Rosebank

About

Rosebank is a heritage-listed former residence and boarding school and now offices at 17 Speed Street, Liverpool, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Varney Parkes and built from 1882 to 1883. It is also known as Queens College. The property is owned by Liverpool City Council. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 27 May 2005.

Rosebank was built in 1882–83 by Varney Parkes for his new wife, Mary Cameron Murray, daughter of the then owner of the land. Parkes was an architect, local and state politician, and son of Sir Henry Parkes.

In 1883, it was sold to Louis Haigh, who was involved in the wool scouring business and was mayor of the Municipality of Liverpool. It was later owned or rented by a number of prominent people, including Henrietta and Martin Christiansen from 1908 to 1911. The Christiansens owned a brick-making business; Martin was an alderman for 30 years and mayor of Liverpool in 1900.

The back verandah was probably infilled in the early twentieth century.

It was purchased by Rev. William Bain in 1929 for Queens College, a boarding school for girls and later, for boys, which commenced operation in that year. During this time the rear two-storey structure was built. The school ceased operation in 1957 and the building reverted to its historical name of Rosebank. From 1958 to 1973, it was used as a male boarding house.

In 1974, it was purchased by Liverpool City Council and used for community-based offices and meeting rooms. The rear addition was renovated in 1974 with the removal of the external stairs. At the same time, a weatherboard structure on the west boundary was also demolished.

In 2018, it is used by sexual abuse counselling and support organisation Rosebank.

Rosebank is a two-storey Victorian Italianate villa with a tower, asymmetrical planning and neoclassical details. Constructed of rendered brickwork with string courses, heavily framed windows and doors of semicircular heads with keystones, fluted pilasters, cornices and ornamental eaves brackets. There are also some crenellated walls attached to the tower and the end of the verandah.

The property has both front and rear gardens, the latter relatively densely planted. The front garden contains mature trees including (hanging over the front fence) a jacaranda ( Jacaranda mimosifolia ), mature eucalypts ( Eucalyptus sp.), a bunya-bunya pine ( Araucaria bidwillii ) and a Canary Island date palm ( Phoenix canariensis ). The jacaranda, palm and bunya are all on the front lawn.

The verandah runs across the width of the street elevation and returns down each side elevation. It has cast iron columns, balustrade, frieze panels and bullnosed roof. The roof is steeply pitched in a hipped form, originally slate but now sheeted in corrugated steel roofing. The main entrance to the verandah is framed by a small pedimented porch with a decorative element of the initials "LH", representing the early owner Louis Haigh.

The entry porch features geometric encaustic tiles and a stained glass window. The windows are generally timber double hung, with the windows to the main room being full height.

The interior features are lath and plaster ceilings with elaborate cornices and ceiling rose, plastered brick walls, large moulded timber skirting, marble fireplaces with cast iron inserts and four panelled doors. The stairs have turned timber balustrades and the floors are covered in carpet tiles.

A two-storey brick addition is attached to the west rear side of the building, but is in poor structural condition. It was built mid-20th century and was renovated in 1974.

The building is generally intact, with much of the original details in good condition. There has been significant termite activity in the floor structure, both at ground floor and first floor. It has been proposed to demolish the rear addition.

Rosebank as a house has integrity because its original features are largely intact and in good condition. However, Rosebank's aspect, setting and curtilage have been significantly diminished by subdivision and medium density development in the immediate vicinity of the house.

Rosebank is considered to be State heritage significance for its association with the life and works of the architect, politician and Postmaster-General, Varney Parkes (1857–1935). Varney Parkes, the son of Sir Henry Parkes, was a Liverpool Council Alderman, State Parliamentarian (1885–1913), Postmaster-General (1889–1899) and successful architect. Parkes who trained under the Colonial Architect, James Barnet between 1878 and 1880 established a successful architectural practice with C. H. E. Blackman and was responsible for the design of a wide range of buildings over much of urban and rural New South Wales, including hotels, warehouses, banks, commercial premises and domestic residences.

Rosebank is a rare surviving example of the residential work of Varney Parkes. Significantly, Rosebank was designed by Parkes ( c. 1883 ) for himself and his bride Mary Cameron Murray, and demonstrates the architectural devices used to convey wealth and status, as well as the use of pattern books in the spread of architectural ideas throughout the colonies.

Rosebank is considered to be of local heritage significance as a grand, relatively unaltered, architect-designed and -built Victorian villa. In addition, Rosebank is the only large Victorian house remaining in the historic Liverpool Township and is held in high esteem by the local community. Rosebank has associations with many of the most prominent families of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Liverpool.

The changing pattern of its use, from a family residence to a school indicates changing economic patterns within the local community. Liverpool was one of the earliest rural settlements in the State and Rosebank is a rare survival illustrating a further, industrial stage in Liverpool's development. Rosebank is also significant for its twentieth-century use as a girl's boarding school and later as a men's boarding house. As a school, Rosebank contributed to the cultural life of twentieth-century Liverpool. A collection of moveable heritage has been established, documenting the day to day running of the school.

In addition to the house, the garden retains some original Victorian plantings, including mature bunya pines. The form of the building, as well as the associated planting, makes it a local landmark. Rosebank is one of a handful of properties, including nearby Del Rose and Collingwood, which can be used to interpret Liverpool's pastoral, industrial and commercial history.