Heathcote Hall facts for kids

Heathcote Hall is a really old and special house located in Heathcote, New South Wales, Australia. It's considered a "heritage-listed" building, which means it's important to history and needs to be protected. A famous architect named Thomas Rowe designed it, and Abel Harber built it way back in 1887. People also know it as Heathcote Hall and Grounds, or even by its old name, Bottle Forest. This grand old home was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register in 1999 because of its historical value.

The Story of Heathcote Hall

How Heathcote Grew

The area where Heathcote Hall stands today became popular because of the Illawarra Railway Line. This train line was extended to the area in the 1880s. Before the railway arrived, Heathcote was known as Bottle Forest. This "Bottle Forest" was a fertile area of about 200 acres (80 hectares).

When the railway was being built, camps for workers were set up in places like Sutherland, Como, Heathcote, and Waterfall. Many bricks were needed for the long tunnels near Helensburgh. These bricks were made at a brickworks in Heathcote, owned by Abel Harber.

Australia's first Royal National Park opened nearby in 1879. This also helped attract people to the south of Sydney. Heathcote was one of the suburbs that grew close to this new national park.

For many years, Heathcote stayed mostly undeveloped. This was because the best land, the Bottle Forest area, was owned by two large families. It wasn't available for people to buy and build homes on.

The Heathcote Hall Estate

In the 1920s, the large Heathcote Hall estate was divided into smaller blocks. The original 50-acre (20-hectare) property was split into many quarter-acre (0.1-hectare) blocks. Heathcote Hall itself was kept on a 4-acre (1.6-hectare) block, which is how it remains today.

Building Heathcote Hall

Around 1879, a wealthy brickmaker named Mr. Abel Harber bought about 50 acres (20 hectares) of land. He built Heathcote Hall in 1887, choosing the highest point on his land for the grand house.

The famous Sydney architectural firm, Rowe and Green, designed the hall. It cost a lot of money to build, about 7000 Australian pounds at the time.

Sadly, Abel Harber lost a lot of money on another project, the Imperial Arcade in Sydney. Because of this, he had to give up Heathcote Hall to his creditors (people he owed money to). This happened in 1892, during a tough financial time in New South Wales.

A financial company took over the house. They decided to sell it through a lottery, which was run by George Adams of Tattersalls. Heathcote Hall was the top prize, valued at seven thousand pounds. A builder from Sydney, Mr. Samuel Gillette, won the lottery.

Mr. Gillette owned the house for five years. He then sold the whole estate for much less than its lottery value. Back then, before cars were common and with only one train a day, a big mansion in Heathcote wasn't easy to sell for a city businessman.

In 1901, Mrs. Jessie Fotheringham Brown bought the estate. Later that year, Mr. R. R. Brown purchased Heathcote Hall. He planned to retire there, as doctors thought he didn't have long to live. But Mr. Brown surprised everyone and lived there until about 1923!

During the 1920s, Heathcote Hall was used as a public tea room. It also offered some accommodation and had a 36-hole putting green for people to enjoy.

In 1927, the 50-acre property was divided into 168 suburban lots. Heathcote Hall remained on its 4-acre block. The smaller blocks sold very slowly. In 1945, the Heathcote Hall Estate Ltd. sold the 4-acre Hall block to Mrs. Minima Farrelly and her husband, Mr. Joseph Farrelly.

The Farrelly family owned the property for 70 years. From the 1980s, parts of the land were used for stabling and training horses. Joseph and Minima raised their three children, Michael, Ramon, and Maxine, at the Hall. After Minima passed away in 1986, Maxine stayed to care for her father until he died in 2005.

Maxine loved the tower, which she reached by a narrow, winding staircase. She said that before trees grew too tall, you could see the waves breaking on Jibbon Beach at Bundeena from the tower. Ms. Farrelly worked to preserve Heathcote Hall and did some renovations.

In 2000, the Heritage Council of NSW gave a grant of $150,000 for urgent repairs, especially to the hall's tower.

The Farrelly family lived in the property until January 2016. It was then sold to a company called Fuzortinn P/L. The new owners plan to restore the building and build new homes on the site.

What Heathcote Hall Looks Like

The Mansion

Heathcote Hall is built in the Victorian Italianate style. This means it looks a bit like grand Italian villas. The house has two stories and is made of brick. The bricks are covered with a special render to make them look like sandstone.

On three sides of the house, there's a two-story verandah. The ground floor has columns, and there's a fancy cast iron railing. Cast iron columns support the roof of the verandah, which is made of curved corrugated iron.

A tall tower with a glassed-in top and a small balcony stands out above the surrounding trees. It's a clear landmark in Heathcote.

Other Buildings on the Property

There are a few smaller buildings around the site. Behind the main house, near the northern edge of the garden, is a small brick toilet building with a corrugated iron roof.

Some parts of a small garden shed are still there on the eastern side. Its wall is actually part of the back fence.

A newer timber building is partly built on the southern side of the Tecoma Street gate. It has a metal roof and is used to store building materials.

South of this timber building are the remains of an old foundation. The owner thinks it's from the 1950s, but it might be much older, possibly from when the estate was first built. An old coach house used to be located nearby but was taken down around 1945. The bricks from it were used to fill ground behind the main house. This area might have interesting historical items buried, so any digging should be done carefully.

Right next to the main house on the south side is a fairly modern laundry building. It's made of timber and has a storage shed.

Outside the main garden area, there are several stables made of timber and corrugated iron. Some of these stables look very old, while others are newer. The owners have stabled horses here since 1945, so some of these structures could be quite old and important to the estate's history.

The fences around the property are new. However, there's still an original iron archway and gate at the front, south of the house, leading to Dillwynnia Grove.

Condition of the Hall

As of 2004, the physical condition of Heathcote Hall was considered poor. However, the site has a high potential for finding interesting historical items if archaeological digs were done.

Why Heathcote Hall is Special

Heathcote Hall is an impressive two-story building in the Victorian Italianate style. It is one of the oldest and grandest buildings in the Sutherland Shire. It was built in 1887 by Abel Harber, a rich brick maker from Sydney. He lost the house after financial problems with another building project in Sydney. Heathcote Hall is a very striking building, and its tower is a well-known landmark in Heathcote.

Heathcote Hall was officially added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on April 2, 1999.