Overthorpe, Double Bay

About

Overthorpe is a heritage-listed former residence and grounds and now multi-unit residential complex and grounds at 337-347 New South Head Road, Double Bay, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1900 to 1906. It is also known as part of the former Sir John Hay's garden. The property is privately owned. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.

The site was formerly part of Sir John Hay's experimental garden, which covered much of the eastern hill face of Edgecliff /Double Bay (an unusual listing in the 1880 Sands Directory, at the time Sir John Hay resided in Rose Bay Lodge (now Rose Bay Cottage )), running from Ocean Street on the ridge (western boundary) to Manning Street, Double Bay (in the east). Hay was the NSW Colonial Treasurer and owned the property prior to the construction of Overthorpe. He was also vice-president of the Agricultural Society of NSW (1860–1865; 1868–1881; 1888–1889); and vice-president of NSW commissions for International Exhibitions at Philadelphia, Paris, Sydney and Amsterdam, roles consistent with 19th century ambitions to cultivate an "experimental" garden.

Main article: John Hay (New South Wales politician) Sir John Hay (1816-1892), pastoralist and politician, was born on 22 June 1816 at Little Ythsie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, son of John Hay, farmer, and his wife Jean, née Mair. Educated at King's College, Aberdeen (M.A., 1834), he studied law in Edinburgh but abandoned it. In 1838 he married Mary, née Chalmers. They arrived in Sydney on 1 July in the Amelia Thompson, and soon settled at Welaregang on the Upper Murray. In partnership with his brother-in-law, James Chalmers, he was a very successful squatter. In 1840 Philip Gidley King arranged for Strzelecki to visit Welaregang and wrote to Hay: "I fancy your zeal for such excursions will induce you to accompany him". Active in local affairs, Hay strongly opposed border duties on goods crossing the Murray River. In 1856 he was elected as "a conservative and squatting representative" for the Murrumbidgee to the first New South Wales Legislative Assembly. He carried a motion of no confidence against Charles Cowper 's first ministry and attacked the legality of appointing James Martin attorney-general. Hay declined to form a ministry himself and recommended (Sir) Henry Parker, whom he joined as secretary of lands and works in 1856–1857. His squatter-oriented land bill was stillborn but in 1857-59 he retained his seat and in 1859 won the Murray. In 1860 he strongly opposed (Sir) John Robertson's land bills and carried his amendment to ensure survey before selection. At the ensuing general election he was one of Robertson's few opponents to be re-elected.

David Buchanan deplored Hay's "artificial and affected" manner, but admitted that "as an Opposition leader, Mr. Hay conducts his opposition in a manly, dignified, and honourable way If he attacks the NSW Government, it is on some great and constitutional question-not on the appointment of two or three policemen". When Hay was elected Speaker on 14 October 1862 Governor Sir Henry Young reported that he was of the "very first standing in the Colony in point of fortune, manners, education and character". Hay won the respect of all parties for impartial discharge of his duties. In 1864 his opposition to Riverina separation led him to give up his Murray seat and he won Central Cumberland. He resigned as Speaker in 1865 and from the assembly in 1867 when appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council.

Although Hay had lived in Sydney since 1856 he maintained his Murrumbidgee runs. He was chairman of the Mercantile Bank of Sydney and a director of the Australian Mutual Provident Society and the European Assurance Society. In 1872 he refused to join Henry Parkes ' ministry but next year became president of the Legislative Council on Parkes' recommendation. Worried by the frequent lack of a quorum, in 1874 he had the size of the council increased In 1879 he told Sir Edward Deas Thomson of "unpleasant relations with the Assembly, partly from a little injudicious management of details by those who have taken the lead amongst us, but chiefly I fear from a spirit of hostility to the Council on the part of leading men in the House". Believing that the duty of the council was to assist the government unless some important principle was involved, Hay was unremitting in his efforts to get "laws passed in the best form possible". Ever jealous of the council's dignity, he complained to the governor of "sacrilege" after (Sir) Alexander Stuart 's government had put seventy-five beds in the council chamber during an all-night debate on the land bill in 1884.

