Martin Place between the GPO columns and the Cenotaph, the sandstone-and-bronze wall with the university’s name still quietly on it — that’s Challis House. It was built as an income-earning investment, not a memorial. The building at 4–10 Martin Place was erected for the University of Sydney from the Challis Bequest. Merchant and philanthropist John Henry Challis (1806–1880) left a major endowment (the heritage listing cites £276,000; the Australian Dictionary of Biography says about £200,000 reached the university in 1889) that funded professorships and other university purposes; the Martin Place property was built to keep producing income for that legacy.
The first Challis House rose in 1906–1907 under architects Robertson and Marks with Government Architect Walter Liberty Vernon. Early lower-floor tenants included railway ticketing and the Government Tourist Bureau. In 1936–37 the building was substantially reconstructed with a new Art Deco sandstone, granite and bronze façade by Hennessey and Hennessey, skilfully folding in much of the earlier fabric. In 1973 the building was gutted inside, except for the lifts and fire stairs, according to the heritage listing. Challis House is listed on the NSW State Heritage Register.
Who Was John Henry Challis?
Walk past Challis House on Martin Place and most people wouldn't give the name a second thought. But behind it is a bloke who turned up in Sydney in 1829 with, as the Australian Dictionary of Biography puts it, no "fortune or expectations", made a packet in wool and property, and then handed the lot to the University of Sydney. That gift changed the place for good. Here's his story, and the things that still carry his name around town.
A soldier's son from England
John Henry Challis was born in England on 6 August 1806. His father, also John Henry Challis, was a sergeant in the 9th Regiment. His father married again in 1819 and retired as a lieutenant in the 1st Royal Veterans in November 1828. Young John went to several different schools and trained as a clerk, according to the ADB.
Steerage to Sydney, 1829
On 9 May 1829 he stepped off the Pyramis at Sydney. He'd come out as a steerage passenger, the cheap seats. He soon got a start in the office of the merchants Marsden & Flower. In 1842 the firm was reorganised as Flower, Salting & Co., and Challis became a partner, dealing in wool and other goods. The early university historian Henry Barff wrote that he got that junior partnership "on his merits and, it is believed, without capital".
It wasn't all smooth sailing. The ADB says the firm hit trouble in the slump of the early 1840s. Then gold was found, and the boom that followed set it up nicely.
Wool, whale oil and a stake in the whaling fleet
Wikipedia adds that the business also traded in whale oil. Citing the whaling voyage records at whalinghistory.com, it says Challis was a full or part owner of nine ships that made 26 whaling voyages between 1840 and 1852.
He was busy outside the office too. The ADB says he opposed Governor Gipps's squatting regulations in 1844, but wouldn't sign up to the "injurious expressions" of the Crown Lands Grievances Committee. He was among the employers who tried, and failed, to bring in labourers from India to replace convict labour. He also helped launch ventures such as the New South Wales Assurance Co. He loved sailing and helped run regattas on the harbour in the 1840s and 1850s.
Land at Potts Point and runs in the south
Challis bought up plenty of real estate, the ADB says, including "a large holding at Potts Point" and valuable wharf properties. By 1850 he held pastoral licences over more than 12,000 square miles in southern New South Wales, running more than 3,500 cattle and 11,000 sheep.
Two old newspaper articles I've put up on this blog fill in the Potts Point side. The Sydney Morning Herald's "Progress of the Suburbs" piece of 1 November 1913 says the property running from Macleay Street down to Woolloomooloo Bay "came later into the possession of Mr J.H. Challis (Manager for Messrs Flower, Salting & Co)". It says he gave it, with another property, as a bequest to the University "valued at 250,000 Pounds". The same article, and the Sydney Sun of 4 January 1941, both say Challis was a tenant of the cottage that Mr Sparke later enlarged and named "Maranamah".
).jpg)
_(19347085046).jpg)
Challis Avenue, Potts Point
His name is still on the map up there. Challis Avenue runs off Macleay Street and Victoria Street at Potts Point. You can see it marked on the old Grantham subdivision plan on my Historic Sydney Mansions blog. Wikipedia's Potts Point article notes the terrace and townhouse group at 13 to 29 Challis Avenue is on the Register of the National Estate. I haven't found a fetched source that says outright the street was named for him, so take the link as likely rather than proven.
