Elizabeth Bay
Elizabeth Bay was named in honour of Governor Macquarie’s wife, Elizabeth, with the area originally known by its Aboriginal name, Yarrandabby.
Many oyster shell mounds, thousands of years old, are hidden in rocky crags along the foreshore indicating an ancient Aboriginal presence.
Alexander Macleay (1767–1848), a botanist, was the NSW Colonial Secretary, a prized post and was granted 54 acres down to the water\'s edge in 1826. He commissioned architect John Verge to build Elizabeth Bay House, a Regency-style marine villa, completed 1837, and described at the time as “the finest house in the colony”. He surrounded it with rare garden specimens and Roman-style grottoes.
NSW Heritage describes the site as “one of the most sophisticated works of architecture of the early 19th century in NSW” with the NSW Historic Houses Trust stating it is “Australia’s most beautiful interior.” The internal foyer with its cantilevered stair case is a pièce de résistance. Today, the house is publicly owned and open to the public.
Major subdivisions of Macleay’s Estate included the 1865 allotments on Macleay Street, Elizabeth Bay Road and Roslyn Gardens, with 1882 subdivisions creating Billyard and Onslow Avenues. The Elizabeth Bay House site itself was sub-divided in 1927 and 1934. Governor Macquarie, as part of an unsuccessful plan to assimilate Aborigines, built a series of wooden huts nearby in what is now Beare Park.
Beare Park itself, named after Councillor Beare, a member of Sydney Council’s Parks and Gardens Committee, was created from partly reclaimed land. Today, it is like a jewel forming part of an emerald necklace of green spaces dotted around the harbour and much appreciated by locals. Many significant buildings in Elizabeth Bay create a old-world charm. Tresco, an 1868 marine villa, nestled in the fulcrum of Elizabeth Bay Road, is the only home in the area on its original, complete site of 1 acre. On December 9, 1865, the Sydney Morning Herald noted that local agents, Richardson and Wrench, described it as \"an unrivalled site with extensive frontage to the waters of Elizabeth Bay\". Its heritage-listed gardens include a statuesque fig tree over 120 years old and a rare 1830s gnarled, carob bean tree, the oldest in Australia, lazily overhanging the front fence.
Elizabeth Bay is part of the densest urban area in Australia with its own population of 5,000 and linked to Potts Point and Rushcutters Bay. Although some high-rise developments dominate some areas, the fine-grained streetscapes, lined with White Magnolias and small cafes provide a localised intimacy.
The area faces east to the harbour and the heads and includes other important buildings such as heritage-listed Boomerang, built in 1926 This “Hollywood”, Mediterranean-style dwelling maintains a theatrical air with rooms decorated in different styles from various historical eras. It has been used as a backdrop for Hollywood movies, including Mission Impossible II.
In the 1930s the area shared in a boom in flats built in the Art Déco style, a significant collection now heritage-listed.
Elizabeth Bay today is a “pedestrian friendly, historic environment with a strong community ethos”, as one local has said, bounded by the harbour on three sides and close to public transport.
Many oyster shell mounds, thousands of years old, are hidden in rocky crags along the foreshore indicating an ancient Aboriginal presence.
Alexander Macleay (1767–1848), a botanist, was the NSW Colonial Secretary, a prized post and was granted 54 acres down to the water\'s edge in 1826. He commissioned architect John Verge to build Elizabeth Bay House, a Regency-style marine villa, completed 1837, and described at the time as “the finest house in the colony”. He surrounded it with rare garden specimens and Roman-style grottoes.
NSW Heritage describes the site as “one of the most sophisticated works of architecture of the early 19th century in NSW” with the NSW Historic Houses Trust stating it is “Australia’s most beautiful interior.” The internal foyer with its cantilevered stair case is a pièce de résistance. Today, the house is publicly owned and open to the public.
Major subdivisions of Macleay’s Estate included the 1865 allotments on Macleay Street, Elizabeth Bay Road and Roslyn Gardens, with 1882 subdivisions creating Billyard and Onslow Avenues. The Elizabeth Bay House site itself was sub-divided in 1927 and 1934. Governor Macquarie, as part of an unsuccessful plan to assimilate Aborigines, built a series of wooden huts nearby in what is now Beare Park.
Beare Park itself, named after Councillor Beare, a member of Sydney Council’s Parks and Gardens Committee, was created from partly reclaimed land. Today, it is like a jewel forming part of an emerald necklace of green spaces dotted around the harbour and much appreciated by locals. Many significant buildings in Elizabeth Bay create a old-world charm. Tresco, an 1868 marine villa, nestled in the fulcrum of Elizabeth Bay Road, is the only home in the area on its original, complete site of 1 acre. On December 9, 1865, the Sydney Morning Herald noted that local agents, Richardson and Wrench, described it as \"an unrivalled site with extensive frontage to the waters of Elizabeth Bay\". Its heritage-listed gardens include a statuesque fig tree over 120 years old and a rare 1830s gnarled, carob bean tree, the oldest in Australia, lazily overhanging the front fence.
Elizabeth Bay is part of the densest urban area in Australia with its own population of 5,000 and linked to Potts Point and Rushcutters Bay. Although some high-rise developments dominate some areas, the fine-grained streetscapes, lined with White Magnolias and small cafes provide a localised intimacy.
The area faces east to the harbour and the heads and includes other important buildings such as heritage-listed Boomerang, built in 1926 This “Hollywood”, Mediterranean-style dwelling maintains a theatrical air with rooms decorated in different styles from various historical eras. It has been used as a backdrop for Hollywood movies, including Mission Impossible II.
In the 1930s the area shared in a boom in flats built in the Art Déco style, a significant collection now heritage-listed.
Elizabeth Bay today is a “pedestrian friendly, historic environment with a strong community ethos”, as one local has said, bounded by the harbour on three sides and close to public transport.