Hay had many honorary duties: besides speaking at innumerable banquets he was vice-president of the New South Wales commissions for exhibitions at Philadelphia, Paris, Sydney and Amsterdam. He was president of the Highland Society of New South Wales and vice-president of the Agricultural Society of New South Wales and the Australian Club and a founder of the Union Club. He was appointed KCMG in 1878 and in 1879 members of the Legislative Council commissioned Achille Simonetti to sculpture his bust. Parkes wrote of Hay that "Among Conservatives he would be held to be a Liberal; among extreme Democrats he would be regarded as a Conservative". In the Freeman's Journal, 16 September 1882, "Cassius" discerned his 'pragmatical shrewdness apt at a moment's notice to degenerate into meanness, a vision very narrow, but very sharp, a reverence for No. 1 exceedingly profound'. Hay died without issue at Rose Bay on 20 January 1892 and was buried by an Anglican clergyman in the Presbyterian section of Waverley Cemetery. His wife died ten days later. Most of his estate of almost A£ 59,000 was left to the children of his brother James. The Riverina town of Hay is named in his honour.

Hay's garden contained a gardener's cottage and is believed to have been the site of an experimental nursery. The selection of species suggests a possible link with William Guilfoyle 's Exotic Nursery, Double Bay (very nearby) as well as the general interest in rainforest species engendered by Charles Moore, Director of the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney (1848–96). Magnificent specimens of great age and scale are testament to the 19th century passion for collecting and displaying rare and exotic trees.

Of special note is the concentration of these kinds of species of plants in this part of Double Bay. This site is in close proximity to Ocean Avenue and this is a most historically important precinct for the occurrence of significant trees. The area contains a remarkable diversity of very old ornamental and particularly Australian rainforest and Pacific Island species, believed to reflect the early influence of Guilfoyle's plantings dating to the middle of the 19th century.

William Guilfoyle established and with his sons ran the "Exotic Nursery" east of Ocean Avenue ("three and a half acres on the flat") in 1851 and they possibly resided at 37 South Avenue, Double Bay, now the corner of Ocean Avenue, between 1855 and 1876. During this time the nursery's catalogue listed "jacaranda, araucarias (amongst 130 species of conifers), date palms, nikau palms from New Zealand, coconut palms from Brazil and the East Indies, Bangalow and cabbage tree palms of the Illawarra, tree ferns from Norfolk Island and many Pacific Island plants." This list gives an insight into the diversity of available species by the middle of the 19th century and also some understanding of the cultural and historical plantings in this area. Furthermore, his son Michael Guilfoyle, collected plants throughout the South Pacific and NSW North Coast rainforests of the Cudgen area and the planting in this locality reflects this long family interest in exotic plants. The Exotic Nursery had well known large display gardens Guilfoyle also worked at the famous nearby garden of Greenoaks (now Bishopscourt ) for Thomas Sutcliffe Mort.

Overthorpe house was built c. 1900 and it was already a landmark property when it was bought in 1915 by William Anderson who had made his fortune in the hat trade from Akubra hats. Large grounds surrounded the two-storey mansion presenting an excellent example of this period's domestic landscaping.

The main entrance (drive) was historically a milk-carter's track linking several properties in the area. The sandstone boundary wall to New South Head Road was found (on inspection by experts) to have convict markings showing it could be traced back to early residential developments in and around Sydney Cove. This wall is a significant landmark in Double Bay.

Overthorpe house's panelled rooms were the setting for many gracious parties and balls over the years and notable personalities entertained there included the Duke of Edinburgh. Anderson, owner from 1915 apparently had a fine garden and did not die until 1967. An aerial photograph taken in 1943 shows the site as very heavily vegetated at that time. The large, rambling Federation mansion in 1.0 hectare (2.5 acres) of beautiful grounds was left to the Catholic Church in 1967 by Anderson. Overthorpe was willed to the Catholic Church, which is to auction the property on 23 March 1979. The area of land is 7,575 square metres (81,540 sq ft).

An interim conservation order was placed on the gardens in 1979 by the NSW Minister for Planning and the Environment, but this did not include the house. The mansion was demolished in June 1980. A permanent conservation order was gazetted (for Overthorpe's gardens and improvements including the service driveway, stone wall on the front boundary to New South Head Road and front entrance gates) on 4 February 1983.

Demolition and development of apartment complex

The house was demolished for a Mirvac -built double apartment complex in the late 1970s. Its grounds were preserved as a condition of this development, testament to their horticultural and aesthetic significance at a time when heritage value was only just beginning to be appreciated.

