Beecroft Road (formerly Beecroft Parade)
Western (or even numbered) side
8, Marabar [1]
This land was purchased in 1887 by Myles McRae of Kogarah. He sold it in 1889 to Edward Orme a merchant of Sydney who in turn sold it in 1904 to Ludovic Blackwood [2]. Blackwood used G Dalton a builder of Beecroft to construct the home in 1907-08. It is presumed that the architect was Mrs Blackwood’s brother-in-law, George McCredie, who was another engineer. McCredie also designed his own home, Linnwood at Guildford. The Blackwood family moved from Glebe into Marabar in 1908.
The boys went to Shore for school while the girls attended Misses Longs’ school opposite the fire station on Beecroft Road. One of the boys, George, was interested in the stage and he first trod the boards at the School of Arts aged 12 years.
The eldest child and son of the family, James (Jim) was wounded in WW1 and died on 2 December 1916.
None of Blackwood’s children married and when the last surviving child. Elizabeth, went to reside in a nursing home in 1967, the house was sold. Part of the land forming the estate was also donated to the National Trust and now forms the Blackwood Reserve that was leased by the Trust to Mount St Benedict School in 2018.
Bruce Piper was a member of the Civic Trust in 1967 and gave this as his address.
The house was most recently sold in 2021.
The house and garden are listed on the Hornsby Shire Council Heritage Register which comprises Schedule 5 (Environmental Heritage) of the Hornsby Local Environment Plan 2013.
[1] H Barker & M Elven Houses of Hornsby Shire Vol 1 (Hornsby, 1989) pp 72-74
[2] For more information on Ludovic Blackwood refer to the section on People.
28 and 30. These were built in 1894 by Alfred Cox, for leasing purposes. He lived opposite in Kilwinning. 30 has superb turned roundels ornamenting the gable and fine brick chimneys. The angled entrance compliments that of Kilwinning.
John Edwards of 30 was a member of the Civic Trust between 1999 to 2004.
38, Garryowen This is a classic Californian bungalow with leadlight windows. Sylvia Lovenfosse was a member of the Civic Trust in 2000.
44. P F Cook was a member of the Civic Trust between 1991 to 1997. The house and garden are listed on the Hornsby Shire Council Heritage Register which comprises Schedule 5 (Environmental Heritage) of the Hornsby Local Environment Plan 2013.
50, Ottumwa was the home of Dr Herbert Vere (“Doc’) Evatt (1894-1965) and his wife Mary Alice between 1929 and 1931. They named this house after Mary Alice’s birthplace in Ohio, United States of America [1].
[1] For more information on the Evatts see a separate article on them on this web site under People.
50C, Glenbower. This home was occupied by Henry Little from at least 1904 to 1918 when it was occupied by the Forrest family from 1918 until at least 1932.
Ron Howard was active in the Civic Trust between 1990 and 2000 – including being President.
The house and garden are listed on the Hornsby Shire Council Heritage Register which comprises Schedule 5 (Environmental Heritage) of the Hornsby Local Environment Plan 2013.
66 – This was the site of Kirra private hospital [1].
[1] See elsewhere on this web site for an article on the hospital Kirra.
68. The garden is listed on the Hornsby Shire Council Heritage Register which comprises Schedule 5 (Environmental Heritage) of the Hornsby Local Environment Plan 2013.
70, Jacaranda: This house was built 1908. It has a steeply pitched iron roof in pyramid shape and a remarkably tall chimney. It was sold in 2013 by Bruce & Denise Mowbray who had lived there for 12 years [1].
[1] Northern District Times, 31 July 2013
84, Waveney. This house was built by Harry Octavius Holcombe [1] in the early 1890s. It was the first of a number of adjacent houses built by Holcombe and therefore, with the other houses built by him, forms a unique group of houses and one of the few such groupings in New South Wales, if not Australia. This house is now behind the hedge and brick fence. Later owners included a doctor who used the house as his surgery.
The house is listed on the Hornsby Shire Council Heritage Register which comprises Schedule 5 (Environmental Heritage) of the Hornsby Local Environment Plan 2013.
[1] For more information on Holcombe see the article on him under People on this website.
86, Highwick. (later Lorne) This two storeyed residence was built by Harry Octavius Holcombe commencing in 1894 [1]. He leased it to Thomas Skellett from 1895-1902. Then from 1904 to 1909 to Dr Mark Cowley Lidwill. Miss Long leased it from 1914 and from here she conducted Beecroft College [2]. The school was subsequently run by Mrs McCarthy until 1922 when it was occupied by Dr Holt who called it Lorne until about 1927.
