Whitley, Sutton Forest facts for kids

Whitley is a beautiful old house located in Sutton Forest, New South Wales, Australia. It was built a long time ago, between 1887 and 1892. This special home is listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register, which means it's an important part of history and needs to be protected.

The History of Whitley House

Whitley was built as a country getaway for a very important judge from Sydney, Sir William Owen. He was a judge in the highest court in New South Wales. The house was built on a hill, and it was designed in a style called Tudor Revival. This style looks a bit like old English houses from the Tudor period.

In 1889, the land around Whitley was divided up, and Oldbury Road was created. The Owen family, who came from England, probably planted the hawthorn hedges around the property. The big oak and elm trees you see today are very old, some are over 120 years old!

Who Lived at Whitley?

The Owen family owned Whitley until 1914. Then, a man named Thomas William Heney bought it. He was the first Australian editor of a famous newspaper, The Sydney Morning Herald. Heney was friends with many artists, like Ellis Rowan and Elioth Gruner. Gruner even lived at Whitley for a while!

Thomas Heney loved Australian plants and collected special semi-precious stones for his garden. In 1941, Edward Dryland Hordern bought the house. His family owned a big retail business in Sydney. Whitley changed hands a few times after him until John and Robyn Hawkins bought it in 1980.

The hedges at Whitley were carefully shaped in a traditional English way in the 1980s. The garden today has many beautiful ornaments and was designed by Robyn Hawkins with help from local plant experts.

Over the years, some parts of the house have been changed. For example, some parts were added and later covered with timber shingles around the 1980s.

In 2002, an author named Jenny Ferguson and her husband bought Whitley. They even bought back some of the land that had been sold off earlier. For twenty years, the Fergusons sometimes opened the gardens to the public, but they stopped in 2012.

What Whitley Looks Like

Whitley is made up of several parts:

• The main house
• Other buildings like a coach house and stables
• The beautiful gardens
• The main entrance gates

The Main House and Other Buildings

Whitley is a large, two-story house. The bottom part is made of brick, in the Victorian Elizabethan/Tudor Revival style. The roof is very steep and has many gables (the triangular parts of a roof). It's covered with special French tiles. The chimneys are also a cool feature, covered in a rough plaster.

The main entrance has a lovely timber-framed porch. On one side, there's a larger verandah with short, round columns. The windows are made of timber and open outwards or slide up and down. Inside the house, a grand timber staircase is a main highlight.

The coach house and stables are located away from the main house. They are hidden by tall hawthorn hedges and other plants. Other buildings, like a former groom's cottage, also match the main house's style with brickwork and steep roofs. There's also a newer garage building that connects these older buildings.

The entrance gates have large brick pillars with round decorations on top. The current steel gates replaced older wooden ones.

The Amazing Gardens

Whitley has a very old and beautiful garden that surrounds the buildings. The garden also has statues and other small features. Sometimes, groups interested in plants and garden history are invited to visit.

As you enter the gates, you'll see a bright green hedge. Most of the other hedges are hawthorn. There's a formal rose garden with a special stone centerpiece. Nearby, you'll find a group of silver birch trees with bluebells growing underneath.

There are many different types of plants and trees, including:

• Crab-apple trees that form a pathway
• Flower beds with peonies, rhododendrons, and purple smoke bushes
• Different kinds of roses, including some growing on a main pergola (a garden archway)
• Willow-leafed pear trees near the pond
• Maidenhair trees behind the pool
• Very old Monterey cypress, English elms, and Himalayan cedars on the hill above the house

The garden at Whitley has been beautifully restored, but it looks different from how it was first created many years ago.

Why Whitley is Important

Whitley is a very important historical site for several reasons:

• A Glimpse into the Past: It shows how wealthy families from Sydney loved to build grand country homes in the Southern Highlands area in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
• Unique Architecture: It's a great example of the Tudor Revival style in Australia. This style was very popular and showed the influence of British architecture. Its half-timbered upper level is a key feature of this style.
• Famous Connections: Important people like Judge William Owen, newspaper editor Thomas William Heney, and Edward Dryland Hordern (from a famous retail family) all owned Whitley.
• Landmark Status: Its location on Mount Gingenbullen and its amazing garden make it a landmark. The garden is designed like an old English pleasure ground, with hedges, trees, a lily pond, and great views.
• Part of the Southern Highlands Identity: Whitley helps define the Southern Highlands as an area known for its large, beautiful homes and estates. It's still a popular place for wealthy families to have country retreats.
• Rare Example: While there are other large country houses in the Southern Highlands, Whitley is special because it's the only one built in the Tudor Revival style. This makes it a rare and valuable example of this type of architecture.
• Beautiful Landscape: The property, with its old trees and hedges, adds to the unique and beautiful rural landscape of the Mount Gingenbullen slopes.

Whitley was officially listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on April 2, 1999, recognizing its historical and architectural importance.