Kirribilli House

In 1854, merchant Adolphus Frederic Feez purchased a {{convert|1|acre|ha|adj=on|order=flip}} parcel of land at the tip of Kirribilli Point for £200.{{Cite web |title=Kirribilli House |url=https://memim.com/kirribilli-house.html |access-date=2022-05-11 |website=memim.com}} The land had been sliced off the grounds of adjacent Wotonga House, which now forms part of Admiralty House, but was then in private ownership. Feez built the picturesque Gothic-style structure now known as Kirribilli House – a twin-gabled dwelling or cottage ornée – on the land's highest spot. The house features steeply pitched roofs, fretwork, bargeboards and bay windows. It passed through many private hands until it was purchased in 1919 for £10,000 by Arthur Wigram Allen. Allen planned to subdivide the land but after much public agitation the then Prime Minister of Australia, Billy Hughes, resumed the property for Government purposes in 1920.

The property was used by the staff of the Governor-General of Australia (who occupied neighbouring Admiralty House) until 1930, when it was leased to tenants. In 1956 Kirribilli House was set aside as a residence for the use of Australia's Prime Ministers, when they need to perform public duties and extend official hospitality on behalf of the government during stays in Sydney; the official Prime Ministerial residence is The Lodge in Canberra. Kirribilli House is situated on the North Shore of Sydney Harbour, in the suburb of Kirribilli. It commands impressive views across to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Circular Quay and the Sydney Opera House and has been visited over the years by many important international dignitaries.

Kirribilli House is open to the public on one day a year, courtesy of The Australiana Fund.{{cite web |url=http://www.whatsonsydney.com/eventDetails.aspx?id=11057 |title=Open House at Admiralty & Kirribilli Houses |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323180323/http://www.whatsonsydney.com/eventDetails.aspx?id=11057 |archive-date=23 March 2012 }}

Adolphus Frederic Feez, who built Kirribilli House in 1855, was born in Germany in 1826.New South Wales Certificate of Naturalisation, No. 39 1854. He went first to London in 1849 and is listed on the Certificate of Arrival as being a merchant and an architect. In 1851 he immigrated to Sydney on the ship Envelope. He established himself as a successful merchant and was a partner in the trading company called Rabone, Feez and Co. His brother was Albrecht Feez,{{cite news |title=Family notices: DEATH |work=Rockhampton Bulletin and Central Queensland Advertiser (Qld) |date=20 November 1869 |page=3 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/51577118?searchTerm=feez&searchLimits=l-decade=186 |via=Trove, National Library of Australia }} who later became a prominent citizen in Rockhampton.

Feez lived in Kirribilli House for several years which was then called Sophienberg.{{cite news |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/64977181?searchTerm=feez%20sophienberg&searchLimits= |title=Advertising |work=Empire |location=Sydney |date=27 September 1856 |page=7 }} He then moved to Balmain.Sands Directory He married Frederica and had two children while living in Sydney.New South Wales Birth Certificates 1867/ 2760 and 1870/2940 While on a business trip to Fiji he died in 1869 at the age of only 43.England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1881, page 31. Frederica returned with her children to live in Germany.

Image:Kirribilli House 1920 2.jpg

Image:Map Kirribilli Point 1909.jpg

Image:Sale of Kirribilli House 1919.jpg

The next residents of Kirribilli House from about 1858 were Thomas and Esther Lawry. Thomas Lawry was born in 1821. He was employed by the Ordnance Department in Sydney at a young age,{{cite news|date=25 May 1842|title=Domestic Intelligence. The Queen's Birthday.|volume=XIII|page=2|newspaper=The Sydney Herald|issue=1565|location=New South Wales, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12875365|access-date=24 April 2021|via=National Library of Australia|accessdate=}} and remained there for the rest of his life. He was also appointed as a magistrate by the Governor.{{cite news|date=15 October 1864|title=The Government Gazette|volume=L|page=4|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|issue=8223|location=New South Wales, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13111221|access-date=24 April 2021|via=National Library of Australia|accessdate=}} He married Esther Hughes in 1858 and the couple had two children. In 1859, the birth of a daughter at Sophienberg was recorded in the newspaper{{cite news|date=12 December 1859|title=Family Notices|volume=XL|page=1|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|issue=6712|location=New South Wales, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13034309|access-date=24 April 2021|via=National Library of Australia|accessdate=}} so it appears that the house continued to be called by this name after the Lawrys purchased it.

