Waverley House – Old South Head Road – Bondi Junction / Waverley – NSW
Built 1827 for Barnett Levey · “Levey’s Folly” · Demolished June 1904 · Gave its name to the suburb and municipality
Before Bondi Junction was a transport hub, the ridge carried a stone mansion whose owner preferred Sir Walter Scott to living in his own house. Barnett Levey — free Jewish settler, miller, jeweller, librarian and “father of Australian theatre” — raised Waverley House on his South Head Road grant in 1827. He leased it; others ran orphanages and schools in it; lightning killed three children in the basement; and in June 1904 the landmark came down for the Waverley House Estate subdivision. The suburb kept the name.
A BIT OF OLD SYDNEY.
WELL-KNOWN LANDMARK.
One of the most notable of the old landmarks of Sydney that are fast disappearing in order to make way for more modern buildings, is Waverley House. For over three-quarters of a century this relic of early days, which was erected as a mansion for Mr. Barnet Levy in 1827, has occupied a commanding site on the Old South Head-road near the Bondi Junction. The house was constructed at a period when building was brisk, and when convict labour was largely availed of by the early residents of Sydney. Upon a foundation of solid stonework, three feet thick, was raised a superstructure with stone walls about two feet in thickness. Mr. James Vickery, the oldest resident in Waverley, has a recollection of Waverley House during the past 71 years, and is also in possession of many interesting facts relating to the history of this remarkable building. Mr. Levy, for whom it was built, did not remain long in possession, and in 1829 the building was sold for £705, and 20 lots adjoining—portion of Mr. Levy's 40-acre Crown grant—realised £24 each. Owing to the progress of the municipality of Waverley, the area of land surrounding Waverley House was many years ago reduced to three acres. Mr. Young (formerly sheriff of the colony) and Mr. Henry Clarke, M.L.A. (father of the Legislative Assembly) were formerly occupants of the house. Mr. Clarke was in possession at the time of the wreck of the ill-fated Dunbar on August 20, 1857. Many years ago, when the old house was used as an orphanage by the New South Wales Government, the building was struck by lightning during a severe thunderstorm, and three of the children who were in the basement at the time were killed. Miss Hall for some years conducted a girls' high school, and subsequently the Kilburn sisters carried on an educational establishment for 10 years, the Sisters of the Church having vacated the building in April last. Since the death of Miss Hall the property passed into the possession of Mr. T. E. Hall, of Randwick. The land having been recently sold in building allotments, the old landmark has been demolished. In the pulling down process several interesting relics of "convict" days were unearthed. These included portion of a prisoner's leg-irons and chain, a convict's chisel (with name stamped on), old coins, a gold brooch, and other articles. The stone and wood work was in excellent order. Although but a few weeks have passed since the land was sold by auction, already several new residences are in course of erection, and the site upon which Waverley House stood for 7[illegible] years is now but a mass of debris.
[Photograph caption:] WAVERLEY HOUSE, BUILT 182[illegible], DEMOLISHED JUNE, 190[illegible].
[The clipping begins part-way through the article:]
… when the Dunbar was wrecked at South Head. Mr. F. W. Bowden, auctioneer, was also a former occupier. Miss Hall for some years was proprietor, and conducted a girls' high school in the old house, and up to recently the Sisters of the Church successfully taught the children of local residents in it for ten years, until their removal to Paddington in April last. Upon the death of Miss Hall the property came into the possession of Mr. F. E. Hall, of Randwick, and it was recently subdivided and sold in modern-sized building allotments. During the time that the orphanage was in existence a very severe thunderstorm passed over the district. Waverley House, from its exalted position, was visited by the storm in all its severity, the building was struck by lightning, and of a number of the orphan children who were hiding in the basement, three were killed by the electric current. Many are the rumours that have gone abroad regarding the old house, and not a few of the more superstitious have spoken of the dwelling as the "haunted house." Its associations with the convict days of New South Wales were more recently brought to light, as during the work of pulling down, portion of leg-irons, and a convict's chisel, with name of the owner on it, were unearthed. Since its erection slight additions had been made, and when last tenanted Waverley House contained eight rooms and four basement rooms. It was only during the last ten years that water and gas had been laid on, so that for the first 65 years these later advantages were not availed of. Notwithstanding that only a few weeks have passed since the land was subdivided, the ruins of the oldest landmark in the district are now surrounded by a number of workmen engaged in building up-to-date tenements, which will shortly be occupied, and what for the past three-quarters of a century has been known as Waverley House will be a thing of the past.
## WAVERLEY HOUSE ESTATE
TORRENS' TITLE.
KILBURN SISTERS' SCHOOL
## 11 MAGNIFICENT RESIDENTIAL SITES
250 yards from Bondi Junction, Waverley
Absolutely the Pick of the Eastern Suburbs,
FOR AUCTION SALE ON THE GROUND
SATURDAY, 19th March, 3 p.m.
