| Cossington | |
| Coordinates: | -33.7315°N 151.1342°W |
| Map Relief: | yes |
| Location: | 43 Ku-Ring-Gai Avenue, Turramurra, Ku-ring-gai Council, New South Wales, Australia |
| Beginning Label: | Design period |
| Built: | 1899 |
| Built For: | W. J. Baker |
| Architect: | Nixon and Allen |
| Architecture: | Federation period |
| Designation1: | New South Wales State Heritage Register |
| Designation1 Offname: | Cossington; Sylvan Fells; Sylvan Falls |
| Designation1 Type: | State heritage (built) |
| Designation1 Date: | 18 August 2006 |
| Designation1 Number: | 1763 |
| Designation1 Free1name: | Type |
| Designation1 Free1value: | House |
| Designation1 Free2name: | Category |
| Designation1 Free2value: | Residential buildings (private) |
| Designation1 Free3name: | Builders |
Cossington is a heritage-listed residence located at 43 Ku-Ring-Gai Avenue, in the Sydney suburb of Turramurra, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Nixon and Allen and built in 1899. It is also known as Sylvan Fells and Sylvan Falls. The property is privately owned. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 18 August 2006.[1]
Originally a timber-getting area settlement begun in 1822 until after 1850 when the orchardists came to occupy extensive landholdings producing a variety of citrus and other fruits including persimmons, custard apples and Chinese pears. The Turramurra railway station was opened on 1 January 1890. The suburb was then known as Eastern Road and it was nearly a year later on 14 December 1890 that Turramurra was named after the Aboriginal word meaning "high hill".[1]
The construction of the railway brought immediate progress. In 1881 the population was only 142, by 1891 it was 788 and in 1901 1,306.[1]
There was no electricity until 1927, water was piped from Wahroonga Reservoir and the outside loos were regularly emptied by the nightwatchman. The gaslights were lit each evening by the gaslighter. Those with very large properties kept cows for instant milk supply. Many dairies were established and the milkman delivered twice a day. By 1920 fruit fly put an end to all commercial growing of fruit on the North Shore and the land were converted into Chinese gardens.[1]
The most expensive subdivision, of lots of 10acres or more available, is the portion around Ku-ring-gai Avenue and Boomerang Street and a number of houses listed in the Sands Directory of 1903 are found here. Shops appeared from 1912 and Chinese gardens, that disappeared after World War II.[1]
Ku-ring-gai Avenue was owned by a few prominent people. Thomas Cosh, the architect designed and built a number of houses here, possibly as a speculative builder and developer, and lived in a few of them before selling on, including:[1]
See main article: Grace Cossington Smith. Grace Smith is born in 1892 at Neutral Bay to English migrant Ernest Augustus Smith and Grace (née Fisher), the second of five children. The extended name "Grace Cossington Smith" appears on her baptism entry at St Augustine in Neutral Bay. Her mother encouraged her to adopt it as part of her identity as an artist and she began actively using it in her twenties as her preferred way of being recognised, personally and professionally.[3] In 1895 the Allowah Estate in Turramurra is subdivided (Cossington will be built on Lot 12). In 1899 the house was designed by Nixon and Allen for W. J. Baker. Named Sylvan Fells, it has an unusual timber lined meeting room which is used for Quaker meetings. According to Quaker researcher Jenny Madeline, William John Baker was a trustee for the Quaker Burial Ground established at Rookwood Necropolis in 1902 following the resumption of the Devonshire Street Cemetery for Central railway station. He had had another house built to the design of Nixon and Allen at 37 Kuringai Ave Turramurra in 1897.[4] Cossington Smith later would say that the house at Turramurra had been designed for "'Mr Baker the Quaker' as a dwelling that could also function as a Quaker lodge, a kind of church".[5] [1]
A Federation period home with fine timber detailing and an unusual timber lined meeting room.[10] A large single storey Federation style house constructed of red open kiln bricks with blue brick dressings along the line of the window ledges and above the windows. Mitre slate roof with lead ridging. There are four decorative chimneys of red and blue bricks. Strong veranda details include turned posts, delicately incised timber brackets and lattice valance.[10] [1]
The interior features an impressive kauri board lined central meeting room with a fine cedar screen with decorative leadlight panels and a rough hewn stone fire surround.[10] [1]
The house stands in a mature garden of dense-leafed evergreens, pines, azaleas and camellias, with a wide gravel brick-edged drive in good condition. The front fence repeats the style and structure of many fences in Ku-Ring-Gai Avenue, with overlapping palings and squared timber coping. There are heavy wrought iron gates in rectangular and diamond pattern.[10] [1]
