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These are the most famous of the stately homes of Darling Point. Please note that the majority are private property and are not open to the public for inspection except where state. They are listed here for information only, to access them without permission is trespassing. The majority can be photographed from the street or the harbour without violating the privacy of their occupiers.


Craigend

Craigend: Situated close to McKell Park, Craigend was built for Captain James Patrick, ship owner in the coastal trade. During travels in Africa, Patrick acquired a pair of doors from an ancient mosque in Zanzibar for the house. So the house, initially designed to remind him of his travels has been said to have been designed around these doors, albeit in a rebuilt form. The style is composite, incorporating Moorish shapes, a strain of Art Deco  and Hollywoodiana , with a traditional Japanese garden in its grounds. The bronze cupola was added in 1938 and made from fittings from a yacht owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt. In 1948, the property was acquired by the U S Government as the official residence of the Consul General. It has since returned to the private sector.In 1975 it served as the villain s lair in the Hong Kong/Australian co-produced movie The Man from Hong Kong. The house is heritage-listed.


Carthona

Carthona: Built in 1841 for the Surveyor-General Sir Thomas Mitchell (1795-1855), Carthona is a harbourside sandstone mansion located at the end of Carthona Avenue. With its panoramic water views across Double Bay, to Point Piper, and north toward Manly, it is considered one of Sydney s most valuable properties. It is currently held by descendants of Philip Bushell, tea merchant who lived here after the Mitchells, died at the home in 1954. It is heritage-listed. 5 Carthona Avenue, Darling Point.


Lindesay

Lindesay: Darling Point was known for its high society social activities in the mid-1850s, and the Gothic picturesque mansion Lindesay was one of the most famous venues. Built in 1836, its owners have included Sir Thomas Mitchell and his family; William Bradley, a wealthy pastoralist who reared his motherless daughters in the house. The house was named in honour of Colonel Patrick Lindesay (1778-1939), who was acting Governor of the colony for the 6 weeks between the departure of Gov Ralph Darling and the arrival of the next Governor, Major-General Sir Richard Bourke. The property is presently owned by the National Trust and is open for inspection. Details >>. 1 Carthona Avenue. Architect: Edward Hallen.


The Swifts

The swifts: The Swifts was designed by G. E. Morrell and built in 1876 1882 for the brewer Robert Tooth. The foundation stone was laid on 18 March 1876 by his daughter, who was then only a baby. Tooth always boasted that he had a wanted a bigger ballroom than the governor, and that his home was bigger than Government House. It was later sold to another beer baron, Edmund Resch, the founder of Resch s Brewery, who bequeathed it to the Catholic Church, which used it as the official residence of the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney. Two popes and three cardinals have been guests there. The Resch family left $1 million for the upkeep but the money was sent to the church s Northern Territory missions and the house fell into decay. The Australian Heritage Commission has describes it as  & perhaps the grandest house remaining in Sydney . A High Victorian Gothic mansion, the 56-room gothic revival mansion has a grand entrance hall, tower with a turret overlooking the harbour, central staircase to a first floor hall, a ballroom, stables and a garden with 14 fig trees.


Bishopscourt

Bishopscourt: Up until recently, Bishopscourt has been the residence of the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, having been with the church since 1910. It s been home to seven archbishops. Bishopscourt sits among the handful of pioneer homes to have survived from the 1850s. Flowered in sandstone Gothic extravagances, it was built for the pioneer Thomas Sutcliffe Mort, who built an empire on wool, dairy, meat, mining and shipping. The residence  mostly obscured by the fig trees on its 6216 square metre holding  was designed by architects John Hilly in the 1850s and Edmund Blacket in the 1860s. It was built around an original three-roomed 1835 cottage built for an ironmonger, Thomas Woolley. Mort was a great supporter of the church, giving it the nearby land to build St Marks.

The church bought the estate from a land speculator in 1910, 32 years after Mort s death in 1878 and the departure of his family. Bishopscourt was designed by Edmund Blacket. A cottage originally occupied the site. The exterior features Tudor windows and carved doors and crests. The interior was based on the Palace of Westminster and is considered to be an outstanding example of Blacket s work, with stained-glass windows, tiled floors, an elaborate staircase and panelled library. Originally known as Greenoaks, it was also re-named Percyville before being purchased by the church and given its current name. Bishopscourt, 11a Greenoaks Avenue, Darling Point.

155 Darling Point Road, Darling Point: Poet Dorothea McKellar, whose "A Sunburnt Country" is perhaps the most well known poem about Australia, lived at 155 Darling Point Road, Darling Point, until her death in 1968.

