Built between 1835-1839, Elizabeth Bay House is a Greek Revival villa designed by John Verge for the Colonial Secretary, Alexander Macleay. Known in its day as ‘the finest house in the colony’ it features a domed oval saloon with a magnificent, sweeping staircase leading to the first floor. The house was originally surrounded by a 54-acre garden.
From 1928 to 1935 Elizabeth Bay House was an artists’ squat, providing cheap accommodation for well-known artists and writers who lived a bohemian lifestyle around Kings Cross. The exhibition currently being held in Elizabeth Bay House is called ‘King’s Cross – Bohemian Sydney’. It recreates the 1940s and 1950s feel of the house and celebrates the art and artists of Kings Cross.
Since 1977, Elizabeth Bay House has been open to the public as a house museum, with the interior reconstructed to look just as the Macleay Family left it in 1845.
Further information
Elizabeth Bay House is managed by the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales.
Address: 7 Onslow Avenue, Elizabeth Bay 2011
Open: Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-4.30pm
Admission: adult $7, concession $3, family $17
Enquiries: (02) 9356 3022
Website: www.hht.net.au
Kings Cross – Bohemian Sydney Exhibition
Open Tuesday to Sunday 10am – 4.30pm, until September 21, 2003.
Admission $6, concession $3, family $17.
The entomological collections we filmed in the library of Elizabeth Bay House are on loan from the Macleay Museum, a history and science museum with a collection including scientific instruments, invertebrates and vertebrates (entomological collection), historic photographs and ethnography.
The Macleay Museum is in Gosper Lane off Science Road, University of Sydney, NSW 2006. Open : 9am – 4pm Monday to Friday. Phone: (02) 9351 2274. Web: www.usyd.edu.au/macleay