A friend of the university from early on
Challis backed the push for a grammar school. In 1856, the ADB says, he "generously subscribed" for the stained glass windows in the Great Hall of the University of Sydney. When he came back to visit in 1859, he gave £750 for the "Royal Window".
Back to England, and death at Menton
In 1855 he sold out of Flower, Salting & Co. and went back to England, where he invested part of his money. Apart from that 1859 visit to Sydney, he mostly travelled on the Continent. He married Henrietta in about 1878. He died at Mentone (Menton) on the French Riviera on 18 February 1880 and was buried in England.
The Challis Bequest
What the will said
Challis left an estate valued for probate at £60,000 in England and £101,000 in New South Wales. He left annuities to plenty of friends and relatives. The rest, the residue, went to the University of Sydney, but with strings attached. Henrietta was to get the income for the rest of her life. After she died, the money had to build up for another five years before the university could touch it. Wikipedia's Challis Professorship article quotes the will: the estate was "to be applied for the benefit of that Institution in such manner as the governing body thereof shall direct".
The taxman steps in
Henrietta died at Hove in England on 19 September 1884. Then the English Inland Revenue Commission claimed legacy duty on the New South Wales part of the estate, because Challis had been living in England. The university's chancellor, Sir William Montagu Manning, fought the claim with what the ADB calls "such pertinacity" that the commissioners gave up.
1889: the money arrives
In 1889 the bequest, by then worth about £200,000 according to the ADB, was handed over to the university. The ADB says it brought "a transformation" to a university that had long trailed behind Melbourne.
.jpg)
The Challis Chairs
In 1890 the fund paid for new chairs in anatomy, zoology, engineering, history, law, logic and mental philosophy, and modern literature. Wikipedia says £7,500 from the fund's income paid half the cost of a new chemical laboratory, and £1,900 paid for a marble statue of Challis in the Great Hall. The ADB names the sculptor as Simonetti.
The Challis professorships are still going. Wikipedia lists some well-known names among the holders:
- Philosophy: Francis Anderson (1890–1921), John Anderson (1927–1958) and David Armstrong (1964–1991).
- History: George Arnold Wood (1891–1928) and Stephen Roberts.
- Law: Pitt Cobbett (1890–1909).
- International law and jurisprudence: Julius Stone (1942–1973).
- English: John Le Gay Brereton (1921–1933).
- Anatomy: James Thomas Wilson (1890–1920).
- Biology and zoology: William Haswell (1890–1917) and Charles Birch (1960–1983).
Challis House, Martin Place
The land
According to the heritage listing (as reproduced on Wikipedia), the site was resumed by the Government in 1889 from W. H. Paling and the estates of Thomas Perkins and Thomas Holt. That was part of the plan to open up a grand public street north of the GPO, which became Martin Place. Holt's land, east of the Tank Stream, had first been granted to the free settler John Connell in 1837.
The first building, 1906–07
The university built the first Challis House in 1906–07 with money from the bequest. Robertson and Marks were the architects, working with the Government Architect Walter Liberty Vernon. From day one it was a commercial building tied to travel, with the Railways ticket office and the Government Tourist Bureau on the lower floors. A caretaker's room was added in 1912.
The Art Deco rebuild, 1936–37
In 1936 the building was "virtually reconstructed" to a design by Hennessey and Hennessey. It went higher, the old frame was pulled out and replaced, and it got the sandstone, polished red granite and bronze Art Deco front you see today. The heritage listing reckons the way much of the 1907 façade was folded into the new building is "probably unique in New South Wales". The height matched the 45-metre building limit of the time, lining up with the City Mutual building and the bank head offices nearby.
.jpg)
A backdrop to the Cenotaph
Challis House sits right behind the Cenotaph, which went up in 1928. The heritage listing says the building has been the backdrop for national ceremonies held in front of it ever since, and has often been decorated for the big occasions.
