Lilyvale

Statement of Significance

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Description

Assessed significance: State

Item type: Built

Current use: Restaurant (part of Shangri La Hotel)

Former use: Town House

Group: Residential buildings (private)

Category: Cottage

Designer/Maker:

Builder/Maker:

Construction Years: 1845 - 1847

Physical Description: 'Lilyvale' Cottage is a three storey double fronted brick residence, erected c.1847. 'Lilyvale' is a fine, free standing example of the Colonial Regency style. This style is derived from the parapet on the first floor front elevation, which partially obscures the roof and the formal, symmetrical arrangement of openings. The cottage is an unusual example of the Regency style, being adorned with a verandah at ground floor level and a prominent gabled roof which contains attic rooms rising above the front elevation. Construction is of traditional load bearing brickwork with timber framed floors and roof. Attic rooms are lit by 3 dormer windows facing to the rear. Internally, it comprises a central corridor with front and back rooms opening on each side. The hallway leads to the original cedar staircase, giving access to upper level rooms and to the rear yard. The stairway continues to the attic. Early cedar joinery, fireplaces, doors windows and plasterwork survive in most rooms.(Schwager Brooks 1989: 5-6)Style: Colonial Regency; Storeys: Three; Facade: Brick; Side Rear Walls: Brick; Internal Walls: Brick & timber framed; Internal Structure: Timber; Floor Frame: Timber; Roof Frame: Timber shingle; Ceilings: Original lath and plaster, ceiling roses and cornices.; Stairs: Timber (original); Lifts: None