ALLDIS & CO., AUCTIONEERS, Charing Cross, Waverley
TERMS 20% DEPOSIT IN 3, 6, 9, OR 12 MONTHS AT 5%
OR CASH WITHIN 30 DAYS WITHOUT INTEREST
NOTE. ALL MEASUREMENTS SUBJECT TO DEPOSITED PLAN
SHADED LOTS ARE SOLD.
SOLICITORS TO THE VENDORS. MESSRS STEPHEN, JAQUES & STEPHEN, O'CONNELL ST
[Plan: numbered lots between Old South Head Rd (with Tram Lines), Bondi Rd, Waverley Crescent, Pine Avenue, Pine Lane, a Lane 20 ft wide and Waverley St, with a building marked within the lots; a Reserve; and a LOCAL SKETCH of the surrounding streets.]
At a glance
- Location: Elevated site on Old South Head Road near Bondi Junction — frontages later described to Pine and Waverley Streets (Sydney Mail, 13 July 1904)
- Built: 1827 for Barnett Levey (often Levy in period spelling)
- Name: After Scott’s novel Waverley (1814); colloquial “Levey’s Folly”
- Fabric: Two storeys over basement; stone foundations ~3 ft thick; walls ~2 ft; convict labour used in construction (period press)
- Plan (early): Three large cellars and kitchen in basement; two parlours, two bedrooms and lobby on the principal floor; attic bedroom; stables, offices, well
- Fate: Demolished June 1904; land sold as building lots (Waverley House Estate auction, March 1904)
- Legacy: Suburb and former Municipality / LGA of Waverley take the house name (Dictionary of Sydney; Waverley Library)
Site & setting
Levey’s Crown grant (commonly cited as about 40 acres; Dictionary of Sydney notes a sixty-acre farm in one summary) occupied high ground on the Old South Head Road with long views. By the early 1900s municipal progress had reduced the surrounding grounds to roughly three acres. After demolition, new houses rose within weeks on the debris. The name survives in the suburb, the LGA, and local history collections at Waverley Library.
Timeline
- 1821 – Barnett Levey arrives from London’s East End.
- 1827 – Waverley House begun / completed; contemporaneously called a cottage yet built as a substantial stone mansion.
- 1829 – House sold for £705 with limited land; adjoining lots of the grant realise £24 each (period accounts).
- 1829 – Levey opens the Theatre Royal in the Royal Hotel, George Street — often called the father of Australian theatre.
- 1830 – Levey promotes cottages in Waverley Crescent — early speculative building in the district.
- 1836–1844 – Dictionary of Sydney: Roman Catholic Orphan School occupation among institutional uses.
- 1857 – Occupant Henry Clarke, M.L.A., recalls the night of the Dunbar wreck from the house.
- Later nineteenth century – Hotel use; government orphanage (lightning strike kills three children in the basement); Miss Hall’s girls’ high school; Kilburn Sisters / Sisters of the Church school (to April 1904).
- 19 Mar 1904 – Waverley House Estate auction (Aldis & Co. plan, NLA / Dictionary of Sydney).
- Jun 1904 – House demolished; relics including leg-irons and a named convict chisel reported during demolition (SMH 1 July 1904; Sydney Mail 13 July 1904).
Architecture & interiors
Solid colonial stonework — thick foundations and walls — kept the timber sound and apparently free of white ant when pulled down after seventy-seven years. By the school era the house held about eight rooms plus four basement rooms; gas and water arrived only in the last decade of its life. Period writers stressed the panoramic ridge site more than fashionable ornament: this was an early South Head Road seat, not a late-Victorian filigree showpiece.
People & anecdotes
Barnett Levey (c.1798–1837) — first free male Jewish settler commonly so described; merchant, windmill proprietor, vegetable grower, jeweller, founder of Sydney’s first lending library; Theatre Royal 1829. He never made Waverley House his home — it was always leased.
Henry Clarke, M.L.A. — “Father of the House”; Dunbar night memory.
James Vickery — long Waverley resident interviewed for the 1904 demolition coverage.
Miss Hall / Kilburn Sisters — educational chapters that closed just before the auction.
Disambiguate carefully from later houses simply called “Waverley,” and from Waverley Cemetery. This post concerns the 1827–1904 ridge house that named the place.
What stands today
Demolished 1904. No mansion remains. The suburb and council name are the memorial. Waverley Library Local Studies holds historic photographs (e.g. Major Johnston collection views). Walk Old South Head Road / Bondi Junction with the 1904 press accounts in hand.
Sources & further reading
- Dictionary of Sydney — Waverley House; entry on Waverley suburb; Barnett Levey
- Waverley Council Library — “Waverley House” local history note: celebrating.waverley.nsw.gov.au
- Sydney Morning Herald, 1 July 1904 — “A Bit of Old Sydney”
- Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, 13 July 1904 — “Waverley House. An Historic Landmark Demolished” (Trove)
- Aldis & Co., Waverley House Estate auction plan, 19 March 1904 (NLA; Dictionary of Sydney media)
Related on this blog
- Eastern-suburbs lost houses and South Head Road villas
- Other early colonial “name-giving” houses