Richmond Villa is a

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and human-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In ma ...

home located in , an inner city suburb of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, in the

City of Sydney The City of Sydney is the Local government in Australia, local government area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the Greater Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by Act of Parliament ...

local government area of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

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. It was designed by the notable colonial architect

Mortimer Lewis Mortimer William Lewis (1796 – 9 March 1879) was an English-born architect, surveyor and public servant who migrated to Australia and became Colonial Architect in the colony of New South Wales (now a state of Australia) from 1835 to 1849. Le ...

in the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

style. The villa was listed on the City of Sydney local heritage register on 14 December 2012 and is located adjacent to Glover cottages, which are listed on the

New South Wales State Heritage Register The New South Wales State Heritage Register, also known as NSW State Heritage Register, is a heritage list of places in the state of New South Wales, Australia, that are protected by New South Wales legislation, generally covered by the Heritag ...

History and description

Richmond Villa is now located on top of an artificial rock shelf or escarpment along the east side of Kent Street, facing west. This rock shelf may have been created by stone quarrying that took place between 1810 and the 1830s. It soon became the site of stone cottages, some of which still survive, but Richmond Villa started its life in a very different place. In 1849, Mortimer Lewis bought three plots of land behind Macquarie Street, facing The Domain. On this property he built his own home, which he called Richmond Villa. It is one of the few examples of Lewis's residential work, since his buildings were generally non-residential. He designed Richmond Villa in a

Gothic Revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

, as he had done with Bronte House. The ground floor contained a high

veranda A veranda (also spelled verandah in Australian and New Zealand English) is a roofed, open-air hallway or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front an ...

with zig-zag lattice-like detailing which contrasted with the building's asymmetrical plan and

fenestration Fenestration or fenestrate may refer to: * Fenestration (architecture), relating to openings in a building * Fenestra, in anatomy, medicine, and biology, any small opening in an anatomical structure * Leaf window, or fenestration, a translucent or ...

. The house was leased to a number of people, including from 1876 to 1893, George Neville Griffiths, member for East Sydney 1882-1885. The house was used as an annex to

NSW Parliament House New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a state on the east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Coral and Tasman Seas to the east. Th ...

until 1975. It was then dismantled to make way for extensions to Parliament House, and re-erected in Kent Street, Millers Point, in 1977. It is the current office of the

Society of Australian Genealogists The Society of Australian Genealogists (SAG) is an Australian-based non-profit organisation whose principal objective is the advancement of genealogical education. /sup> The SAG is the oldest family history society in Australia and holds the larges ...

Heritage listing

On 14 December 2012 the house was listed on the City of Sydney local heritage register with the following statement of significance: On 21 March 1978 the house was listed on the (now defunct)

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heri ...

References

External links

* {{URL, https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/stories/painted-decoration-richmond-villa, Richmond Villa at

Sydney Living Museums Museums of History NSW is a statutory body of the government of New South Wales that is responsible for historic sites, state collections and archives in New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territo ...

New South Wales places listed on the defunct Register of the National Estate Houses in Millers Point, New South Wales New South Wales Heritage Database 1851 establishments in Australia Houses completed in 1851 Mortimer Lewis buildings Gothic Revival architecture in Sydney

History and description

Heritage listing

See also

References

External links