Property Description

Address

Historic Notes and Themes

Historical notes: The original grantee of the property on which Lilyvale stands appears to have been Thomas Boulton. Boulton was granted a town lease of 34 roods on the eastern side of Cumberland Street by Governor Macquarie on 25 August 1812. Under the terms of the lease, Boulton was required to erect a dwelling "33 feet in length and 14 feet in width" within three years.The grantee was one of two Thomas Boultons, father and son, who had come free to the colony in 1801 on the Minorca. Both father and son were stonemasons by trade, which makes differentiating between the two in the historical record difficult. Boulton senior probably constructed the first dwelling on the allotment, which in later years was known as "Myrtle/Geranium Cottage". By the terms of the lease the building would have to have been completed by 1815. The allotment was relinquished to the Crown in 1817 after its owner, John Michael Anthony (half-brother to Thomas Boulton junior) committed suicide. Captain Edward Edwards, Anthony's brother-in-law, then petitioned Governor Macquarie to re-grant the estate to Edwards, the claim being made on behalf of his four infant children. Macquarie acceded to this request in June 1820 but appointed a Supreme Court clerk as administrator of the estate with the right to sell to pay any outstanding debts incurred by Anthony. The children were subsequently admitted to the orphan schools at Parramatta. The administrator sold the grant as two parcels of land by public auction in December 1820. One allotment (later known as Lot 12) was sold to a Richard Archbold, the other (later Lot 13) to the general dealer William Sibley. Archbold sold his portion to Sibley in October of the following year. The sale notice published in 1820 in the Sydney Gazette shows that by this date a house ("Messuage or Tenement") had been completed, with another under construction ("Materials thereon placed towards building another Messuage"). The street address at this time was 60 Cumberland Street. Surveyor Harper's plan of the town, begun in 1822, shows two buildings within the grant, both fronting Cumberland Street, which indicates one building was the dwelling Boulton had erected c. 1812-1815 and the other was completed after the 1820 sale notice. The house sited closest to Essex Street was the original house and the later house was located on the Lilyvale site. From later rate assessments and surveyor's notes the building closest to Essex Street was a single-storey timber dwelling of four rooms and the building on the Lilyvale site was a single-storey brick dwelling of four rooms with another two-storey dwelling of four rooms at the rear. The cottages were purchased from Sibley by Robert Fopp and James Thompson. By this time the subdivision of the grant into two allotments had been formalised, with the older "Myrtle Cottage" (with a land area of 14 perches) purchased for 260 pounds, while the unnamed cottage (with a land area of 22 perches) realised a far higher price of 800 pounds. This sale incidentally appears not to have been formally registered. Thompson and Fopp were partners in a butchery business established by 1826 operating out of premises in Cambridge Street. Thompson (c. 1790-1837) was a butcher by trade and a former convict who had been granted his freedom. Fopp by contrast had come free to the colony in 1809 as part of Governor Macquarie's entourage and had served as the governor's personal butler until 1815. The partnership seems to have been dissolved by the mid 1830s. Around the time the conditions of the original town lease of 1812 were about to expire. Fopp sought the legal title to both allotments of land in May 1834 but Thompson disputed Fopp's claim to the Essex Street fronting allotment (Lot 13). In making the memorials neither party stated who the original grantee was and both solicited statements from William Sibley to support their rightful claim. In the evidence presented it is clear that the cottages were leased by Fopp and Thompson and both contributed to their upkeep. The evidence was heard in November 1834 and the commissioners decided in favour of both claimants. Thompson retained ownership of his cottage, which by 1837 was used as his butcher's shop. The site of the future Lilyvale was sold by Fopp in December 1838 to the local innkeeper, Michael Farrell, for 617 pounds. As noted in the report on the Lilyvale archaeological site by Penny Crook, there were two innkeepers in Sydney in the 1840s named Michael Farrell, a coincidence that Michael Farrell the owner of the subject premises in Cumberland Street took measures to clarify when the other Michael Farrell was declared insolvent in 1844. The Michael Farrell associated with Lilyvale was the longstanding licensee of the Welsh Harp at the corner of George and King Streets. By the time of his death in July 1882 Farrell owned a number of premises in the city, including a house in Castlereagh Street and a pair of tenements in Goulburn Street. The history of Lilyvale's occupation is fairly well documented in the local rate assessments, government surveys and the commercial street directories that proliferated from the 1850s. These sources reveal Lilyvale was built around 1846/1847, as the Council rate assessments for 1845 and 1848 reveal a marked change in assessed value and property description. In 1845 the assessor noted a one-storey house of four rooms of "middling repair" valued at 31 pounds, while the assessment three years later recorded a two- storey house of eleven rooms (Lilyvale) with (detached) kitchen, stable and coach-house collectively valued at 78 pounds. Why Farrell chose to rebuild a house that was only about twenty years old is not known; it may have been determined by a calamitous event such as fire, although no evidence for this was recorded in the Lilyvale excavations. The requirement for a new building may reflect Farrell's use of the property, which on the historical evidence seems to have been for a building suitable for licensed premises and associated coaching yard. While the main house appears to have been rebuilt, a number of structures at the rear of the property were retained, including a second residence. This building is shown on a survey prepared in 1835 and was still standing in 1902. It was located in the vicinity of present-day Gloucester Lane and was demolished around 1903. While it may have been the original detached kitchen of the first cottage on the site, it had different uses at various times in later years. With minor exception, the Council rate assessments throughout the nineteenth century describe this building as a two-storey brick building of four rooms. As with the main house, it was leased from the Farrell family who distinguished between the two premises. The various outbuildings associated with the main house, described in the Council rate assessment of 1863 as comprising collectively a pair of stables, coach house and hay loft, would seem to have been well suited to the range of commercial uses of the property.Farrell resided at Lilyvale and licensed the premises as the "Hen and Chickens". This is not supported by Council rate assessments or street directories; however, Farrell was issued with a liquor licence for the "Hen and Chickens" in Cumberland Street in 1846 and 1847. This demonstrated hotel use may account for some details of the property that were atypical of what is known of residential development for the era. The building, for example, is set back from the side boundaries with a generous side passage and rear yard with large stabling. It is also freestanding; a terrace taking up the maximum available street frontage would have been more consistent with contemporary developments. In October 1847 the building was advertised as a "genteel family residence situated in Cumberland Street containing eleven rooms together with a coach house and stables &c." Initially, at least, this residential use was associated with middle-class tenants but with the onset of the gold rush the use of the building changed again in response to the new socio-economic circumstances. At first the building reverted to licensed premises around 1855, under licensee Thomas Lynch, with the premises trading as "The Cumberland" and then the "Clare Tavern" (1857). The hotel use ceased around 1861, the last licensee was Stephen Doyle. It has been stated the hotel also traded as "Athol Blair", but no evidence has been found to support this for the time period in question. Around 1863 the building became a boarding house. With possibly one exception, the boarding house use continued until it was closed under the management of the Sydney Cove Redevelopment Authority (SCRA) in the mid 1970s. It was managed under lease from the Farrell family until 1902 and then by the government following the resumption. Following the death of Michael Farrell in 1882, the property was owned by his trustees and executors - initially his son George Henry Albert Farrell and daughter Mary Ann Samuels. At the time of the resumption the trustees were Thomas O'Mara, Ernest Thompson and Herbert, Reginald and Elizabeth Farrell.In the major gaps of 1883-1889 and 1896-1900 the building was tenanted by William Bird. Bird was described as a clerk, and there is no documentary evidence to indicate a boarding house type use during his tenancy. The role of boarding houses in The Rocks in the nineteenth century in general has been studied by historical archaeologist Jane Lydon. This type of accommodation was particularly popular among the port's seamen who had a choice between lodging houses and the better quality boarding houses, such as Lilyvale, which offered longer term accommodation of around one to two weeks in comfortable, clean and respectable surroundings. From the mid 1920s, when the boarding house was managed by Mary and Peter Gordon, the dwelling was briefly known as "Allendale" and then "Lily Villa". The latter name appears in the Council rate assessment for 1927 and on a Water Board survey of 1932. The National Trust listing prepared by heritage architect Clive Lucas in 1974 noted it as the "former Lily Cottage", while by the 1980s the name had been corrupted to "Lilyvale". Some insight into the running of the boarding house is provided in an inspection report prepared by the City Architect in 1945, when the number of lodgers accommodated was 14 in about the same number of rooms. The tenancy cards maintained by the government authority managing the premises also provide some insight into the minutiae of day-to-day life, listing minor and major repairs, unlawful electricity connections, rent variations etc. These records provide little insight into the standard of accommodation offered. That there were problems in this regard is suggested by the City Council serving notice in 1935 to remedy dampness experienced in the ground floor rooms. The boarding house use of the building continued until at least 1974 but seems to have ceased soon after this. The building was then evidently unoccupied (or at least not officially tenanted) for a number of years into the early 1980s. In this period it is likely to have been a squat.The evolving role of the SCRA and proposals for redevelopment of the precinct led to the closure of the boarding house. The site was included in Precinct D1 in the Sydney Cove Redevelopment Scheme of 1984 on which it was planned to build a major new hotel. This eventuated in the ANA Hotel development of 1989. In the interim, the SCRA instigated a program of restoration and refurbishment in 1983 which was completed in 1986. The impetus for the work may have been a response to concerns raised by the Heritage Council of NSW in March 1983, which drew attention to the deterioration of the building and the need for immediate maintenance works and site security. The staged timing of the work resulted in the exterior being completed in 1983 and the interior in 1986. The work was documented by SCRA's in-house architectural office with the latter work being completed by contractor Stonehill Restorations. The latter refurbishment was undertaken with the view that the Nature Conservation Council would lease the building at an annual rental of $10,000; the budgeted cost of the building works was put at $72,000. A new office kitchenette and lavatory wing was proposed for the rear but this did not eventuate. In 1988 the SCRA progressed with its development proposals for the precinct, choosing CRI as the successful tenderer. The actions of CRI in the tender process were subsequently questioned when it was revealed the group had entered into an agreement with All Nippon Airways some weeks prior to the announcement of the winning submission, unbeknown to the SCRA or to Sheraton Pacific Hotels, which was part of the original tender. Sheraton subsequently took legal action against CRI for breach of contract. The price paid for the leasehold is reputed to have been around $105 million. CRI on-sold the leasehold to All Nippon Airways in March 1989 for $135 million. By this time the development proposal for the precinct was well advanced in regards to heritage management and new development. An environmental impact statement prepared by Planning Workshop Pty Ltd was placed on public exhibition in October 1988. Archaeologist Wendy Thorp submitted an excavation permit in January 1989, heritage consultants Schwager Brooks completed a conservation report in May 1989, and the architectural practice Mitchell Giurgola and Thorp prepared the documentation for the hotel. Implementing the development proposal necessitated demolition of a number of historic terraces on Cumberland Street and bulk excavation of the development site at Nos. 176-180 Cumberland Street and Nos. 10-14 Essex Street. The bulk excavation was undertaken between February and May 1989.As part of the development proposal, Lilyvale was adapted, under the direction of the heritage consultants Schwager Brooks, to provide a restaurant managed in association with the adjoining ANA Hotel. An underground passage was built to service the cottage from the hotel basement level and loading dock. The hotel development was completed in 1992 by Civil and Civic as principal contractor. Lilyvale functioned as a restaurant throughout the 1990s.In 2002 the GIC Group, owned by the Singapore government, purchased the leasehold and hotel for $206.5 million. GIC subsequently appointed the Hong Kong-listed Shangri- la Hotel chain to manage the hotel in 2003. The restaurant use of Lilyvale ceased under the new ownership and the building was converted for office use.