The door from the new kitchen (previous spare bedroom) to the back veranda is original and unusual in that the joinery makes the shape of a cross (this may be a remnant of significance to the original Quaker occupants). The door into Cossington Smith's former studio (in the south eastern corner of the house) is significant as it had been the door to her studio in the garden and was moved to its new position when she moved the studio into the house.[1]
The major dark wood furniture in the dining room is largely the same as when Cossington Smith lived there - a large bookcase with many art books that had been owned by Cossington Smith, the dining table and chairs and the large sideboard, as well as the mantle clock over the original fireplace. This room also contains its original french doors leading from the living room to the back veranda, making it perhaps the most intact room in the house. In the living room, the original fireplace is graced with its original mantle clock and two period drawings of GCS's forebears titled "Great grandfather Smith" and "Great grandmother".[1]
Modifications since 1979 are minor and largely reversible if desired.[1]
As at 27 September 2006, as the adult home of Grace Cossington Smith and the subject of many of her finest paintings, Cossington is of State heritage significance for its association with this outstanding twentieth century Australian artist. Cossington is also of State significance for its association with women's history in NSW in so far as Cossington Smith's art works represent an especially feminine perspective on Australian culture – as viewed from the interior of an upper middle-class suburban house. Cossington is also of local heritage significance for its unusual timber-lined meeting room originally used for Quaker meetings, for its associations with Cossington Smith's eminent lawyer father Ernest Smith, for its architectural qualities as a Federation bungalow designed by Nixon & Allen, and for its garden contributing to the streetscape.[1]
"I am not sure there is another artist in the entire history of Australian art for whom there can be the same two-fold association of firstly, a house in which the artist lived for entirety of a career – more than six decades – and secondly, where the interior structure itself – ie the rooms inside – formed the basis of subject matter pursued with magnificent and profoundly spiritual dedication over that time."[1]
Cossington was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 18 August 2006 having satisfied the following criteria.[1]
The place is important in demonstrating the course, or pattern, of cultural or natural history in New South Wales.
Cossington is likely to be of state heritage significance for its association with women's history in NSW. Cossington Smith's art works represent a widespread but especially feminine perspective on Australian culture – as viewed from the interior of an upper middle-class suburban house. Cossington is also likely to be considered of at least local heritage significance for its historical relationship with the Quakers in NSW.[1]
The place has a strong or special association with a person, or group of persons, of importance of cultural or natural history of New South Wales's history.
As the adult home of Grace Cossington Smith and the subject of many of her finest paintings, Cossington is of State heritage significance for its association with this leading twentieth century Australian artist. Cossington is also of local heritage significance for its previous use as a Quaker meeting house, still apparent in the wooden lined ceilings in the room now used as living room and dining room. Cossington is also of local heritage significance for its association with Cossington Smith's father Ernest Augustus Smith, a lawyer who was the NSW Solicitor General 1891–1894 (before buying the house). He also led his professional association of notaries the for a time. "The profession, and the community service, might be considered characteristic of those who lived in the highland suburbs on the North Shore Line".[11] [1]
The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.
Cossington is of local heritage significance for its architectural qualities as a Federation bungalow designed by Dixon & Adam, and for its garden and contribution to the streetscape. The room that was the Quaker meeting room is also of aesthetic significance for its impressive kauri-board ceilings with fine cedar screen and decorative leadlight panels, as well as its rough hewn stone fireplaces.[1]
The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.
As the long-time home of one of Australia's leading artists and the subject of many of her finest paintings, Cossington is of State significance with respect to its research potential for art historians.[1]