Richmond Villa

Richmond Villa

Verandah

Richmond Villa is a heritage-listed home in Sydney, Australia. It was designed by the notable colonial architect Mortimer Lewis and is located in Kent Street, Millers Point, a suburb of Sydney.it is adjacent to Glover cottages, which are also heritage-listed.

History and description

Richmond Villa is now located on top of an artificial rock shelf or escarpment along the east side of Kent Street, facing west. This rock shelf may have been created by stone quarrying that took place between 1810 and the 1830s. It soon became the site of stone cottages, some of which still survive, but Richmond Villa started its life in a very different place.

In 1849, Mortimer Lewis bought three plots of land behind Macquarie Street, Sydney, facing The Domain. On this property he built his own home, which he called Richmond Villa. It is one of the few examples of Lewis's residential work, since his buildings were generally non-residential. He designed Richmond Villa in a Gothic Revival style, as he had done with Bronte House. The ground floor contained a high verandah with zig-zag lattice-like detailing which contrasted with the building's asymmetrical plan and fenestration.

The house was used as an annex to Parliament House from 1880–1975. It was then dismantled to make way for extensions to Parliament House, and re-erected in Kent Street, Millers Point, in 1977. It has a federal heritage listing^[1] as well as a state heritage listing.^[2]

It is the current office of the Society of Australian Genealogists.

References

1. The Heritage of Australia, Macmillan Company, 1981, pp.2/70-71
2. State Heritage Website

Coordinates: 33°51′41″S 151°12′14″E / 33.8613°S 151.2040°E