Historical significance: The historical significance of Lilyvale is demonstrated by:? the evidence of the place as part of the Victorian development of The Rocks which is significant in its own right due to its association with the convict settlement of Australia as the earliest area of Sydney to be developed.? the evidence and association of the place as the site of major archaeological excavation in The Rocks that set benchmarks for future excavations in Sydney.? the continuous and changing uses which reflect the development of the The Rocks and immediate area. Constructed in 1846-47 the building has been used for residential and commercial purposes. The changing uses from a "genteel residence", hotel and later boarding house and restaurant represents the changing circumstances of The Rocks area and shift from a business hub of Sydney centred around maritime trade to a working-class residential area to a focus of Sydney tourism since the 1980s.? its association with the early activities of the Sydney Cove Redevelopment Authority (SCRA) and was one of the first buildings restored by SCRA. These conservation works, undertaken in the 1980s, reflected the approach of restoring buildings to the way they were during a known significant phase. Lilyvale was restored as a Victorian residence. With the Butchery Buildings at Nos. 178-180 Cumberland Street and Harts Buildings at Nos. 10-14 Sussex Street it has been integrated with the adjacent Hotel development and is now part of an active commercial "community" and busy tourist precinct.? the association with a remnant group of nineteenth century buildings and houses around the intersection of Cumberland and Essex Streets, which collectively illustrate the range, diversity and urban scale of development in The Rocks between 1840 and the First World War.The building meets this criterion on a STATE level.

