Samsons Cottage (wall remains)

Statement of Significance

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Description

Assessed significance: State

Item type: Built

Current use: Shop

Former use: Residence

Group: Retail and Wholesale

Category: Shop

Designer/Maker:

Builder/Maker:

Construction Years: 1844 - 1844

Physical Description: The original two storey cottage had stone and brick walls and a shingle roof and was pulled down in 1883, however parts of the northern, western and southern walls of the building still remain. The southern wall of Samson's cottage formed part of the wall to Joseph Raphael's store and stable constructed 1853. (See 4500096 - Unwin's Coach House). The cottage has been rebuilt in 1991-2 in its original form. Storeys: Two; Facade: Stone (1844); Brick (1991); Side Rear Walls: Stone and brick walls (1844); Roof Cladding: Shingle (1844); Iron (c.1880)

Property Description

Address

Historic Notes and Themes

Historical notes: The site of Sampson's Cottage is within an area of land originally set aside for the Sydney Hospital.When the land was no longer required for this purpose it was granted as a lease to the 3rd AssistantSurgeon, William Balmain, in November 1795. Balmain's lease comprised an area of ? acre and four rods with an annual rent of two shillings and sixpence. Balmain's lease expired in 1809 and was re-issued to William Gaudry for a term of 21 years by the acting governor, Colonel Patterson. The lease was issued in the period after the overthrow of Governor Bligh in 1808 and before his replacement by Lachlan Macquarie in 1810. Macquarie reviewed the Crown leases granted in the interregnum rejecting some and endorsing others-Gaudry's lease was confirmed on 1st January 1810. Gaudry arrived in the colony in 1809 as a free settler and was appointed clerk in the Secretary's Office in April. In September 1809 he married one of the daughters of the prominent merchant Henry Kable and later took half ownership in one of Kable's ships, the colonial-built Geordy launched in 1810.As the economy of Britain's sole colonial outpost in the southern Pacific Ocean evolved from the 1810s, the port areas of Sydney gradually developed to provide purpose-built berths for trading ships and stores to house their valuable cargos. For many decades the west side of Sydney Cove remained the principal location for the town's wharfs.The extent of Gaudry's leasehold is shown in Harper's survey of the early 1820s as bounded by George Street and Gloucester Street and is defined as Lot 2 in City Section 85 by the 1830s. By early June 1810 Gaudry had erected a residence. Its location is shown on Harper's survey in the north-east corner of the allotment fronting George Street. Harper's survey suggests the allotment was bounded by a wall this is confirmed in the 1835 Russell survey. Gaudry had interests in the Hawkesbury region (he auctioned the estate of Andrew Thompson at Windsor in December 1810) and business in London. He was away from Sydney for twelve months from April 1812 and the house was put up for lease, being described in the Sydney Gazette as:The desirable and beautifully situated house and premises, No. 2, George Street, Sydney As it contains every requisite for a genteel family, it requires no further eulogium.In early 1814 Gaudry placed the property on the market. The sale notice in the Sydney Gazette ofJanuary notes the following details:No. 2, George-Street, late in the occupation of Mr. Wm. Gaudry, the buildings have lately undergone repair, and are fit for the residence of a genteel family out of trade, or for wholesale business - They consist of a parlour, kitchen, store-room, bed-chamber, a stable, and a commodious store and granary, 46 feet by 16. The allotment of ground attached comprises nearly an acre, divided into a yard, paddock, and an excellent garden...The property did not sell until 1820 well after Gaudry's death in January 1816. The purchaser wasJohn Plummer, a London merchant and agent for the colonial merchants Simeon Lord, JamesUnderwood and Henry Kable, the late Gaudry's father-in-law.The property's ownership history between 1820 and 1837 is not clear. The primary application prepared in 1888 cites a number of unregistered dealings but the application's packet of deeds has been lost. Similarly, the case notes compiled in the 1830s by the Court of Claims investigating the legality of tenure prior to issuing the Crown Grant to William Carr and George John Rogers in October1838 have also been lost. William Carr and George Rogers, solicitors, acquired the land in trust from Frederick Garling in March 1837 with the intention of selling it to pay off Garling's debts. On securing the surety of land tenure, the property was advertised for definite sale in December 1838 on the following terms:Fourteen splendid allotments of land, in the immediate vicinity of the Custom-house, Dock-yard,Commissariat Stores &c., &c, and lately known as the property of F. Garling, Esq.; bounded on theeast by George-street; on the west by Gloucester-street; on the north by the properties of RobertHow and A. Mossman, Esquires An earlier attempt to sell the land in June 1837 failed but the published notice for that sale refers to: that truly valuable plot of ground with cottage erected thereon, known as the residence of Frederick Garling, Esq., situate nearly opposite the Dock Yard and bounded on the east by George-street, on the west by Gloucester-street There were two Frederick Garlings in Sydney in the late 1830s, father and son. Garling senior (1775-1848) had been appointed in London in 1814 as one of the two first crown solicitors in the newly established Supreme Court and Governor's Court of New South Wales. Garling arrived in Sydney in1815 and was appointed by Governor Macquarie as a magistrate and the acting deputy judge advocate. He continued to hold various legal positions until his retirement in January 1839; during this period he operated a large private practice until 1830.Garling junior (1806-1873) was born in London. The eldest son, he arrived in Sydney with his parents in 1815. Garling was a painter and was appointed in 1827 as the artist with Captain Stirling's expeditionary party to the Swan River (Perth). Back in Sydney around 1828 Garling was appointed as landing waiter with the Customs Office. The Customs Office in this period was located nearby (theArgyle Bond site) and it seems probable that the Frederick Garling in question was the part-time painter and full-time landing waiter. How and when the younger Garling came to own the property is not known due to the issues with the land title. The configuration of the property at the time of Garling's residence was recorded in the survey by Robert Russell of 1835 which shows a house on the north-east corner on George Street and the allotment being enclosed and divided by walls. The residence is in the same location as Harper's early 1820s survey.Garling's allotment was offered for sale in December 1838. It was subdivided into fourteen lots, with six fronting George Street, four to New George Street (formed in part today by Playfair Street) and a further four to a proposed Charles Street. The subdivision did not proceed and Frederick Wright Unwin purchased the whole of Garling's allotment in July 1839.30 Unwin was a London trained solicitor who had come to the colony in 1827. Over the late 1820s and 1830s Unwin invested heavily in property in both the town and country. One of his earliest investments was the purchase of Captain John Piper's grant immediately to the south of Garling's (which includes the Orient Hotel site) in 1828. Unwin retained ownership of Piper's grant over the boom years of the 1830s only selling when the inevitable financial crash came in the early 1840s with his total debts mounting to £45,000. Unwin's sale was preceded by the consolidation of hit two land holdings and subdivision of part of the combined lot into 20 building allotments. The boundary line between the two grants was located within Lot 6. The subdivision also established the narrow laneway now known as Kendall Lane as a public right of way from Argyle Street to George Street (see Figure 10). The subdivision was first offered for sale in 1841 and again in November 1842 with the fifteen remaining unsold lots. The sale notices and the accompanying surveyor's plan33 refer solely to the dimensions of the allotments but does not show any existing features such as residential structures or boundary walls.Samson's Cottage is located within the western part of Lot 7 of Unwin's subdivision, which was purchased by William Samson for £300 in June 1843. Samson immediately mortgaged the property to Charles William Roemer to raise £270. Samson was a stevedore and married Martha Peterson at St Philip's Church of England on Church Hill, Sydney, in November 1841. The couple had two children, William (born November 1842 and died in infancy in February 1843), and Mary Isabella (born 1845). The property acquired by Samson from Unwin in June 1843 takes in the present day premises at 75 and 75½ George Street and the existing building fronting Kendall Lane. The 1840s City Council rate assessments of Samson's property provide some insight into the physical development of the site, but not necessarily all of its various components. Archaeological investigations of the site in 1990 found that the original building is likely to have had a single living room on the ground floor, two rooms on the upper floor and an arched passageway at the north end of the ground floor. The living room was originally accessed through a door in the east wall up until the existing George Street shop buildings were constructed in 1883. A staircase was located in the northwest corner of the living room. The first documentary evidence for capital improvement of the property is the City Council's assessors return of new buildings in Gipps Ward not yet assessed for November 1844, but by Martha Samson's later account (1882) a building had been completed a year earlier (in 1843). The City Council included the building in its valuation of Gipps Ward for 1845, which recorded the completion of a 'new house' valued at £50. This building was a two-storey structure with brick and stone walls, a shingled roof and three rooms; it was in the occupation of Samson. It is believed this valuation relates to the structure now known as Samson's Cottage. The valuation of the capital improvements at £50 was low relative to adjoining properties that were in the range of £60 to £100.In June 1847 the mortgage was refinanced with new mortgagees although the loan amount remained unchanged. Samson died in November of that year without leaving a will, and his estate was settled by the administrator and valued at £100. His widow retained ownership of the property but moved out as the Council's rate valuation of 1848 notes that a Maria Johnson was in residence. (The same rate valuation notes 'Mary Simpson' as the owner, likely to be a misspelling of 'Martha Samson' as she is later noted as the owner up until the 1880s.)The 1848 assessment valued the property at £30 and again recorded the building as a two-storey structure with brick walls, a shingled roof and four rooms. By the Council valuation of 1858 the property had been further developed with the construction of a two-storey shop of brick and stone with five rooms valued at £91 on George Street. The valuation also included an entry for a 'large' cottage of two floors and three rooms (Samson's Cottage). The valuations over the 1860s and 1870s varied in their description of the building materials, number of floors, rooms and uses. The valuation for 1863 is the most informative for it clearly distinguishes between development at the front of the allotment (shop, stone, shingled, two floors and four rooms) and the rear of the allotment (dwelling of two floors).In April 1882 Martha Samson sold the property to William Cope, solicitor, and Cunningham Archibald Atchison, surveyor for £3,125. The sale was completed a matter of months prior to her death in July 1882 at her Upper Fort Street residence. Her estate was valued at £4,680, the bulk of the money evidently being derived from the sale of the George Street property. In her will, she bequeathed money to a number of charitable institutions in the city to assist, among others, Aboriginal people, and the Church of England (Anglican Church) in its proposal (never realised) to erect a steeple on Holy Trinity (Garrison) Church at Millers Point. The bulk of the estate went to her unmarried daughter.In June 1882 Cope and Atchison re-sold the property to William Alexander Cormack, of Snails Bay, Balmain for £3,500. Cormack was variously described as an importer or master cooper. Within