By Caroline Lipovsky, April 2025, Bulletin 2/2025
Having relocated to Glebe last century, I often wondered about Hereford Court, a residential building standing at 51 Hereford Street. There are many urban myths about the past uses of the building, and I was also wondering about the house that had been demolished in the early 1970s to make space for it. This is how I came to research the building’s construction and its different iterations over the years, the house named Lask that pre-existed it, and its first owners, Adolphus and Phoebe Rogalsky.
In the process, I did a lot of reading from the Glebe Society Bulletin1, Leichhardt Historical Journal2, Trove database3, searched maps of Glebe Municipality dating back to 18884, looked for land titles records at the NSW Land Registry Services at their premises on Liverpool Street and through their website5 and read hundreds of pages of development applications.6
The most difficult part of the process turned out to be finding a photograph of Lask, the original house. I tried the Bernard and Kate Smith Glebe Collection of photographs taken in the early 1970s7. However, it holds no photographs of Hereford Street. I then visited the State Library of New South Wales, where I spent half a day checking photographic records of Glebe on microfilms and talking to various librarians. It is through one of their astute suggestions that I found the great-granddaughter of Adolphus and Phoebe Rogalsky, who searched through family archives until she located a photograph of Lask, along with other photographs and documents, which she kindly gave permission to reproduce for the purpose of this article.
Adolphus and Phoebe Rogalsky
Adolphus Rogalsky was born in 1838 in Łask, then part of Russian Poland. He arrived in Melbourne in 1856 on the passenger clipper ship James Baines and then largely resided for about seven years in Levuka, Fiji, where he was a merchant. On his return to Sydney, he set up business at 42 Hunter Street. He was involved in money brokering and owned commercial and residential properties around Sydney, which he rented out to tenants. In 1865, Adolphus was granted ‘all the rights and capacities within the … Colony of New South Wales of a natural born British Subject’. On 16 November 1873, he married Phoebe Mitchell, eldest daughter of Michael David Mitchell (1825–1892), at Lynwood (now demolished), Ferry Road, the residence of the bride’s parents.
Adolphus and Phoebe Rogalsky, born Mitchell (Photos supplied by Ann Jarman, great-granddaughter of Adolphus and Phoebe)
Phoebe’s father, David Minchel (later anglicised as Mitchell), had migrated from Jarocin, Prussia (now Poland), and arrived at Port Jackson on 9 December 1851. He married Julia Davis (ca1835–1906) on 25 January 1854, and Phoebe was born the same year. They had at least 16 children. In the early 1870s, the family moved to Glebe where they rented Lynwood, and in 1878 bought a ten-bedroom house, which they renamed Jarocin, where they lived until 1888 when they migrated to London8. Jarocin was demolished in 1911. Its address was 92 Pyrmont Bridge Road, where Jarocin Avenue is today.
Adolphus and Phoebe settled in Calmar Cottage, a freestanding 1.5-storey Regency house, with side chimneys, veranda across the front with cast metal columns, double-hung windows with timber louvred shutters, designed in 1863 by former Colonial Architect Edmund Blacket. A twin cottage still stands at 134 Glebe Point Road above Beckett’s restaurant9.
Adolphus and Phoebe had four sons: Hillier Sydney (1874–1874), Hillier (1876–1885), David Mitchell (1878–1949) and Julian Cecil (1881–1951).
Lask, the house
On 4 February and 13 March 1882, Adolphus bought two plots of land along Hereford Street for the sum of £450 and £200, respectively. At that time, Hereford Street had several fine houses, such as Rosebank (built circa 1832), Glenwood (built in 1837, now demolished), Hereford House (built circa 1876) and Kinrara (built circa 1877).
In 1883, a house was erected, which Adolphus named Lask after his birthplace. In 1884, the family moved into Lask, numbered 21 Hereford Street10. A map of Glebe municipality dated 1888 shows Adolphus and Phoebe Rogalsky’s house next to Hereford House, a two-storey residence still standing at 53 Hereford Street that was built for William Bull (1819-1900).
A valuation of the property dated 5 May 1905 describes Lask as ‘built of brick with slate roof, and containing tiled path and veranda, iron railing on stone, tiled hall, drawing room, dining room, sitting room, bedroom, 2 kitchens, laundry, large galvanized-iron room at rear. Upstairs are 7 bedrooms, bathroom, and linen room’. The photograph of Lask shows a symmetrical front. Following the Italianate style, the wall surfaces are rendered; the roof is low pitched and hipped with eave brackets; the veranda and balcony display a highly ornate cast-iron balustrade and hanging frieze. The veranda is enclosed by faceted twin bays with high, narrow windows on the lower floor. They are surmounted by balconies with openwork stone parapets – most unusual in Glebe’s streetscape – that convey an effect of sturdiness.
