The Hermitage – 22 Vaucluse Road – Vaucluse – NSW

The Hermitage – 22 Vaucluse Road – Vaucluse – NSW

Victorian Gothic harbourside mansion · Dick c.1840 core / Hunt 1870–78 / Sodersten after 1936 fire · Standing — private Woollahra LEP #398 (local; not SHR)

Above Hermit Bay, a castellated tower and a roof of steep gables mark one of Sydney’s most romantic late-Victorian harbour villas. The Hermitage grew around an 1840s Wentworth-subdivision cottage, was gothicised in the 1870s, burned in 1936, and was put back together by Emil Sodersten — still private, still overlooking the Hermitage foreshore.

At a glance

• Address: 22 Vaucluse Road, Vaucluse NSW 2030
• Traditional Custodians: Cadigal / harbour Country (acknowledge; Woollahra / SHR district framing)
• Core: c.1840 smaller house by Alexander Dick — early subdivision of the William Charles Wentworth Vaucluse grant (Heritage NSW)
• Main house: 1870–78 Victorian Gothic by Edward Mason Hunt (Heritage NSW; RNE); Wikipedia notes influence of Roslyndale, Woollahra
• Fire / rebuild: partially destroyed 1936; restored/reconstructed by Emil Sodersten (Heritage NSW / RNE)

• Fabric notes: sandstone (Italian masons cited on inventory); cedar joinery; shingle roof later tiled; elaborate bargeboard / verandah fretwork; Art Nouveau leadlights; neo-Gothic dining hall with Sodersten stained glass; 1960s modern wing (Heritage NSW)
• Heritage: Woollahra LEP 2014 #398 (DB 2711067) — house and interiors, grounds, gateposts/gates to Vaucluse Road, inner gateposts, fencing, stone works to watercourse; former gardens separately LEP #400 (22D); RNE Place ID 2499 (21 Oct 1980)
• Fate: Standing — private residence; gatehouse now separated by intervening properties (Heritage NSW)

Site & setting

Vaucluse Road slope above Hermit Bay / Hermitage Reserve foreshore — marine-villa country on the Wentworth estate’s early subdivisions. The house ranks, in the inventory’s own words, among Sydney’s most important late-Victorian harbourside villas. Remnant pines and fencing associated with the former estate appear on related Woollahra inventory sheets (Norfolk Island / Hoop / Bunya pines; stone and wrought-iron fencing). Pair with the public Hermitage Foreshore walk and neighbouring Greycliffe / Nielsen Park.

Timeline

• c.1840 – Alexander Dick builds the smaller core house on Wentworth land (Heritage NSW).
• Intermediate owners cited on inventory: R. Little, Piers Hatton, G. Dixon (Heritage NSW).
• 1870–78 – Edward Mason Hunt creates the large Victorian Gothic mansion around the earlier fabric (Heritage NSW / RNE).
• 1914 – D.M. McCathie purchases (Heritage NSW).

• 1936 – Fire; Sodersten restoration and reconstruction (Heritage NSW).
• 1959 – J. Boyce; 1963 – Sir Theo Kelly; 1973 – R. Baker (Heritage NSW chain).
• 1960s – Modern wing added (Heritage NSW). Soft: Wikipedia — Woolworths training centre from 1964, later returned to private domestic use.
• Today – Private mansion; street/foreshore views of tower and gables; interiors not a museum.

Architecture & interiors

Picturesque two-storey composition with three-storey castellated tower; complex roof of multiple steep gables; profusion of carved bargeboards, verandahs and balconies (Heritage NSW). Inventory lists sitting rooms, nine bedrooms, drawing rooms, servants’ quarters and a large neo-Gothic dining hall with Sodersten stained glass. Prefer inventory description over inventing lost Hunt finishes; flag 1936 rebuild and 1960s wing as alterations.

People & anecdotes

Alexander Dick — early cottage. Edward Mason Hunt — 1870s Gothic author (inventory). Emil Sodersten — inter-war architect of the post-fire reconstruction. Later private owners per Heritage NSW as above. Soft secondary: Justin Hemmes family association reported in press/Wikipedia — verify before stating as fact beyond “reported.”

Image gallery guidance

1. Harbour elevation / castellated tower from public foreshore (respect privacy).

2. Historic pre- and post-1936 photographs if located on Trove / SLNSW.

3. Gatehouse / Vaucluse Road gates (now separated).

4. Pair with Greycliffe / Hermitage Reserve landscape context.

5. Avoid trespass; no interior claims without documented access.

What stands today

The Hermitage stands as a private Woollahra local-heritage mansion (LEP #398; former RNE). Public experience is the Hermitage Foreshore / Hermit Bay setting and street glimpses of tower and gables. Gatehouse and former garden parcels are separately titled/listed.

Sources & further reading

• Heritage NSW — “The Hermitage” (DB 2711067): https://apps.environment.nsw.gov.au/dpcheritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=2711067
• Heritage NSW — Gardens formerly part of “The Hermitage” (DB 2711493 / LEP #400)
• Australian Heritage Database — The Hermitage, Place ID 2499: https://environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl?mode=place_detail;place_id=2499
• Wikipedia — The Hermitage, Vaucluse (portal; ownership after 1973 soft)
• Trove — search: “The Hermitage” Vaucluse; Hermitage fire 1936; Edward Mason Hunt Vaucluse

Related on this blog

• Greycliffe, Vaucluse — neighbour Gothic / Hermitage Foreshore–Nielsen Park
• Vaucluse House — Wentworth estate heart
• Roslyndale, Woollahra — Hunt influence cited on Wikipedia for Hermitage
• Rona / Cranbrook — eastern suburbs marine-villa peers

Add historic photos with captions and credits (SLNSW / Trove / author) from Image gallery guidance.