Glebe “possesses probably the largest stock of Victorian cottages and terraces, grouped in the same townscape, to be found in Australia. On recognition of its value the National Trust has declared Glebe to be an essential component of the nation’s architectural and historic heritage.” ⁱⁱ

The followingⁱ are listed on the State Heritage Register :

• Bellevue, 55-57 Leichhardt Street
• Glebe Railway Viaduct
• Hereford House, 53 Hereford Street
• Lyndhurst, 61 Darghan Street
• Monteith, 266 Glebe Point Road
• Reussdale 160 Bridge Road
• Rothwell Lodge, 24 Ferry Road
• Sze Yup Temple, Edward Street
• Tranby, 13 Mansfield Street
• University Hall and Cottages, 281 Broadway

 
The followingⁱ are classified individually by the National Trust :

• 32-34 Allen Street (1911)
• 242 -244 Glebe Point Road (1893, 1899 respectively)
• 433-445 Glebe Point Road (1900)
• 115 Hereford Street (late 1860s)
• 17-19 Leichhardt Street (c1870s)
• 223a-229 Pyrmont Bridge Road (1876)
• 144A St Johns Road
• 1 Upper Road
• Ambleside and Wycombe, 2,4 Toxteth Road (c1890s)
• Bellevue, 55-57 Leichhardt Street (c1883)
• Bidura, 357 Glebe Point Road (c1860)
• Briarbank, 233 Pyrmont Bridge Road (c1862)
• The Bridge Hotel, 284 Pyrmont Bridge Road (1879)
• Fire Station, 73 St Johns Road (1906)
• Glebe Town Hall, 160 St Johns Road (1879-80)
• Glebe War Memorial, Foley Park, Glebe Point Road ((1921)
• Hereford House, 53 Hereford Street (1874)
• Jubilee Park, Bicentennial Park, Rozelle Bay
• Kelly’s House and stables, rear 15 Arundel Street (c1870s)
• Kerribree, 55 Hereford Street (1889)
• Kinrarra, 45 Hereford Street (1877)
• Lymington, 288 Glebe Point Road (1907)
• Lyndhurst, 61 Darghan Street (c1835)
• Magnolia Terrace, 272-280 Pyrmont Bridge Road (1879)
• Margaretta Cottage, 6 Leichhardt Street (c1828-36)
• Montana, 36 Boyce Street (1892)
• Monteith, 266 Glebe Point Road
• Oswestry, 234 Glebe Point Road (1887)
• Penharwood, 148 Hereford Street (1881)
• Railway Viaduct , Wentworth Park (c1916)
• Rosebank House, 2a Hereford Street (c1858)
• Rothwell Lodge, 24 Ferry Road (c1840s)
• Slipway and wharf, Oxley Street
• Stone paving, kerb gutter and retaining wall, Cardigan Street
• Sze Yup Temple, Edward Street (1955)
• Toxteth Lodge, 9 Toxteth Road (late 1870s)
• Toxteth Park, 2 Avenue Road (1831)
• Tranby, 13 Mansfield Street (c1840)
   

The following groups of buildingsⁱ are classified by the National Trust :

• Australian Youth Hotel, 63-65 Bay Street (pre 1867)
• St John’s Church, 138a Glebe Point Road (1870)
• St John’s Parish Hall, 132 St Johns Road (1897)
• Glebe Post Office, 181a Glebe Point Road (1888)
• Police Station and Magistrate’s Residence, 65 St Johns Road (1883)
• Courthouse and cottage, 67 St Johns Road (1889)
• The Hermitage, 154 Pyrmont Bridge Road (c1866)
• Hamilton, 156 Pyrmont Bridge Road (?1860s)
• Former Presbyterian Church (Abbey Restaurant), 158 Pyrmont Bridge Road
• Reussdale, 160 Pyrmont Bridge Road (c1868)

^i. Reference to any property does not imply a right of entry by the public or a right to encroach on the privacy of the owners or occupiers of such property.

^ii. Australian Council of National Trusts, Heritage Reprints, Historic Places (1979), Eurasia Press, p 222

Glebe Town Hall, 160 St Johns Road, built in stages from 1880 to 1891.

