Local history fast facts - C

This information has been provided by the Local History Centre and the Woollahra History and Heritage Society.

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CAERLEON - 15 Ginahgulla Road, Bellevue Hill. A Federation Queen Anne style house (English version) built for Charles B. Fairfax, the eldest son of James Reading Fairfax commenced in 1885 (M.B. ADAMS, London, architect).

CLAINES - 86 Darling Point Road, Darling Point. Demolished house on the eastern 6 1/2 acre 'grant' of Joseph Wyatt, Darling Point. Built in 1865 for William Farmer, city draper, in cement rendered Gothic style to the design of architect Edmund Blackett. The house was demolished ca. 1928-9 and replaced in 1935 with the house Craigend.

CALLOOA - 5 Bennett Ave, Darling Point. Gothic brick mansion built in the 1850's (F. CLARKE, architect.) - previously Brougham Lodge.

CANONBURY - Cottage built in 1841 by Charles and Mary Bones on the northern Holt grant on Darling Point, extended by Arthur Dight called Landsdowne (1871), demolished 1904 and replaced by Canonbury built for Harry Rickards - demolished 1983, the area is now McKell Park. More information on Canonbury(PDF, 165KB)

CAPRICE RESTAURANT - An 'off-shore' restaurant placed in Rose Bay adjacent to Lyne Park around 1955 and originally called Caprice. Over the years it took the names, 'Sails', 'Views', Seven Seas' and then back to Caprice before being remodelled in the mid 1990s and re-opening as the Catalina.

CARDELL GRANT - Of 25 acres centred on present day Kutti Beach was given to Robert Cardell, a private of the New South Wales Corps, on 5 September, 1795. This grant together with the Laycock grant formed the nucleus of what became the Vaucluse Estate. It also was the site of William Charles Wentworth's proposed Village of Vaucluse.

CARMEL - 24 Albert St, Edgecliff. The Mediterranean Villa style house was built in 1935 for the Utz family to the designs of architect Glen F. Gilling. It stands in part of the previous Eynesbury, a house built in the late 1860's for Mr John Pirie Roxburg.

CARRARA - Vaucluse Road, Vaucluse. Victorian Italianate style mansion built for John Hosking, 1854-56 ( designed by Hilly). The property was acquired by the NSW State Government in June, 1914, opening it as the Strickland House Convalescent Hospital on 16 March, 1915 and closing it down 8 December, 1989. - see Strickland House.

CARTHONA - Carthona Avenue, Darling Point. Victorian Tudor Gothic house built for Major Sir Thomas Mitchell, 1841. He died in 1856 and the property was purchased by J. S. Mitchell for his son William B. Mitchell. For a time, the Misses Cooksey operated a school there.

CARTHONA ROAD, Darling Point - renamed Sutherland Crescent by a motion of Woollahra Council, 14.07.1902.

CECIL ROAD, Rose Bay - was named after William Cecil, Lurd Burghley, the principal adviser to Queen Elizabeth I through most of her reign.

CHAMBERLAIN AVENUE, Rose Bay - named after British politician Joseph Chamberlain.

CHISWICK GARDENS - cnr Wellington and Ocean Sts, Woollahra. Acquired by Woollahra Council in 1938 after the original building had been demolished. The present park was established with the remodelled stable building still remaining. More information on Chiswick Gardens(PDF, 115KB)

CHRISTISON PARK - was named for Alderman Christison on a motion of Vaucluse Council of Alderman Sautelle: that the reserve ...adjoing Macquarie Light Depot...be named as a compliment to Alderman Christison who as Mayor was mainly responsible for the site being placed under the control of Council. (VMC Minutes 4.02.1920, p. 110).

CHURCH IN THE MARKET PLACE - Bondi Junction Plaza. Opened November 27, 1976 and built over the site of the former Waverley Methodist Church which opened January 6, 1889, the final service being conducted April 18, 1971. It was preceded by two earlier churches, one in Newland Street, Bondi Junction opening December 24, 1844, the second on the site September 11, 1859 - design Hely & Home, STUART AND PERRY, architects. The lancet stained glass window in the foyer, subject Jesus with Lamp ('1 am the Light of the World') is dedicated to Ebenezer and Jane Vickery by their children. Vickery was the major benefactor of the previous church and a pillar of Methodism. This church is to be relocated on the east corner of Newland and Oxford Streets in 1998.

CITY TO SURF - is an athletic road race sponsored by the Sun-Herald newspaper and run on a Sunday of mid-August each year. The 14 km course, which attracts many thousands of runners, follows a route from Park Street in the City, along William Street, New South Head Road and down Old South Head and Military Roads to finish at Bondi Beach. The first race was in 1970. Winners complete the course in about 42 minutes, but for most runners the main achievement is to finish

CLAREMONT - Vaucluse Road, Vaucluse. George Thorne bought 14 acres of the Wentworth Estate in 1851 and built a single storey house (house of the seven arches) remaining there until 1878. It was extended with a second storey around 1880 for A Thomas (believed to be by HORBURY HUNT). - refer Sacred Heart Convent.

CLAREMONT COTTAGE - Cruciform style house stood on the corner of Vaucluse and New South Head Roads opposite to and in the grounds of the Sacred Heart Convent demolished February, 1991. It was unrelated to 'Claremont' and probably dated from the 1840's. It was thought to have been associated with the Wentworth Estate, providing a resident presence rather than of a 'gate house'.

CLONCORRICK - Darling Point Road, Darling Point. A fine red brick house built for the Hon. George B. Simpson, 1884, (J. HORBURY HUNT).