Esther Lawry’s maiden name was Esther Matilda Hosking Hughes and she was the step granddaughter of Samuel Terry, the very wealthy convict entrepreneur. In 1858, Esther inherited a considerable amount of money from her grandmother Rosetta Terry.The Will of Rosetta Terry 1858. Online reference {{cite web |url=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/martin.hagger1/wills/RosettaTerry1858.htm |title=Transcript of will of Rosetta Terry 1856 |access-date=20 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071113112256/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/martin.hagger1/wills/RosettaTerry1858.htm |archive-date=13 November 2007 }}

In 1865, Thomas Lawry died at the age of 44.{{cite news|date=30 August 1865|title=Family Notices|volume=LII|page=1|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|issue=8508|location=New South Wales, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13118270|access-date=24 April 2021|via=National Library of Australia|accessdate=}} The death notice records that the name of the house was still Sophienberg. Two years later in 1867, Esther married James Taylor,{{cite news|date=23 March 1867|title=Family Notices|volume=LV|page=7|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|issue=8997|location=New South Wales, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13140774|access-date=24 April 2021|via=National Library of Australia|accessdate=}} who was the Commissary-General of Ordnance. This couple then lived in the house with Esther’s two children, one of whom was Thomas Terry Trewyn Lawry. In 1891, James Taylor died.{{cite news|date=5 January 1891|title=Family Notices|page=1|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|issue=16,469|location=New South Wales, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13769345|access-date=24 April 2021|via=National Library of Australia|accessdate=}} By this time the house had been named "Kirribilli" and was located in Campbell Street as the map on the left shows. In 1900, Esther died,{{cite news|date=13 October 1900|title=Family Notices|page=1|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|issue=19,528|location=New South Wales, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14383105|access-date=24 April 2021|via=National Library of Australia|accessdate=}} and the house was left to her son Thomas Terry Trewyn Lawry.

Thomas Terry Trewyn Lawry was born in 1864. He seemed to have rather poor health and did not marry. In 1907, at the age of only 42 he died of heart failure.{{cite news|date=5 September 1907|title=Personal|page=6|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|issue=21,726|location=New South Wales, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14889637|access-date=24 April 2021|via=National Library of Australia|accessdate=}} As he had no children he left his property to relatives and others. He made a very complex will leaving Kirribilli house to several people one of whom was Laura Lamotte.{{cite news|date=1 October 1907|title=Wills|page=6|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|issue=21748|location=New South Wales, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14910522|access-date=24 April 2021|via=National Library of Australia|accessdate=}} Laura married William Donald McCrea in 1909. Laura and William lived in the house for some time{{cite news|date=4 March 1912|title=Scottish Terrier Club's Show|page=6|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|issue=23,133|location=New South Wales, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15314693|access-date=24 April 2021|via=National Library of Australia|accessdate=}} but she then wanted to sell the property. There was some disagreement about the sale with the other beneficiaries and the matter was taken to the Equity Court.{{cite news|date=23 December 1918|title=In Equity|page=5|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|issue=25,262|location=New South Wales, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15816883|access-date=24 April 2021|via=National Library of Australia|accessdate=}} The Court resolved that the property should be sold and it was put on the market in 1919. The House was bought by Arthur Wigram Allen who planned to subdivide the land. In 1920, he produced a brochure with a photo of the house and the planned subdivision.

There was public outcry about the sale of the house and the Government under the then Prime Minister Billy Hughes decided to resume it. The property has remained in Government ownership since then.

File:(1)Kirribilli House Kirribilli.jpg

File:Kirribill and Admiralty Houses 1930.jpg|Kirribilli and Admiralty House with construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background, 1930

File:Kirribilli house.JPG|Kirribilli House pictured from Sydney Harbour, 2007

File:Kirribilli House gates 2007.jpg|Gates of Kirribilli House, 2007

{{reflist}}

{{commons category|Kirribilli House}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110824174657/http://pmrudd.archive.dpmc.gov.au/Meet_the_PM/Official_Residences/Kirribilli_House Kirribilli House]
• [http://www.theaustralianafund.org.au/kirribilli.html The Australiana Fund] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090912032529/http://www.theaustralianafund.org.au/kirribilli.html |date=12 September 2009 }}
• [http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200506/s1399040.htm Proposal for an official residence in Melbourne]

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Category:Official residences in Australia

Category:Prime Ministerial homes in Australia

Category:Buildings of the Australian government

Category:Prime Minister of Australia

Category:Victorian architecture in Sydney

Category:Commonwealth Heritage List places in New South Wales

Category:1855 establishments in Australia

Category:Government buildings in Sydney

Category:Houses in Kirribilli