a short space of time Cormack redeveloped the George Street frontage by constructing the extant pair of attached shops at 75 and 75 ½ George Street by 1883, each being of three floors and nine rooms. Aside from 1884 when Cormack traded from the premises as a cooper, the shops were leased by Cormack. Cormack sold the property to the merchant Abraham Hoffnung for £5,000 in September 1888 and Hoffnung was still the owner in May 1901 when the property was resumed. From the mid-1880s the tenants of the George Street shops included tobacconists, hairdressers, outfitters, restaurateurs, bootmakers and confectioners, but there is no specific record in either the street directory (Sands) or the council valuations for the use and occupants of the building at the rear fronting Kendall Lane. From the surveys of this era the rear of the site was divided with the northern third included in the tenancy of 75 George Street and the southern two thirds included in the tenancy of 75½ George Street. The surveys clearly indicate the northern passage open on the eastern elevation remained open throughout this period.As 75½ George Street was consistently tenanted by bootmakers up to 1899 it is possible that Samson's Cottage was used as a boot factory. However, it is certain from an account in a legal deed prepared in 1888 that the rear building constituted a separate tenancy (then leased by a Mrs Brown under a weekly tenancy). The council rate assessment for 1891 recorded T Brown as the tenant of a stone house owned by Hoffnung (misspelt Hoffman) off Argyle Street. The building was of two storeys and comprised three rooms. Further evidence for the use of the rear building in this period is provided by a surveyor's field book notes prepared in August 1887 which noted a 'round copper' against the northern wall, which is suggestive of a commercial laundry use.Under government ownership the shops on George Street continued to be leased commercially. Again there is no record of how the rear building (Samson's Cottage) was used as the tenancy cards maintained by the Sydney Harbour Trust and then the Maritime Services Board have not survived. Samson's Cottage was demolished by the early 1920s (based on its absence on a 1923 survey), but it may have occurred much earlier. A number of surveys are available for the period 1923 to 1930 to indicate that with the removal of the rear building a more equitable division of the rear yard was implemented and it seems the second doorway on the rear wall to the lane shown in photographs ofthe 1970s and 1980s dates from the making of this division. Within the yard rough galvanized iron sheds were erected. It is interesting to note that No. 75 George Street had a dual occupancy that may have resulted from the change in the rear yard. Other changes of this era were the tenancies of ethnic Chinese and the switching of the bootmaker's premises from No. 75½ George Street to No. 75 George Street. With the absence of the tenancy cards, there is no information for the tenancies of the 1930s to the 1960s.The Rocks, in particular the area around the Rocks Discovery Museum, was a centre of Chinese occupation and activity from the 1850s. The list of tenants for 75 1/2 George Street shows that it was occupied by Chinese tenants on at least two occasions-from 1906-1908 by Quan Lee, for refreshment rooms and from 1916-1924 by Hong On Jang, who was a shipping providore. There is also a recorded account of a Chinese laundry up until the 1960s. This use was a continuation of a long-term use for the site of Samson's Cottage since its demolition in 1920-as evidenced by the site surveys from the late 1920s, one of which shows a 'washhouse' along the north wall of the now demolished cottage.With the establishment of the former Sydney Cove Redevelopment Authority (SCRA) in 1970 and theAuthority's concentration on restoration of its historic building stock from the mid-1970s some remedial works were undertaken to stabilize the remnant stone wall facing the laneway. The refurbishment appears to be associated with the reconstruction of Kendall Lane in 1980, which was repaved with cobble stones, the footpath paved with brick, and street lights erected. An archaeological excavation under the direction of Jane Lydon in 1990 was undertaken to investigate and record the past uses of the site, for which there is little documentary evidence. The investigations revealed the foundations of Samson's Cottage and other valuable archaeological information, some of which has been retained under the existing building. The report statesSubstantial evidence was found for the large-scale earthworks preceding construction of a cottage in 1843-4, and its subsequent occupation to ca. 1920. During this period it underwent numerous changes.In 1991 and 1992 a new infill building was constructed on the site of Samson's Cottage. The SCRA's design brief stipulated construction of a two-storey building with an expanded envelope to encase and protect the evidence of the original profile of Samson's Cottage contained within the north wall of the adjacent building. The remnant stone sections of the north, west and south walls were incorporated into the new structure. A small terrace was constructed at the rear with a floor height the same as the laneway (and higher than the then existing ground level). The area between the terrace and the rear of the shops fronting George Street was also raised and extensively repaved and landscaped inclusive of planting of two trees. Internal works included new concrete flooring, lighting and mezzanine level storage. The development was designed and documented by Howard Tanner and Associates. The building, designed as a multi-purpose space, was used as The Rocks Puppet Cottage.Over 2005 and 2006 the building was refurbished to form part of the Rocks Discovery Museum. The works included the addition of a new mezzanine level, insertion of a lift at the north end of the internal space, new openings in the south wall at ground and mezzanine levels, and rendering and painting of internal wall surfaces. The fitout for use as The Rocks Discovery Museum included a reception desk, display cabinets, new services cupboard, and interpretation works. The west wall was altered by inserting a frameless glass panel into the south door opening, and inserting a fully glazed swing door to the north door opening.