The house was unusual in design in having the ground floor wholly for servants and kitchen while the upper floor was approached by a flight of stairs (now removed) from the front yard leading to the front door on the first floor and the spacious living areas and bedrooms for the family were on that floor. Passey in Hunters Hill has (in this regard) a similar design.
In 1896 the Holcombes built a house (also called Highwick) for their home (now demolished but on Copeland Road) where they stayed until 1906. Then they built at 172 Copeland Road a substantial home with an angled verandah on the southern and western sides and with the Holcombe family crest in the leadlights. It too they called Highwick. Apart from other investment properties elsewhere in Beecroft, they built their last home right on the corner of Beecroft and Copeland Roads in the late 1930s. They stayed there until he died in 1943 and Violet in 1947. This last house still remains.
The house is listed on the Hornsby Shire Council Heritage Register which comprises Schedule 5 (Environmental Heritage) of the Hornsby Local Environment Plan 2013.
[1] The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate 8 September 1894 p7. For more information on Holcombe see the article on him under People on this website.
[2] For more information on Skellett, Lidwill and Beecroft College see articles elsewhere on this web site under People and Early Schools respectively.
100, Higgins Store [1].
This land had been owned by Mrs Eliza Ogden. She sold the quarter acre block in 1907 with an arrangement that her daughter could occupy a building at the rear as a school room. The land was purchased by Walter Brasnett who subsequently transferred it to his daughter, Grace Higgins. In 1908, Samuel and Grace Higgins built a large two-storeyed shop and residence. Grace Higgins was a keen gardener and created a lovely garden around a large lawn on one side of the house. A trellis was covered with pink ivy geranium and a deep red rose. Samuel built a brick seat around a large pittosporum tree and also made an ant-bed tennis court.
In the rear was a produce shed and stables for the three horses and two delivery carts used in the business. Acetylene lamps lighted the store on Friday nights and when Samuel worked on the books in the evenings. When electricity came to Beecroft in the 1920s, the store was one of the first buildings to be connected.
The Higgins family quit this business in 1929. It was then a general store until the Clough family successfully applied for a liquor licence to contribute to what their general store offered. It was then sold to a major liquor outlet, Claude Fay, who proposed demolition and building a drive through bottle shop. This plan was successfully opposed by a major public protest co-ordinated by the Beecroft Cheltenham Civic Trust. Since that time it has been used solely as a liquor store.
The store is listed on the Hornsby Shire Council Heritage Register which comprises Schedule 5 (Environmental Heritage) of the Hornsby Local Environment Plan 2013.
[1] For more information on Higgins or on the businesses conducted at these premises see separate articles on this web site under People and under Changing Times – Commerce – particular stores.
104, Nakinda and formerly Warialda. From at least 1915 this was the home of William Birkenhead and his family. Both William and his daughter Olive Birkenhead were artists. William exhibited at the Royal Art Society of NSW between 1893 to 1897. Olive exhibited at the Women Artist Society [1]. William was also a clerk in the Department of Education. From 1922 to 1924 this was the home of Thomas Nagle and then from 1924 to at least 1932 of John McNaughton.
D Booker was a member of the Civic Trust in 1991 to 2005 and gave this as their home.
The house is listed on the Hornsby Shire Council Heritage Register which comprises Schedule 5 (Environmental Heritage) of the Hornsby Local Environment Plan 2013.
[1] For more information on Olive Birkenhead see the separate article on her on this web site under People.
110. The house is listed on the Hornsby Shire Council Heritage Register which comprises Schedule 5 (Environmental Heritage) of the Hornsby Local Environment Plan 2013.
111. S Dunn was a member of the Civic Trust between 1992 and 2006 and gave this as his address. The house and garden are listed on the Hornsby Shire Council Heritage Register which comprises Schedule 5 (Environmental Heritage) of the Hornsby Local Environment Plan 2013.
112A. A five bedroom house on this site sold in 2009. It had been built by the previous owners Ken and Margaret Boag [1]. K Boag had been a member of the Civic Trust in 2007.
[1] Northern District Times 16 September 2009 p. 3
114, Ravenshurst. Miss Elise Simpson conducted Ravenshurst school from this home since 1908 until she sold the school to Mrs Dow in 1909. Unfortunately shortly after her purchase there were two fires lit at the school by a 9 year old male boarder in 1909 and these led to the school’s closure [1].
It was the home of Robert and Fanny Cadden shortly after the closure of the school until 1918. Their daughter, Delia, was a noted artist [2]. In 1919 the occupant was Francis Barrett, 1920 A E Silversides, 1922 Percy Farmer who was there until at least 1932.
The house was purchased by John and Winfred Hammond in the 1950s and was their home until early 1990s.