A drainage plan of the house dated 1894 offers another perspective on the size of the house. It also shows the location for a timber-framed corrugated iron building measuring 15’ x 50’ or 7 ½ squares at the rear of the house, which may have been used for servant quarters, as the plan shows three sets of stairs for what could be three rooms. The small construction to the west must be an outside toilet.
In 1905 Adolphus and Phoebe moved to 50 Bayswater Road, Darlinghurst, where Adolphus passed away aged 66 on 7 April 1905 after a long illness. The Rev. Abraham David Wolinski officiated at the funeral at Rookwood cemetery, noting that Adolphus
was a respected member of our Congregation for many years, and his hand was always open to assist every charitable movement. His perpetual offering in memory of his late son, and his consideration for the Sir Moses Montefiore Home will also be a beacon of light for his soul in the mysterious chambers of heaven, the sphere of everlasting life.12
Upon Adolphus’s death, Phoebe received a substantial annuity of £750 and moved to 28 Darlinghurst Road, where she died in July 1919 aged 64.
Adolphus’s properties were inherited by his two surviving sons, David Mitchell Rogalsky and Julian Cecil Rogalsky. In 1905, Lask’s fair market value was estimated at £1,500.
In 1908, Phoebe Rogalsky, her two sons David Mitchell Rogalsky and Julian Cecil Rogalsky, and Ernest Meyer Mitchell (Phoebe’s cousin) purchased for £150 land that had belonged to William Bull at the rear of their property along Wigram Lane. A Glebe municipality map dated 1910 shows a tennis court on that area.
From then on, Lask was tenanted, first to Albert Sydney Holmes at 55 shillings weekly, equal to £143 per annum. The house was then occupied by Henry E. Townsend from 1910, Lou Palmer in 1911, Mary Wynne from 1912, Minnie O. Ackland from 1920, and Gladys Street from 1926.
In 1959, Oscar David Mitchell Rogalsky (1916–1999, son of David Mitchell Rogalsky)14 and Myra Alice Rogalsky (1888–1959, widow of Julian Cecil) sold the property to James John Curtin, a labourer, for £4,500.
In the early 1960s, James Curtin submitted a few projects to Council for the then unused tennis court area, but didn’t proceed. I may tell you more about it in another issue of the Bulletin. By 1968, Lask was falling into disrepair and had been converted into 13 flats.
Hereford Lodge
On 27 March 1969, James John Curtin sold Lask for $42,000 to the company 51 Hereford Street Pty. Limited, owned by property developer Michael Hershon (1931–2007), who must have seen an opportunity in the land situated between Hereford Street and Wigram Lane15.
In 1971, Leichhardt Council approved Hershon’s proposal for 51 Hereford Street: the construction of a three-storey building with car parking space below, comprising a caretaker’s residence and 92 bedrooms. It was named Hereford Lodge. This is the building currently standing at 51 Hereford Street.
From 1978, Hereford Lodge was used to house students enrolled in the International Training Institute programme run by the Australian Development Assistance Bureau. Mardi Thomas, whose parents managed Hereford Lodge for a few years, recalls:
What amazing memories I have of Hereford Lodge … The building housed international students from all over the globe for approx. 3 months per group. This was an initiative of the “International Training Institute”. Most of the students were already qualified in varying fields and came to Australia for further training. My parents, along with my brother and myself were essentially their host family. As a then 14-year-old straight from the outback to the hustle and bustle of Sydney this was the most incredible learning journey for us as a family. Learning about different cultures and languages and a way of life we couldn’t even imagine compared to ours was so insightful. Such diverse groups of people and religions that mixed so beautifully. … The students who we housed and dined with daily have left an indelible mark on me. Many happy memories that will last me a lifetime.16
In 1988, YHA Australia bought the building for around six million dollars. It was part of YHA’s strategy to concentrate its hostels in the Glebe area (Glebe Point YHA had opened in 1987). Hereford Lodge YHA opened on 7 October 1988. It offered 27 serviced accommodation rooms and up to 250 beds in ensuite bedrooms.17
Not everyone was happy about having a large youth hostel on Hereford Street! A local resident recalls that
[t]here had been either one or two beds in these rooms [under the International Training Institute programme] because the Colombo Plan people are in their mid-20s and the YHA just overnight dumped them full of as many bunks as they could! I mean, I’ve been to Youth Hostels all around the world, but this was a residential street.19
Hereford Court
In 1996, the building’s new owners submitted a Development Application for converting the building into 90 residential units that ‘one might describe as typical motel style rooms with attached bathrooms and with kitchenettes within the living sleeping areas that are provided’20.