Historical association: The associational significance of Lilyvale is demonstrated by:? the association with a number of local land owners, residents and occupants.? the association with significant groups including the Sydney Harbour Trust, who became responsible for the buildings in c. 1900, Maritime Services Board, Sydney Cove Redevelopment Authority and Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority. The buildings are also now associated with the Shangri-La (former ANA) Hotel and part of the tourist and commercial enterprise in the area.The building meets this criterion on a LOCAL level.

Aesthetic significance: The aesthetic significance of Lilyvale is demonstrated by:? the style, form and detailing of the building which is fine example of a freestanding, two storey with attic and basement, double-fronted, brick residence constructed in the Victorian Regency style, which was a continuation of the Old Colonial Regency style into the Victorian period. The building demonstrates stylistic features, site planning and overall presentation more reminiscent of the earlier Old Colonial Regency style but also incorporates features representative of its time, such as the use of a parapet on the fa?ade, instead of the older roof form of projecting eaves.? the architectural configuration and layout which is perhaps indicative of a licensed hotel use. The building significantly retains its primary scale, external character and details including front parapet, roof form and chimneys, front verandah and pattern of openings. Although many of the internal finishes have been modified, the building retains a strong sense of its early internal layout and configuration of spaces, as well as much of its fine original and early joinery.? its streetscape qualities, it is a highly visible element and makes a positive visual contribution to this section of Cumberland Street.? its contribution to an aesthetically distinctive townscape and part of a group of nineteenth and early 20th century buildings about the intersections of Essex, Gloucester and Cumberland Streets, which collectively illustrate the range, diversity of style and urban scale of development in The Rocks between 1840 and the First World War.The building meets this criterion on a LOCAL level.

