Rosebery Federation Classics

[previous page: Rosebery Federation Bungalows next: Rosebery Federation Bungalows re-visited]

• This photo essay is devoted to Rosebery’s original houses.
  

  Original Gardener’s Road row of Federation Houses

• Rosebery came to Federation housing a little later than Haberfield and Randwick, but there are still good examples of classic style there, however most have been renovated away from the original style (with deference to the force of nature, see below).
• These are my picks of the the original houses, most probably built in the years 1914-1920
• Most of these are on Gardeners Road, Rosebery
  
• All of these properties have new roofs, since this suburb was badly damaged by the catastrophic hail storm of 14 Apr 1999: notice the slate tiles on left house in the original pair, there are no slate roofs left in this neighbourhood now.
• To re-roof quickly, I suspect many Federation feature chimneys were removed at this time.
  

  Pair similar to original pair, but no verandah valences, chimneys and ridge decorations removed

Hailstones dropped during the storm, compared to a cricket ball (7 cm/2.8 in diameter)

• Hailstorm moved north through Sydney’s inner eastern suburbs

  I was in the Chippendale area during the storm of 1999, and with my own eyes saw hail bigger than cricket balls, some were half-housebrick size;

• a TAFE teacher showed me a hailstone roughly the size of a house brick!
• Many car rear windows were punched through by just one hailstone!
• The sound of hail smashing down resembled an express train rumbling by. Since these storms, masonry roofing tiles now have a degree of dissatisfaction in view of the impact energy of such large hailstones. Of course any 90-year old masonry tiles would have been smashed by such hailstones.
• “The downpour of an estimated 500,000 tonnes of hail across Sydney suburbia resulted in widespread damage on the coastal suburbs in its path. Insured losses due to the disaster reached roughly A$1.7 billion, with total costs estimated to be around A$2.3 billion. The storm was the costliest natural disaster ever to hit Australia in terms of insured losses, surpassing the 1989 Newcastle earthquake by around A$600 million. Source: Wikipedia
  

  Coke bottle shows hail size!

Typical hailstorm damage of the area

This may not be in Rosebery, but indicative of the catastrophe Rosebery suffered.

Gardeners Road, Still Handsome

Gardeners Road, needs a little TLC

Looking very good! Love the Chimneys

Surely Arts and Crafts style

Gardeners Road, and still loved!

Maybe the balustrade isn’t original

House still looks good!

Should be a heritage item, but there are some quibbles.

• eg fencing – are the front fences of brick masonry to match the house?
• The chimney doesn’t seem as tall as it should be?
• but still a very handsome house! Has beautiful windows and detailing.