The house and garden are listed on the Hornsby Shire Council Heritage Register which comprises Schedule 5 (Environmental Heritage) of the Hornsby Local Environment Plan 2013.
[1] For more information on the school see an article elsewhere on this web site under Early Schools.
[2] For more information on Delia Cadden see the separate article on her elsewhere on this website under People.
- The garden, fence and hedge are listed on the Hornsby Shire Council Heritage Register which comprises Schedule 5 (Environmental Heritage) of the Hornsby Local Environment Plan 2013.
118, Linwood. This was the home of Mrs Jemima Hull who made it available for the first services in Beecroft of the Methodist (now Uniting) and Church of England (now Anglican) Churches. From 1918 until at least 1932 it was the home of George Speechley.
The house is listed on the Hornsby Shire Council Heritage Register which comprises Schedule 5 (Environmental Heritage) of the Hornsby Local Environment Plan 2013.
128. The garden is listed on the Hornsby Shire Council Heritage Register which comprises Schedule 5 (Environmental Heritage) of the Hornsby Local Environment Plan 2013.
130, Ramona. This land was first purchased by George Robert Harrison in 1887. Harrison had migrated to Australia from England in the 1840’s and became a timber merchant. He was extensively involved in both the Church of England (now the Anglican Church) and the Church Missionary Society. He built the present house in 1887-8.
Harrison sold the house in 1911 to the Intercolonial Investment Land & Building Co Ltd which subdivided the surrounding land. The auction of Ramona Estate took place on 7 October 1911 and led to the creation of Boronia Avenue and the neighbouring blocks. The house and immediate block was purchased by Gustav Heumann, a city importer. The Heumann were part of the elite of Beecroft and held many social functions here. Mrs Heumann also recalled attending the parties of Richard Terry at Denistone House, Eastwood, which were famous in the 1870s for hunts balls and picnics with the governor and Sydney’s elite attending [1].
More recently it was at one time the home of John Singleton a notable advertising and business man.
[1] Beecroft Express, 17 June 1964 p1
136 This land was created on the subdivision in 1911 of the Ramona Estate. Peter Graham was a member of the Civic Trust at least between 1988 and 2005 and gave this as his address. The garden is listed on the Hornsby Shire Council Heritage Register which comprises Schedule 5 (Environmental Heritage) of the Hornsby Local Environment Plan 2013.
140, Combanning. This land was created on the subdivision in 1911 of the Ramona Estate. This home was built in Federation Arts and Crafts style between 1912 and 1914. It has an interesting feature chimney and was the home of a retired Scottish Minister, Mr Middleton. Mrs Ellen Middleton was still living here from at least 1919 unto 1932. The house and garden are listed on the Hornsby Shire Council Heritage Register which comprises Schedule 5 (Environmental Heritage) of the Hornsby Local Environment Plan 2013.
142, Binghi, was built around 1916 by a retired grazier, Frederick Stewart who developed a beautiful garden surrounding it, now long past its former glory. Stewart was still living there in 1932. This land was created on the subdivision in 1911 of the Ramona Estate.
The garden, fence and gate posts are listed on the Hornsby Shire Council Heritage Register which comprises Schedule 5 (Environmental Heritage) of the Hornsby Local Environment Plan 2013.
144-146, Brunoy. This land was created on the subdivision in 1911 of the Ramona Estate. It was purchased in about 1915 by Herbert Leslie Arnott who arranged for the home to be built. Arnott was the son of William Arnott a baker who had migrated from Scotland and founded the famous bakery and biscuit making firm. Arnott managed the Homebush factory of the family firm.
The architects of this home were Spain, Cosh and Dods. It was built by Kell & Rigby.
A maid lived in the house, a laundress and extra help coming in on a daily basis and there were two full time gardeners and a chauffeur. The Arnott family were involved in many local activities. They owned one of the first cars in the district and late had a pale blue Rolls Royce – which he used to drive even though they employed a chauffeur. They also owned one of the first gramophones which the Cumberland Argus of 1908 said: ‘Mr Arnott brought his excellent gramophone to the School of Arts to entertain youngsters.’ The family lived in the house until Herbert’s death (in 1955) when it was sold to the Home Mission Society of the Anglican Church (formerly Church of England) for use as a Chesalon Nursing Home. Anglicare (the successor agency) has closed this home and sold the property to Thompson Health Care in 2019 and, while its future as an aged care facility therefore seems secure, its heritage retention is presently being resolved.
The house is listed on the Hornsby Shire Council Heritage Register which comprises Schedule 5 (Environmental Heritage) of the Hornsby Local Environment Plan 2013.