Old Post Office, 181 Glebe Point Road,  built 1890.

Police Station, 67 St John's Road, built about 1890.

Fire Station, 75 St John's Road, built 1915.

Old Court House, 2 Talfoud Street, built about 1890.

(Photos via sydneyarchitecture.com)

Oswestry, 234 Glebe Point Road, built 1887

Lasswade, 242 Glebe Point Road, built 1893

Hartford, 244 Glebe Point Road, built 1899

Monteith, 266 Glebe Point Road, built 1891

Favo (left) and Gaza House, built 1899

(Photos by Sardaka via Wikimedia)

George Allen (1800-1877) was the first solicitor to be trained in Australia. By 1831 he had acquired 96 acres of Glebe land, which became the Toxteth Estate, and commissioned John Verge to build Toxteth Park. His son, George Wigram Allen (1824-1885) added a third story, tower and ballroom to the original colonial Georgian structure.

In 1901, the property was sold to the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, a Benedictine Order, who founded St Scholastica's College, a Catholic school for girls which now has 700 students in years 7-12, A Romanesque chapel was added in the 1920s,

Wychwood, a striking arts and crafts building, located in Avenue Road adjoining St Scholastica's, was built in 1915 and is now the school's music house.

160 and 158 Bridge Road

Ferdinand Reuss trained as a civil engineer in the British firm of Robert Stevenson (grandfather of Robert Louis Stevenson). After some time in the USA, Reuss came to Australia during the 1851 gold rush, eventually setting up an architecture practice in Sydney.

On land he had purchased on either side of Pyrmont Bridge Road, Reuss built houses, most of which he rented out to others. He lived in The Hermitage at 154 Bridge Road from 1866 until his death in 1896.

His houses include: Hamilton (156 Bridge Road), and Reussdale (160), perhaps the earliest example of High Victorian domestic design in Glebe. Number 177 is also attributed to him.

The Abbey at 158 was a Presbyterian church built by the architect Thomas Rowe on Broadway in the 1870s, then moved stone by stone to its present site in 1920. It was later converted into a restaurant.

cnr of Parramatta and Glebe Point Roads

Originally the University Hotel, University Hall is home to students from the nearby University of Sydney. In around 1990 the University Hall was renovated and expanded for use as apartments.

Outside is a fountain commemorating the 50th anniversary of Glebe Municipality in 1909. On the low wall just above ground level, there is a memorial to the Aboriginal boxer Dave Sands who was the Empire Middleweight champion and seemed destined for a successful career, but died in a car accident in 1952. He is one of a handful of Australians in the World Boxing Hall of Fame in Los Angeles.

To the right of the Sands Memorial is the stone marking the original western boundary of the City of Sydney,

13 Mansfield Street

Tranby cottage was built in about 1840 prior to the subdivision of the Toxteth Estate. Its low lines and broad proportions make it an interesting example of an early colonial dwelling. George Allen, an influential solicitor and Wesleyan Methodist who became Mayor of Sydney bought the Toxteth Estate and built Toxteth Park in 1831, a grand mansion for his family. Allen's daughter married a prominent Sydney architect George Allen Mansfield and they lived in the sandstone cottage on the Toxteth Estate, which is now known as Tranby.

Reverend William Binnington Boyce bought Tranby in 1887, The Reverend John Hope of Christchurch St Laurence and the other trustees purchased the cottage in 1946, and used it as a hostel for students from the University of Sydney. In 1957 they donated Tranby to Alf Clint and what was to become the Co-operatives for Aborigines Ltd.

Since 1958 it has been the home of the Tranby Aboriginal Cooperative College, the oldest independent adult Aboriginal education centre in Australia.

24 Ferry Road

Now almost hidden by trees, Rothwell Lodge is an example of the post-Regency style, with a wide verandah on two sides giving it the air of a country homestead. The house, which was built about 1860, has been restored and is in private ownership. (Photo at left from The Architectural Character of Glebe, by Bernard and Kate Smith.)

55-57 Leichhardt Street

Status : Bellevue is on the State Heritage Register and classified by the National Trust
Description : Part two-storey cottage, stucco, new fibro cement shingle roof, plaster eaves brackets, bullnose verandah.

