Caroline Simpson Collection

Garden view, Normanhurst, Randwick, 1909 / photographer unknown

1909

1 photoprint : silver gelatin bromide ; 16 x 21 cm.

One of 9 photographs in a loose-leaf album, labelled by hand on the cover: "Normanhurst, Randwick, 1909". Each photo mounted by cut band corners and individually labelled. This photograph titled 'Garden view'. The inside cover of the album is annotated, in biro: "Mr & Mrs Alexander Forbes / Allison Rd Randwick Course / Sydney / Mother's brother / House now gone".

Normanhurst (Randwick, N.S.W.)
Alison Road (Randwick, N.S.W.)
mansions
garden beds
garden paths
tennis courts
balconies
Norfolk Island pines
Kirkpatrick, John, 1856-1923.
Treseder & Bartlett (Firm)

Normanhurst album

The mansion Normanhurst was built in 1887 in Alison Road, Randwick, on the corner of Cowper Street overlooking Randwick racecource. It was designed in an Italianate style by the architect John Kirkpatrick (1856-1923) - an influential member of the NSW architectural establishment, with a career spanning over 40 years - and was built for Humphrey Oxenham (1854-1923), a prosperous bookmaker and gambler. Accounts of the house were published in 'The Builder & Contractor's News' on 21 May 1887 and 'The Illustrated Sydney News' on 15 April 1893. The former noted that the grounds had been "tastefully laid out with the aid of fountains from the designs of the architect by Messrs Treseder and Bartlett, who have done the work in a highly creditable manner" while the latter described the grounds as being laid out "in a highly ornamental and beuatiful manner" and "enclosed by a solid wall of red and white bricks". Part of this polychrome wall survives, although the house itself has been demolished.
By 1909 when this photograph was taken Normanhurst was the home of Emma Matilda Forbes (1855-1921) and her husband Alexander Forbes (1864-1919). Emma, who was a beneficiary of the estate of wealthy Australian pastoralist James Tyson (1819-1898), had reportedly purchased Normanhurst from Oxenham for 20,000 pounds including furniture, carriages etc. [ref. Sydney Morning Herald 6 December 1901 p.8]

Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection ; CSL&RC PIC 1994/1

You may save or print this image for research and study. If you wish to use it for any other purposes, you must contact Museums of History NSW to request permission.

Picture

31552