In 2015 Woollahra Municipal Council and the chair of its Plaques Committee unveiled a new bronze footpath plaque outside Overthorpe to Sir John Hay. Hay, MLA was Colonial Treasurer and owned the property prior to the construction of Overthorpe. He was vice-president of the Agricultural Society of NSW (1860–1865; 1868–1881; 1888–1889 and also vice-president of NSW commissions for international exhibitions at Philadelphia, Paris, Sydney and Amsterdam, roles consistent with 19th century ambitions to cultivate an "experimental" garden. His garden contained a gardener's cottage and is believed to have been the site of an experimental nursery.

Main article: John Hay (New South Wales politician) Sir John Hay (1816-1892), pastoralist and politician, was born on 22 June 1816 at Little Ythsie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, son of John Hay, farmer, and his wife Jean, née Mair. Educated at King's College, Aberdeen (M.A., 1834), he studied law in Edinburgh but abandoned it. In 1838 he married Mary, née Chalmers. They arrived in Sydney on 1 July in the Amelia Thompson, and soon settled at Welaregang on the Upper Murray. In partnership with his brother-in-law, James Chalmers, he was a very successful squatter. In 1840 Philip Gidley King arranged for Strzelecki to visit Welaregang and wrote to Hay: "I fancy your zeal for such excursions will induce you to accompany him". Active in local affairs, Hay strongly opposed border duties on goods crossing the Murray River. In 1856 he was elected as "a conservative and squatting representative" for the Murrumbidgee to the first New South Wales Legislative Assembly. He carried a motion of no confidence against Charles Cowper 's first ministry and attacked the legality of appointing James Martin attorney-general. Hay declined to form a ministry himself and recommended (Sir) Henry Parker, whom he joined as secretary of lands and works in 1856–1857. His squatter-oriented land bill was stillborn but in 1857-59 he retained his seat and in 1859 won the Murray. In 1860 he strongly opposed (Sir) John Robertson's land bills and carried his amendment to ensure survey before selection. At the ensuing general election he was one of Robertson's few opponents to be re-elected.

David Buchanan deplored Hay's "artificial and affected" manner, but admitted that "as an Opposition leader, Mr. Hay conducts his opposition in a manly, dignified, and honourable way If he attacks the NSW Government, it is on some great and constitutional question-not on the appointment of two or three policemen". When Hay was elected Speaker on 14 October 1862 Governor Sir Henry Young reported that he was of the "very first standing in the Colony in point of fortune, manners, education and character". Hay won the respect of all parties for impartial discharge of his duties. In 1864 his opposition to Riverina separation led him to give up his Murray seat and he won Central Cumberland. He resigned as Speaker in 1865 and from the assembly in 1867 when appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council.

Although Hay had lived in Sydney since 1856 he maintained his Murrumbidgee runs. He was chairman of the Mercantile Bank of Sydney and a director of the Australian Mutual Provident Society and the European Assurance Society. In 1872 he refused to join Henry Parkes ' ministry but next year became president of the Legislative Council on Parkes' recommendation. Worried by the frequent lack of a quorum, in 1874 he had the size of the council increased In 1879 he told Sir Edward Deas Thomson of "unpleasant relations with the Assembly, partly from a little injudicious management of details by those who have taken the lead amongst us, but chiefly I fear from a spirit of hostility to the Council on the part of leading men in the House". Believing that the duty of the council was to assist the government unless some important principle was involved, Hay was unremitting in his efforts to get "laws passed in the best form possible". Ever jealous of the council's dignity, he complained to the governor of "sacrilege" after (Sir) Alexander Stuart 's government had put seventy-five beds in the council chamber during an all-night debate on the land bill in 1884.

Hay had many honorary duties: besides speaking at innumerable banquets he was vice-president of the New South Wales commissions for exhibitions at Philadelphia, Paris, Sydney and Amsterdam. He was president of the Highland Society of New South Wales and vice-president of the Agricultural Society of New South Wales and the Australian Club and a founder of the Union Club. He was appointed KCMG in 1878 and in 1879 members of the Legislative Council commissioned Achille Simonetti to sculpture his bust. Parkes wrote of Hay that "Among Conservatives he would be held to be a Liberal; among extreme Democrats he would be regarded as a Conservative". In the Freeman's Journal, 16 September 1882, "Cassius" discerned his 'pragmatical shrewdness apt at a moment's notice to degenerate into meanness, a vision very narrow, but very sharp, a reverence for No. 1 exceedingly profound'. Hay died without issue at Rose Bay on 20 January 1892 and was buried by an Anglican clergyman in the Presbyterian section of Waverley Cemetery. His wife died ten days later. Most of his estate of almost A£ 59,000 was left to the children of his brother James. The Riverina town of Hay is named in his honour.