.jpg)
1963, 1973 and today
The building was repaired in 1963. In 1973 it got a major refit under Edmund-Dykes, Coward and Chaplin. Everything inside was gutted except the lifts and fire stairs, air conditioning went in, and the old railway ticket offices became a shopping arcade with a restaurant underneath. The bronze-coloured mansard roof is the biggest change to the outside since 1937. Today the upper floors are offices, with shops on the ground floor. Wikipedia notes Giorgio Armani was a ground-floor tenant as of December 2018. Challis House went on the State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999 (number 666). It's still a university property, still earning money for the Challis legacy.
.jpg)
Emporio_Armani.jpg)
.jpg)
Timeline
- 6 August 1806: John Henry Challis is born in England.
- 9 May 1829: He arrives in Sydney on the Pyramis as a steerage passenger.
- 1840–1852: Wikipedia says he part-owns nine ships that make 26 whaling voyages.
- 1842: He becomes a partner in Flower, Salting & Co.
- 1844: He opposes Gipps's squatting regulations.
- 1850: He holds pastoral licences over more than 12,000 square miles.
- 1855: He sells his business interests and returns to England.
- 1856: He subscribes for the Great Hall windows at the University of Sydney.
- 1859: He visits Sydney and gives money for the Royal Window.
- c.1878: He marries Henrietta.
- 18 February 1880: He dies at Menton, France (the ADB date).
- 19 September 1884: Henrietta dies at Hove, England.
- 1889: The bequest, worth about £200,000, passes to the university. The same year, the government resumes the Martin Place site.
- 1890: The Challis chairs are founded.
- 1906–07: The first Challis House is built.
- 1928: The Cenotaph is unveiled in front of the building.
- 1936–37: Challis House is rebuilt in Art Deco style.
- 1963: Repairs are carried out.
- 1973: The interior is gutted and refitted.
- 2 April 1999: Challis House is listed on the State Heritage Register.
Where the Sources Disagree
- Date of death: the ADB says Challis died on 18 February 1880. Wikipedia's Challis article says 28 February 1880.
- The Royal Window gift: the ADB says £750. Wikipedia says £700.
- The size of the bequest: the heritage listing (via Wikipedia) says £276,000. The ADB says it was worth about £200,000 when it reached the university in 1889, with probate values of £60,000 in England and £101,000 in New South Wales. The 1913 Sydney Morning Herald said £250,000. The gap is probably down to the five years of build-up and how each source counted it, but none of them explains it.
- The Potts Point property: the 1913 Herald says the land from Macleay Street to Woolloomooloo Bay came into Challis's possession. The 1913 and 1941 papers say he was a tenant of the Maranamah cottage. Both could be true, but the papers don't line up neatly.
My Earlier Posts
- Martin Place – Sir James Martin – Sydney – New South Wales
- Progress Of The Suburbs – XVI – Potts Pt & Darlinghurst II – SMH – Sat 1 Nov 1913
- Historic Harbourside Homes Doomed Mansions Of Potts Point – The Sydney Sun – 4 January 1941
- Original Villas Of Darlinghurst
- Maranamah – 64 Macleay Street – Potts Point (Historic Sydney Mansions)
- Grantham – Potts Point (Historic Sydney Mansions)
- Federation – 1 January 1901
Sources
- David S. Macmillan, "Challis, John Henry (1806–1880)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 3, 1969: adb.anu.edu.au/biography/challis-john-henry-3186
- "John Henry Challis", Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry_Challis
- "Challis House", Wikipedia, which reproduces the NSW State Heritage Register listing H00666 under CC BY 4.0: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challis_House
- "Challis Professorship", Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challis_Professor
- "Potts Point, New South Wales", Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potts_Point,_New_South_Wales
- "Progress of the Suburbs", Sydney Morning Herald, 1 November 1913, p. 8, as transcribed on this blog
- "Historic Harbourside Homes: Doomed Mansions of Potts Point", The Sun (Sydney), 4 January 1941, as transcribed on this blog
- Images: Wikimedia Commons, with the photographers and licences credited under each picture