CLOVELLY - Demolished house previously located in the north eastern corner of Robertson Park, Watsons Bay. It was built by Thomas Watson, ca. 1828, named CIovelly by Hannibal Hawkins Macarthur when he acquired it in 1840, property extended by Henry Watson Parker in 1850's, occupied by Sir John Robertson from 1864 to his death in 1891. The house was demolished in 1903 and the property acquired by the Government 1909-12 for use as a public park. More information on Clovelly(PDF, 293KB)

CLOVELLY STREET, Watsons Bay - was originally known Soldiers' Alley and later as Toogood Lane. It took its name from the house Clovelly, the home of Sir John Robertson. Alfred R. Toogood was an early resident of the area.

COLEBROOK - 177 New South Head Road, Double Bay. Situated above Double Bay Shopping Centre, was built by William Augustine Duncan in the early 1860's. More information on Colebrook(PDF, 125KB)

COOPER ESTATE - see Point Piper Estate.

COOPER PARK - One of the three spots in the Municipality retaining large areas of native bushland. Its worth as a recreation area was recognised as far back as 1885 when the Government was asked to purchase land from the Cooper Estate for recreational purposes. It was not until 1913 that Sir William Cooper agreed to give the whole of the gully from Victoria Road, Bellevue Hill to Manning Road, Double Bay to the Council as a park. The land, to be known as Cooper Park, was formally dedicated to Woollahra Council on 14 May 1917. Subsequent additions over the years have brought the Park up to its present area of 17.5 hectares. The creek running though the Park is largely natural and follows the line of a volcanic dyke of Jurassic age while the hillsides support a wide variety of native trees and shrubs. Development over the years included extensive walking tracks/paths, with shelter sheds built and picnic areas layed out.

COOPER, ROBERT - Known as 'Robert the Large', built Juniper Hall' on portion of the Underwood grant that he managed to retain. He set up a distillery in Blackfrairs, Broadway, in opposition to Underwood's distillery. He over speculated in the 1840s, like many others, and had to move out of Juniper Hall and into a cottage (Ormond Lodge), No 4 Underwood Street - part of the original cottage can be seen in the entrance vestibule.

COTHAM - 316 Jersey Road, Edgecliff. A two-storeyed residence was for a time an unofficial rectory for All Saints' Church in Woollahra, its first rector, Canon Wallace Mort had lived there.

COTWAY HOUSE - A house designed by (F GLEN GILLING) for a member of the 'Reid' family on New South Head Road in Bellevue Hill was in 'Functionalist' style. It served as part of the Cranbrook Junior School until demolished in 1990 and replaced by three buildings making up the present Junior School, playgrounds and Squash courts.

CRAIGEND - Darling Point Road, Darling Point. The property was originally part of the eastern 6 1/2 acre 'grant' to Joseph Wyatt of 1833. Part of the grounds of 'Claines', the brick stables being demolished to make way for the house built in 1935 for Captain James Patrick, ship owner in the coastal trade. During travels in Africa, Patrick acquired a pair of doors from an ancient mosque in Zanzibar for the house. So the house, initially designed to remind him of his travels has been said to have been designed around these doors, albeit in a rebuilt form. The style is composite, incorporating Moorish shapes, a strain of 'Art Deco' and 'Hollywoodiana', with a traditional Japanese garden in its grounds. The bronze cupola was added in 1938 and made from fittings from a yacht owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt. In 1948, the property was acquired by the U S Government as the official residence of the Consul General. It has since returned to the private sector.

CRANBROOK - One of the first of the leases from the Cooper Estate was Cranbrook initially of forty acres (16 ha.) on the southern side of New South Head Road and acquired in 1856 by Edwin Tooth who had come out to New South Wales to join his uncle, James Tooth in the brewing business. Later he was joined by his brothers Robed and Frederick. Edwin did not improve the property and he died in 1858, bequeathing the land to his two brothers By agreement, Frederick took six acres on the north side of New South Head Road which Edwin had also acquired. On this he built his house 'Buckhurst'. The house 'Cranbrook' was named after the ancestral district in Kent, England, from which the Tooth family stemmed, is in Victorian Free Classical style and believed to have been built for Robert Tooth, (BLACKET), late 1850's. Occupied by Frederick Tooth to 1864; Capt. Robert Towns 1864-73; James White 1874-90; extensive alterations (J. HORBURY HUNT.) It was bought in 1900 by the NSW. Government for use as State Government House - occupiers, Sir Gerald Strickland, Sir Harry Rawson, Viscount Chelmsford. - refer 'Cranbrook School'

CRANBROOK COTTAGE - Corner of Victoria and New South Head Roads, Bellevue Hill, it was built on in 1873 by JOHN HORBURY HUNT for himself and he lived there until foreclosed upon in 1902. The house was vastly altered during the residency of Sir Thomas Hughes and demolished in 1925 to enable New South Head Road to be widened from 66 to 100 feet. A plaque placed in the garden plot at the corner of Victoria and New South Head Roads, commemorating Hunt's residence there was unveiled October 26, 1991.

CRANBROOK SCHOOL - Bellevue Hill. The Cranbrook property was sold December 1, 1917 and bought by Samuel 'Hordern's agent for a group which became the founders of the School. It was established on July 22, 1918 as a Church of England school for boys - motto Esse quam videri (To be rather than seem), colours, Red, White and Blue.

CRANBROOK STREET, Rose Bay - was part of the Carlisle Estate which was subdivided in 1903. Its name was changed to Spencer Street on a motion of Woollahra Council (see Minutes of 25.10.1909, p. 93).

CUSTOMS HOUSE - 2 Stafford St, Double Bay. Built in the late 1850's. From 1895 to 1900, Mr H. Duncan Brown who was attached to H.M Customs lived there.