERITAGE ACT 1977 Notice of Order Under Section 57 (2) of the Heritage Act 1977 I, the Minister for Planning, pursuant to subsection 57(2) of the Heritage Act 1977, on the recommendation of the Heritage Council of New South Wales, do by this Order: 1. revoke the Schedule of Exemptions to subsection 57(1) of the Heritage Act made under subsection 57(2) and published in the Government Gazette on 22 February 2008; and 2. grant standard exemptions from subsection 57(1) of the Heritage Act 1977, described in the Schedule attached. FRANK SARTOR Minister for Planning Sydney, 11 July 2008 To view the schedule click on the Standard Exemptions for Works Requiring Heritage Council Approval link below.	Sep 5 2008

Standard exemptions for works requiring Heritage Council approval

Listings

Heritage Listing	Listing Number	Gazette Date	Gazette Number	Gazette Page
Heritage Act - State Heritage Register	00184	02 Apr 99	27	1546
Heritage Act - Permanent Conservation Order - former	00184	12 Mar 82	35	1042
Register of the National Estate		21 Oct 80

Study details

Title	Year	Number	Author	Inspected by	Guidelines used
Ku-Ring-Gai Heritage Study	1987		Robert Moore, Penelope Pike & Helen Proudfoot		Yes

References, internet links & images

Type	Author	Year	Title
Written	Beiers, G.	1948	Houses of Australia - a survey of domestic architecture Ure Smith Publication, Sydney,
Written	Branch Manager, Heritage Branch, Department of Environment & Planning	1981	Branch Manager's report 180/81
Written	Broadbent, James, in National Trust of Australia (NSW)	1980	William Hardy Wilson - a 20th century Colonial (exhibition catalogue)
Written	Edwards, Zeny; in Goad, Philip (ed)., The Encyclopaedia of Australian Architecture	2013	'Wilson, William Hardy' and 'Wilson Neave & Berry' entries, in
Written	Freeland, J.M.	1988	Architecture in Australia - a history
Written	Ku-Ring-Gai Historical Society Inc	1996	Focus on Ku-Ring-Gai
Written	Paroissien, Guy	2019	Arboricultural Impact Report - 'Purulia' 16 Fox Valley Road, Wahroonga NSW
Written	Pollen, Francis, in The Book of Sydney Suburbs	1988	'Wahroonga'

Note: internet links may be to web pages, documents or images.

(Click on thumbnail for full size image and image details)

Data source


The information for this entry comes from the following source:
Name:	Heritage Office
Database number:	5045364
File number:	S90/05710 & HC 32567

Every effort has been made to ensure that information contained in the State Heritage Inventory is correct. If you find any errors or omissions please send your comments to the Database Manager.

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