Historical significance: The Samson's Cottage remnants provide evidence of the early residential development and later commercial activities of The Rocks, in particular within the George Street and Kendall Lane precinct. The remnants of the cottage (and the later infill building) also provide evidence of the evolution of Samson's Cottage from an early nineteenth century residence to one of acknowledged cultural heritage value today. The site also contributes to our understanding of nineteenth century Sydney through the archaeological excavations of the 1980s and early 1990s. (State significance)The Raphael and Mackellar Stores provide tangible evidence of the development of the historic precinct of The Rocks as a place of trade and manufacture. They are indicative of the light industrial and commercial activity centred on West Circular Quay and demonstrate the changing nature of The Rocks from the mid-nineteenth century through to the present day. (State significance)The sandstone boundary walls provide evidence of the early subdivision pattern of the 1840s created by Frederick Unwin. (Local significance)

Historical association: The Samson's Cottage remnants and site are associated with the Chinese community, which was established in The Rocks from the 1850s. The site was occupied by Lee Quan and Hong On Jang who operated a boarding house for Chinese travellers in the early twentieth century. The site was also used as a Chinese-run laundry from the 1940s up until 1974. (Local significance)The Raphael Store has a strong association with Joseph George Raphael, merchant, MLA, and important member of Sydney's nineteenth century Jewish community. The Raphael Store is also associated with the Chinese community, with the tenancy of Nom. Wing & Co, then Sun Kung Wor and Chie Long in the 1860s. (Local significance)The Mackellar Store has a long-term association with the Mackellar family, in particular Dr Frederick Mackellar a surgeon and physician in Victorian era Sydney and father of Sir Charles Mackellar and grandfather of poet Dorothea Mackellar. The Mackellar Store is also associated with the Chinese community from 1879, through the tenancy of Tin War and Chin Pook. (Local significance)The Samson's Cottage remnants and the Raphael and Mackellar Stores are also associated with Frederick Wright Unwin who was responsible for the establishment of the current subdivision boundaries and the creation of Kendall Lane. (Local significance)