Built in 1883, the house is the work of Ambrose Thornley jr. and is located in Blackwattle Park overlooking Blackwattle Bay. It is one of the few surviving examples of mid-late Victorian dwellings that characterised Jarrett's Point on the Blackwattle Bay foreshore.

Bellevue is reputed to have been built for Jarrett's daughter, although the first occupant was Ewin Cecilia and J G Warden moved in a year later. Jarrett died in 1901, and it was not until 1913 that Bellevue and was sold on to solicitor William Archibold Windeyer. Windeyer sold his land on the Point to Property Purchase P/L in 1939. Vanderfield & Reid Ltd bought the property in 1948 and sold it on to Korvette Hardware P/L, and Parkes Developments P/L in 1970. At this time the foreshore land was zoned industrial, and described in the "The Glebe" newspaper as "a disaster area – deserted timber yards, empty fuel drums littered about, derelict houses and rusting hulks of barges moored to rotting jetties".

Parkes obtained approval for a large apartment development for the site. As a result of opposition from community activists and members of the Glebe Society, who particularly opposed the demolition of Bellevue, the developer agreed to set aside land on the foreshore for a park and restore Bellevue for community use. However Parkes commenced demolition, insisting that it was an unfortunate misunderstanding. Parkes halted demolition but failed to restore Bellevue.

Leichhardt Council purchased the foreshore parkland, including Bellevue, at the end of 1981.

Until recently, Bellevue remained a shell of its former self but has it now been restored.

357 Glebe Point Road

1858 – 60.  Architect Edmund Blacket.  Classified by The National Trust

This handsome villa was the home of Edmund Blacket while he was designing the Great Hall of the University of Sydney.  The walls are of handmade bricks, rendered to gve the appearance of stone coursing.  It has an attached single-storey verandah of decorative cast iron. 

NSW State Records show that the NSW Government purchased the property in about 1920, "to be used as a depot for State Children.  By 1939 Bidura housed boys up to 6 yrs of age and girls up to 18 yrs, with an attached school operated by a governess.  Bidura operated as a receiving home where children were temporarily accommodated awaiting placement in foster homes or awaiting transfer to other establishments."  It ceased functioning as a children's home in February 1977, when it was planned to build the Metropolitan Remand Centre and Bidura Childrens Court at the rear.

Bidura was restored by NSW Public Works in the 1980s.  It has a fine ballroom located seperately to the right of the main building.  Bidura House has been occupied since about 2000 by the DoCS Centre for Parenting and Research.

53 Hereford Street

This building was completed in 1874 for William Bull, wheelwright and son of marine in the First Fleet. William Bull died in 1900 and his wife, Catherine died a year later. Hereford House was sold to Alice Goldmsith and her husband William, a butcher, in 1909.

The Goldsmiths sold Hereford House to Alexander Levi in 1924. Levi sold Hereford House in 1928 to Louise and Phillip Leonard. In 1951, the Leonards sold Hereford House to the Stephen McCormack, a Mayor of Glebe and master carrier.

It is claimed that tennis champion Lew Hoad learned to play on two tennis courts at the rear of the property.

The property was sold to the NSW College of Nursing, which in 1981 donated some archival material relating to the Bull Family to The Glebe Society.

The colour scheme is a faithful reproduction and the half-acre block still contains stables built for the draught-horses.

61 Darghan Street, Glebe

Lyndhurst was dsigned by John Verge and completed in 1835 for Dr James Bowman, Principal Surgeon of Sydney Hospital and the son-in-law of James Macarthur.

Lyndhurst was used for a few years by the Macarthur family, and in 1847 became St. James College, to train young men for the clergy until 1849. Lyndhurst was then purchased by the Catholic Archbishop and St. Mary's College for the classical education of upper-class secular and day students, as well as priests for the ministry. By 1870 Lyndhurst had declined and the grounds were subdivided in 1878 and 1885.

In the 1970s the State Government proposed to demolish the house to make way for a freeway, a proposal successfully opposed by a number of community groups, including The Glebe Society.