Durham Hall – 207 Albion Street – Surry Hills – NSW

Durham Hall – 207 Albion Street – Surry Hills – NSW

Colonial Georgian · Built 1834–35 for George Hill · NSW State Heritage Register No. 00221 · Standing — Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia

On Albion Street’s early colonial terrace-line, butcher-politician George Hill raised a symmetrical two-storey Georgian town residence that still reads as a gentleman’s house. Clubs, a wartime American Red Cross service club for African American servicemen, a bank and heavy twentieth-century alterations almost erased its face — yet after 1980s reconstruction Durham Hall again holds the street with its verandah and slate roof, now offices for the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia.

At a glance

• Address: 207 Albion Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010 (corner precinct with Nichols Street)
• Built: 1834–1835 for George Hill (1802–1883)
• Architect / builder: Not identified in the State Heritage Register summary
• Style: Colonial Georgian — stuccoed brick, stone dressings, ground-floor verandah with Doric columns, hipped slate roof, symmetrical plan
• Also known as: Concordia Club; Booker T. Washington Club; Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia
• Heritage: NSW SHR No. 00221 (listed 2 April 1999); related Hill cottages/terraces at 203–205 and 197–201 Albion Street
• Fate / use: Standing — RCPA national office (from 1986)

Site & setting

Part of John Palmer’s 1794 grant, later subdivided from Isaac Nichols’s holdings; George Hill assembled lots after 1833–35 purchases. Durham Hall anchors a rare Colonial Georgian group on Albion Street with the adjoining cottages and terraces Hill also built. A 1980s palisade fence and reconstructed front garden frame the Albion Street elevation. Compare Cleveland House (Surry Hills) and Willandra (Ryde) for related Georgian house types cited in heritage assessments.

Timeline

• 1834–35 – Durham Hall built for George Hill; family seat until his death.
• 1840–50 – Hill builds cottages at 203–205 Albion Street adjoining.
• 1842–50 – Hill on first Sydney Municipal Council; magistrate; Mayor of Sydney (1850).
• 1856–61 – Member, NSW Legislative Council.
• 1883 – George Hill dies after a buggy–tram collision; widow Jane remains for several years.
• 1889–99 – Boarding house (Mrs Cecilia Anderson; Mrs Mary Parker — tennis court advertised).
• 1899–1924 – Hat manufacturer Charles Anderson and family; Anderson & Co. factory behind in Nichols Street.
• 1923/24–1939 – German Concordia Club — bowling alley, gymnasium, new street façade (unsympathetic additions).
• c.1940 – Master Bakers’ Association educational/social use.
• 1943–45 – American Red Cross Booker T. Washington Club for African American servicemen (and Aboriginal patrons facing parallel exclusion).
• 1949 onward – Commonwealth Bank alterations; further mid-century change.
• 1979–82 – National Trust classification; Permanent Conservation Order.
• 1983–87 – Major reconstruction/restoration; removal of club/bank accretions; garden rebuilt.
• 1986 – Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia occupies the building.
• 2 Apr 1999 – Entered NSW State Heritage Register.

Architecture & interiors

Archetypal colonial Georgian two-storey brick house with stone dressings: symmetrical front, skillion verandah returning to rear wings, paired Doric columns at the entry, twelve-pane upper sashes with shutters, French doors flanking the door, hipped slate roof (1980s) and stone-flagged rear courtyard. An 1899 description listed hall, eight rooms, dining room, pantry, kitchen with servant’s room over, bathroom, detached laundry, three-stall stable, man’s room and two coach houses — value £2,300. Extensive 1980s work replaced much joinery, verandah and roofing; stone cellars and some cedar windows survive; detached kitchen and stables are gone. Heritage advice treats the reconstructed fabric honestly while affirming the rarity of the house type in Surry Hills.

People & anecdotes

George Hill — colonial-born son of convict parents; butcher, innkeeper, alderman, mayor, magistrate, Legislative Councillor; daughters married into Wentworth, Cooper and Rundle families (ADB).
Concordia Club — German community rooms between the wars.
Booker T. Washington Club — wartime answer to segregated recreation for Black American troops under Jim Crow practice “down under” (Dictionary of Sydney; Hall; Brawley & Dixon).
RCPA — professional home since 1986, keeping a rare Georgian house in active institutional use.

What stands today

Durham Hall stands at 207 Albion Street as a State-heritage office building. View the Albion Street façade and the related Hill group at 197–205 from the public footpath; the interior is not a museum. Pair with Cleveland House and the wider Albion Street heritage streetscape (including Carlingford Terrace nearby).

Sources & further reading

• NSW State Heritage Register — Durham Hall, SHR 00221: Heritage NSW
• Australian Dictionary of Biography — Martha Rutledge, “George Hill (1802–1883)”
• Dictionary of Sydney — Durham Hall; Booker T. Washington Club
• Clive Lucas, Stapleton & Partners (2003) Statement of Heritage Impact (cited on SHR)
• Paul Davies Pty Ltd, Heritage Impact Statement, Durham Hall (2016)
• Wikipedia — Durham Hall, Surry Hills (portal to SHR-backed narrative)

Related on this blog

• Carlingford Terrace – Albion Street, Surry Hills
• Cleveland House – Surry Hills
• Other Colonial Georgian town houses of inner Sydney