The House On The Rock

Sydney Morning Herald

Wednesday October 1, 1986

By CAROLINE ETCHES

PERCHED on a pinnacle of rock 20 metres high is Camden Villa. Walk out of the front door and you would plunge straight to your death, for the surrounding ground has been chiselled away.

Earth moving equipment carefully excavated the 5,200-square-metre site around it. Drilling tests were carried out before work began, and any weak spots in the house were bolted together.

Camden Villa, until recently just a derelict house in Glen Street, Milsons Point, is destined to become a historical landmark on the North Shore.

In the middle of last century it was only one of many such homes on the peninsula. Today it is probably the oldest surviving stone domestic dwelling at Milsons Point, and one of the oldest, relatively-intact examples of its type and period in the North Sydney municipality. This is its only claim to fame, and the reason why North Sydney Council wishes to preserve it.

Until the developers, Comrealty, moved in to clear the site, few people knew that Camden Villa existed. Hidden away in an unpaved temporary car park, with poorly maintained buildings crowding up to its north and east walls, the only access to it was up a narrow pathway from Dind Street.

For the developers, and especially for the architects, Michael Standley and Associates, who were responsible for Tower Square in North Sydney, Camden Villa posed a real challenge - how to develop a 5,200-square-metre site incorporating commercial, residential and retail buildings up to 67 metres high around an old house? How to preserve the character and atmosphere of the house, making sure that it was not overshadowed or impersonalised by modern architecture?

"We had to develop the whole site around the house," said Mr Michael Standley. "Obviously, the whole project was made more difficult because of this."

The early owners of Camden Villa would be astonished if they could see the attention that their home is attracting. They would probably be puzzled, too, for other, larger houses were built around that time.

According to North Sydney Council's conservation study report, it is not clear who built the house. Even the land was disputed.

The small square of rock on which Camden Villa now perches was part of 48 hectares given to Robert Ryan as a Crown Grant in 1800. James Milson claimed it had been promised to him and settled there, clearing the land with convict labour, but it was Robert Campbell who successfully laid claim to the property through a document made out in 1794.

Who actually built the house is also a matter for dispute. The most likely person was James Bray, a painter who leased the land from the Campbell family via William Lockie.

If Bray built Camden Villa it must have been in 1864. The first reference to the house in historical records is in connection with his occupancy in 1865. The architectural style is characteristic of the earlier Late Colonial period, with Bray's own conservative influence seen in the classical rules of architecture by the Georgian and Regency designers. Records show that Bray lived at the house from 1865-1868. His business as an "oil and colourman" was carried out at 160 Pitt Street until his death in 1869.

A number of tenants lived at Camden Villa from 1869-1903, most of them prominent citizens. Between 1903 and 1908 alterations were made to the property and it is probable that the building was turned into flats at that time. The land around the house was greatly reduced, and the house itself later became a boarding house.

North Sydney Council decided that although Camden Villa was not an architectural masterpiece there was sufficient remaining structure, detail and finish to retain the building in a state close to that which existed before it was divided into flats. It was given a classified listing by the National Trust in 1981. So far it has not been decided to what use the building will be put when the whole site is completed.

According to the plans, Camden Villa will be in the centre of a low-rise retail complex and will not be overshadowed. The site itself will be divided into a commercial section and a residential/retail section. Each half will have a high-rise tower. The office building will be 12 storeys high, while the residential will have 19 storeys.

The areas around the base of the towers will be pleasantly landscaped, with a series of plazas and courtyards linking the towers with the low-rise retail section. Below the ground level of the house will be a lower plaza with restaurants, food shops and, possibly, a tavern.

There are plans to build 64 units in the residential tower, but a new development application is before North Sydney Council to increase the number to 91 smaller units. Residents would enjoy spectacular views. The whole of the second floor would be given over to recreational facilities including a swimming pool and, possibly, a gymnasium.

Although the tower is still a large hole in the ground, investors have already shown a keen interest.

The commercial tower will have 11,000 square feet of office space to let. Sixty per cent of that space is already committed at market rental.

According to Mr Ian Londish of Comrealty, joint developers with Prudential Assurance, the commercial tower is one of the last commercial sites to be built in the area and, like the residential tower, can never be built out. Both are expected to be completed in 1988.

Running the whole length of the site will be a large, underground car park. Cars will negotiate around the 102-square metre column of rock - the drivers may not even associate it with the small piece of history perched 20 metres above.

Whatever happens to Camden Villa when it is handed back to North Sydney Council, it will be at the centre of an exciting and modern complex, perhaps made all the more interesting just because of the villa's existence. Camden Villa refuses to die.

© 1986 Sydney Morning Herald

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