Social significance: The social values of Lilyvale are demonstrated by:? its contribution as a historic building in The Rocks which has high social value to residents and occupants and the wider community who campaigned against full scale redevelopment of the area in the 1960s and 1970s and continue to hold The Rocks in high regard for its historical, archaeological and architectural significance and research potential;? its contribution to the community's sense of place as part of a primarily residential and small scale commercial precinct that developed after the relocation of the Old Gaol from George Street in the early 1840s and association with a number of occupants and tenants who were part of a closely knit working class neighbourhood. The building is now part of an active commercial "community" and busy tourist precinct and popular venue for leisure activities for local workers and tourists alike.The buildings meet this criterion on a STATE and LOCAL level.

Research significance: The research value of Lilyvale is demonstrated by:? its potential to yield new or further information as an intact and rare example of Victorian Regency, freestanding, domestic architecture in the city centre, with potential to yield further information related to the design and functions of residences in The Rocks area in the mid-nineteenth century.? its potential to yield new or further information on construction methods of the mid- nineteenth century.? its high potential to contain archaeological resources that pre-date the construction of the existing house. The site and building have been ascertained as being of State Heritage significance for their contribution to The Rocks area, which is of State Heritage significance in its own right. Thus, given the State significance of the site and the wider Rocks area within which it is located, the potential archaeological material constitutes a high resource value.? as a reference site with the neighbouring Butchery Buildings and Harts Buildings, the buildings demonstrate the architecture, domestic and commercial attitudes of the period between 1840 and 1900 in NSW.The building meets this criterion on a STATE level.

Rare assessment: Lilyvale is relatively rare as:? an example of a freestanding, small scale dwelling constructed in the Victorian Regency style in The Rocks and city area. There are a number of buildings and terraces constructed in the similar style and dating from a similar period remaining in the city, however, these vary in scale and detail.? as a detached building sited within the allotment boundaries, in the context of the mid-nineteenth century townscape of Sydney, was unusual and may relate to its use as both a "genteel residence" and Hotel. The building is not typical of domestic/commercial development in that period, which was generally denser and consisted of attached dwellings/premises, stretching across the whole street frontage.? a rare surviving example of a type of licensed premises that had largely disappeared by the beginning of the twentieth century. The siting of the building and its internal layout are indicative of a Hotel use.? as one of a few 19th century, small scale residential buildings remaining in the area south of the Cahill Expressway and as part of a grouping of 19th century buildings (with the Butchery Buildings and Harts Buildings) that are the only survivors from the period of the 1840s to 1890s in the block bounded by the Cahill Expressway, Cumberland, Essex and Gloucester Streets.The building meets this criterion on a STATE level.

Representative assessment: The representative significance of Lilyvale is demonstrated by:? the principle characteristics of the building as a representative example of a Victorian Regency architectural style. It may also be representative of a type of mid nineteenth-century hotel.The buildings meet this criterion on a STATE level.

Intact assessment: Archaeology partly disturbed.

Physical condition: Archaeology Assessment Condition: Partly disturbed. Assessment Basis: Area under building only. Terraced into hill slope. Investigation: Excavation

Listings

References

Type	Author	Year	Title
Written	Thorp, W. for Planning Workshop	1988	'Archival Assessment for Proposed Hotel - Lilyvale Site, The Rocks', in EIS - Proposed Hotel - Lilyvale Site, The Rocks.
Written	Higginbotham, Kass & Walker	1991	The Rocks and Millers Point Archaeological Management Plan
Management Plan			Grants index.
Written	SCRA	1974	Building Data Sheet GL/09,
Written	Schwager Brooks & Partners	1989	Historic Buildings ('Lilyvale Cottage', 'The Butchery Buildings', & 'Hart's Buildings') Conservation Plan
Management Plan	Perumal Murphy Alessi, Heritage Consultants	2015	Conservation Management Plan -Lilyvale - 176 Cumberland Street

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