In the July 1996 issue of the Bulletin (p. 6), Planning Convenor John Hoddinott wrote that
[t]he DA proposes to turn [the Youth Hostel Association Lodge] into a 90-unit block, including 80 very small, single room units of 23 sq. m. Each will contain a new kitchen, and seem to resemble a London bed-sit, a form of accommodation which I am sure many of us have experienced. I have made a submission, with the main concern being the 54 on-site parking spaces; this seems to be insufficient, although I do not have an easy solution as to how to increase the number. Hereford Street is becoming quite heavily parked, and that is a concern. I believe that Council will have to consider this matter carefully.21
Leichhardt Council rejected the DA on a perception that the strata residential use would have more environmental impact than the existing hostel. However, the DA was upheld by the NSW Land and Environment Court on the basis that it was doubtful that ‘the activities of 90 resident owners, or tenants, would have more impact than the comings and goings of up to 260 transient young people’22 and ‘reduction in the residential population could only be seen as improving the current situation’23. Further, the project was seen as ‘likely to assist materially in expanding the availability of low-cost housing in Sydney and in that respect alone deserves support’.24 The youth hostel, which had gone on operating under the building’s new owners, consequently closed in 1998.
The building is now known as Hereford Court.
Footnotes: 1. The Glebe Society Bulletin, glebesociety.org.au/publications/bulletin/old-bulletins-page/; 2. Leichhardt Historical Journal, innerwest.nsw.gov.au/explore/libraries/community-history/our-community-history/community-collections; 3. Trove, trove.nla.gov.au/; 4. City of Sydney Archives & History Resources. Historical Atlas, archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/pages/historicalatlas; 5. NSW Land Registry Services, nswlrs.com.au/; 6. City of Sydney Archives & History Resources, cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/495002; 7. Bernard and Kate Smith collection of photographs,archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/1923916; 8. Collingwood, Lyn (2013). Who lived in Your Street? Michael David Mitchell, glebesociety.org.au/street/michael-david-mitchell/; 9. Stephenson, Ian (2024). Blue Plaque nominations Part 21: Calmar, 128 Glebe Point Road, glebesociety.org.au/blue-plaque-21-calmar-128-glebe-point-road/; 10. Sands’s Sydney and Suburban Directory for 1884, page 202. https://tinyurl.com/47w7wsef; 11. Map of Glebe municipality, 1888. City of Sydney Archives & History Resources, archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/1709080; 12. Obituary: Mr. A. Rogalsky. The Hebrew Standard of Australasia, 14 April 1905 p.10, trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/120477595; 13. Glebe municipality, 1910. Archives and history resources: City of Sydney, archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/1709404; 14. Oscar David Mitchell Rogalsky was named Oscar after his mother’s brother who was killed at Gallipoli but he was always known as David (personal communication by Ann Jarman); 15. Michael Angelo Hirschhorn (later known as Hershon) was born in Vienna in 1931 and fled Austria with his family after German troops marched into Vienna in 1938. They then migrated to Australia where Michael’s parents started a lingerie business with two sewing machines. Michael eventually went on to run the Hestia-Berlei companies, drive a Mercedes with ‘BRA’ on the number plate, and become a property developer. For further information, see Stephens, Tony (2007). Bold with the bras, and then real estate. The Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/national/bold-with-the-bras-and-then-real-estate-20070917-gdr4fn.html; 16. Simpson-Young, Virginia (2020). The end of an era: Last YHA hostel leaves 2037. The Glebe Society, glebesociety.org.au/the-end-of-an-era-last-yha-hostel-leaves-2037/. 17. McCulloch, John and Murray, James (1997). Beds, Boots and Backpacks: The Story of the YHA in Australia, Playright Publishing; 18. Op. cit.; 19. Simpson-Young, Virginia (2020). Bob Connolly remembers local opposition to the Hereford Lodge YHA. The Glebe Society, glebesociety.org.au/bob-connolly-remembers-local-opposition-to-the-hereford-lodge-yha/; 20. Martin and Spork Pty Ltd vs. Leichhardt Municipal Council, Land and Environment Court of New South Wales, Appeal No. 10458, 1996.; 21. glebesociety.org.au/wp-content/uploads/bulletins/1996_06.pdf; 22. Martin and Spork Pty Ltd vs. Leichhardt Municipal Council, Land and Environment Court of New South Wales, Appeal No. 10458, 1996. 23. Op. cited; 24. Op. cited.
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