Front entrance looking north-west displaying typical Federation detailing; Marseilles type terracotta roof tiles and expressed eave rafters to verandah, shingled gable, timber balustrade, brackets to paired verandah posts, capstones to dwarf piers, brown/red face brick walls, tessellated floor tiling, slate steps to entry. Photo taken in 2011 by NBRS & Partners (Source: NBRS & Partners ‘Statement of Heritage Impact: Housing development at 417 Glebe Point Road, Glebe’ (December 2014)

By Lyn Collingwood, from Bulletin 2/2008 (March-April)

In last month’s Planning Matters, Neil Macindoe reported on a development application for Durham Court. Lyn Collingwood has been doing some research.

Durham Court at 417 Glebe Point Road is currently the subject of a DA before the City of Sydney. The property consists of a house dating from 1910 with an attached block of flats at the rear.

When Durham Court was being constructed practically all its neighbours had fanciful titles: Beethoven, Farleigh, Glenburnie, Newtonia, Hillbrow, Toorak, Ilfracombe, Penzance, Dunskey, Maryville, Tiverton, Brucedale, Douglasdale, and Allandale. Some names have disappeared but others are still recorded at street level on plaques or overhead on parapets.

At number 415 Glebe Point Road was Sidcup, for many years the home of dentist Ormond McDermott, his wife Mary and their 10 children (including Sir Emmett who, as Sydney’s Lord Mayor 1969-72, was responsible for the preservation of the Queen Victoria Building and the removal of east-west motor traffic from Martin Place).

Durham Court’s first owners were Rowley (Roland) Walker, a produce merchant and grister (a grist-mill is a mill for grinding grain) born in Glebe, and his second wife Frances. They moved from Lynwood, 61 Arundel Terrace, in the early part of 1911, taking with them their old phone number (Glebe 189) and Rowley’s son by his first marriage, Leslie Hollingworth, a clerk. Rowley’s brother John, also a produce agent, and sister-in-law Pearl moved in with them. Rowley ran his business from premises in Sussex Street and Goulburn Street.

The Walkers remained at Durham Court until 1917, when they moved up the road to Bidura at number 357. By the time Bidura was converted into a Depot for State Children, the Walkers had gone to Coogee where Rowley died aged 54 in 1921. His wife survived him until 1944, at the same address.

In 1918 Reginald John Jacobs, a city solicitor, and his wife Florence Theodora moved into 417 Glebe Point Road. By 1923 Durham Court Flats had been built. Long-term tenants included Charles Cox, a taxi driver, Harry Parsons, a mechanical engineer and Mordena Grogan and her daughter Gertrude, a student. The flats were also home to the families of a street traveller, a musician and a compositor.

Durham Court remained the property of Reg Jacobs until about 1930. Its essential character appears little changed since that time.