Aesthetic significance: The Samson's Cottage remnants clearly indicate the bulk, form, scale and fabric of the original two storey building. The southern wall of the building, which is embedded within the later northern wall of the Raphael Store, is significant in illustrating the position of the fireplace, the height of the building and steep pitch of the gable roof. The remnants of the original stone wall and brickwork masonry of the west elevation contribute to the streetscape of Kendall Lane and The Rocks. (Local significance)The Raphael and Mackellar Stores are sandstone warehouse type buildings of Victorian Georgian style, which have retained their original external form and key elements including sandstone walls and door openings. The retention/re-construction of the catsheads beams and pulleys also contribute to the historic character of the stores. The stores make a substantial contribution to the Kendall Lane streetscape and to the wider townscape character of The Rocks. The interior spaces are largely intact and feature sufficient original and early fabric to indicate changes over time. (Local significance)The remnant sandstone boundary walls make a substantial contribution to the aesthetic qualities of the east courtyards. (Local significance)

Social significance:

Research significance: The Samson's Cottage remnants provide tangible evidence of the layout, form and fabric of the original cottage constructed c1843. It also provides evidence of the early practice of building common or party walls-in particular the incorporation of the south wall and fireplace into the north wall of the Raphael Store. (State significance)The Raphael and Mackellar Stores incorporate intact nineteenth century technology comprising hardwood flooring, storey posts and beams and sandstone load-bearing walls. The common walls between the south and north buildings also indicates the practice of using adjacent boundary walls wherever possible. The warehouse use of the stores is demonstrated by insitu machinery comprising a hand winch, and catshead beams and pulleys. The later role of the Raphael and Mackellar Stores as a manufactory is demonstrated by insitu lineshafting and a soap mixer. (State significance)The Samson's Cottage and Raphael and Mackeller Stores site are known to contain sub-surface remains that are of significance for the potential to provide evidence that would contribute to a range of research themes, particularly the economic, political, social and physical development of the first urban settlement in Australia. (State significance)

Rare assessment: The Samson's Cottage remnants provide increasingly rare evidence of a residence constructed in the 1840s within The Rocks. When originally constructed, Samson's Cottage was one of a relatively large number of residential buildings in The Rocks and Millers Point. However, due to the widespread demolition of the early twentieth century, very little evidence of residential buildings from this period continues to survive. (Local significance)The Raphael and Mackellar Stores are rare storehouses dating from the mid-nineteenth century remaining within The Rocks, Sydney and New South Wales. Of the remaining storehouses from this period, they are the smallest scale and have a more utilitarian character reflecting their original function as storehouses for the shops and stores on George Street (Unwins Stores). (State significance)

Representative assessment: The Samson's Cottage remnants and the site's surviving archaeological evidence is representative of the early residential and commercial development of The Rocks. The site's evolving use over the years, its demolition and use as a yard, and subsequent infill redevelopment, contributes to the history of The Rocks precinct as a whole. This evolving use demonstrates wider changes experienced over the twentieth century in the cultural environment of The Rocks. (Local significance)The Raphael and Mackellar Stores are representative of early commercial stores constructed in the first century of European settlement in Sydney Cove. This is demonstrated in the construction technology, the layout of the loading bay doors, the open plan of the interior, and hoisting equipment.Historically, the Raphael and Mackellar Stores are representative of the role of The Rocks as a place of manufacture and trade. (Local significance)

Intact assessment: Archaeology partly disturbed

Physical condition:

Listings

References

Type	Author	Year	Title
Written	Lester Tropman & Associates	1989	Conservation Analysis & Statement of Cultural Significance for the Ambulance Station, at 73 George Street & Coach House Precinct to Kendall Lane
Written	Conybeare Morrison	2005	Coach House and Samson House Conservation Management Strategy
Written	SCRA	1979	Building Data Sheet KL/07
Management Plan	Tanner Architects	2011	CMP

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