This iconic church in Darling Point Road was designed by Edmund Blacket in 1852 . As in past times, it is a fashionable and popular place for society weddings. It has hosted weddings such as Elton John s first marriage and the fictional wedding in the film Muriel's Wedding. The rectory, also designed by Blacket, is heritage-listedd. It is a rare surviving early 'Academic Gothic Revival' villa, with significant historic and aestehtic heritage values. The quality of the building is based on its design, materials and workmanship of the external and internal building fabric from the early periods of its construction.



St Marks Church is one of the best known Anglican Parish Churches in NSW. It embodies the continuation of the Christian spiritual traditional, through which it is particuarly significant to the congregations that have attended and continue to attend St Marks. The esteem in which it is held by the wider community is evidenced by the large numbers of people who visit it, and by its regular use as a favourtie venue for baptisms, weddings and funerals.

McKell Park, at the northern end of Darling Point Road on the tip of Yaranabbe Point, is a little waterfront sanctuary amids the grand villas and lavish apartments of Darling Point. It boasts panoramic views of Sydney Harbour, its grassed sandstone terraces lead down to the harbour and ferry wharf. This suburban park has been created around the foundations of the 19th century mansion Canonbury, which have now become the borders of the garden. Creepers grow in the fireplace and seats are located in what was once the cellar.

The park is located on the northern on what was once part of Lindesay, the fine mansion and the extensive estate of the Colonial Secretary, C.D. Riddle, which was built in 1834. Canonbury was erected in 1904 by Harry Rickards, a successful vaudeville actor and producer. Probably named after the London Suburb, the home town of novelist George Orwell and Rickard s birthplace, Canonbury was a large, gothic style brick and cement-rendered home with a slate roof which dominated the tip of Darling Point.

By the late 1970s the building was an annex to the Crown Street Women s Hospital that had become surplus to the Hospital s requirements and the decision was made to sell the site for redevelopment. Strong opposition led to the transfer of the land to the Woollahra Municipal Council in 1983 for use as a public park. The house was demolished but the foundations and those of Lansdowne cottage which preceded Canonbury on the site were incorporated into the park design.

Located on the eastern shores of Rushcutters Bay, the park has a playground and good views of the city and the local yachts. There is a restaurant and kiosk in nearby Rushcutters Bay Park. It is a popular vantage point for New Year s Eve. View from the park are across across Rushcutters Bay and Elizabeth Bay towards the Sydney skyline. Buses stop along New Beach Road. Like the rest of Rushcutters Bay, the park is a 10 minute walk from Edgecliff Station.

Rushcutters Bay is the name of both the geographicasl feature to the west of Darling Point, and a tiny suburb of just six streets at the head of the bay on the Elizabeth Bay side. In early colonial days, the locality was known as Rush Cutting Bay where a group of convicts were sent to collect rushes for thatching huts and bedding for horse stables.

In those days Wests Creek flowed from Lacrozia Valley into the bay. The marshy ground was eventually reclaimed and market gardens were established. Rushcutters Bay became a popular picnic spot for inner city dwellers. White City, built on land resumed from Chinese market gardens, was an open-air amusement park. Unique in its time, it was almost a miniature city with lakes, canals, fountains and pleasure palaces.

Closed down during World war I, the Lawn Tennis Association acquired the property in 1921 and developed what became one of the best tennis grounds in the world. A landmark for many years was The Stadium, built in 1908 next to White City. It was used initially as a venue for boxing contests to entertain visits of the American fleet, then as a venue for various indoor sports and performances by overseas entertainers. It was eventually demolished to make way for the Eastern Suburbs Railway. In the 1920s boating regattas were held at Rushcutters Bay, which had become the setting off point for picnic on Clarke and Shark Islands.

Darling Point. Photo: Wikipedia

What is now the Darling Point area was originally known as Eurambi, Yarranabbi, Yarrandabbi and Yaranabe by the local Aboriginal people. The name is recalled in the name of a reserve on Darling Point s eastern shore on Rushcutters Bay. It was originally named Mrs. Darling Point in recognition of Elizabeth Darling, the wife of New South Wales Governor Ralph Darling. Darling was the colony s often criticised governor between 1825 and 1831.

At the time of its naming, the peninsula was heavily wooded, but by 1838, most of the trees had been felled and the area subdivided into 9 to 15 acre farms. Darling Point soon became home to the wealthy and noteworthy, among whom were tea baron, Philip Bushell; businessman Thomas Sutcliffe Mort, who lived at Greenoaks (Bishopscourt); Surveyor General Sir Thomas Mitchell; Rev George Fairfowl Macarthur, the one time rector of St Mark s church, Darling Point, and later headmaster of The King s School, Parramatta; the Tooth family of brewers, retailer Samuel Horden. Poet Dorothea McKellar lived at 155 Darling Point Road, Darling Point until her death in 1968. Her funeral service was held at St Mark s church on 14th October 1968.