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Images- Sydney University
Gatekeeper's Lodge |
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architect |
Walter
Liberty Vernon |
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location |
City Road |
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date |
1898 |
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style |
Victorian Free Gothic |
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construction |
Pyrmont Sandstone |
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type |
gatehouse |
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Fine streetscape element in City Road and University approaches. Important
in defining the place as a cultural landscape and providing formal entry
points. The majority of sandstone gatehouses in Sydney are English
Gothic in inspiration. This is a rare example, dating from the turn of
the century using Art Nouveau motifs. The second gate lodge to the
constructed at the University of Sydney. A particularly fine example of
a gate lodge which exhibits both Art nouveau and Romanesque motifs. An
integral part of the perimeter of the campus. The date of construction of the palisade fencing to the university campus has not been determined. Further research is required. The stone lodge was built in 1898 to a design by the Government Architect on the Newtown (City) Road frontage, the second entrance to the University to be marked by a lodge. At this date the University was served by three entrances, the grand drive near the junction of the Parramatta Road and the Newtown (City) Road with its associated lodges built in 1883-1885; an entrance on the Parramatta Road opposite Derwent Street (without a lodge at this date) and the Newtown Road (Medical School) entrance. Because of its proximity to the Medical School, (Anderson Stuart F13) the only University building close to the Newtown Road, the lodge was known as the Medical School lodge. The lodge is said to have been used for the receipt of cadavers before these were transported to the medical school. An extension to the lodge, in the style of the original, was built on the west side. (The exact date of the extension has not been ascertained. Some sources indicate a date of 1925). In 1923 it was proposed that a small piece of land adjacent to the Medical School lodge should be given to St Paul's College to enable the college to make its sports oval. On 19 February 1963 ownership of the lodge was given to St Paul's College. The building is currently leased back to the University. This listing covers all the nineteenth century sandstone and iron palisade fencing and gates on the western side of City Road between Victoria Park and Moore College, including the gate lodge opposite the Merewether building. The fence has a sandstone plinth course and is surmounted by cast iron palisading. (Cast or wrought spears?) . The 3 listed gates, with their carved piers and wrought and cast ironwork are:- St Pauls College; opposite the Merewether Building and opposite the Wentworth Building. Ficus hedges are behind much of the fencing. Note: Compare carving to the chimney with that of the horse trough on the other side of City Road. This picturesque two storey gate lodge is a very carefully detailed and executed design. Although the building conforms to the tradition of the use of English Gothic prototypes for the gatehouses at the University it also includes contemporary Edwardian architectural motifs such as the carved foliage to the main chimney, the curved gable finials and the small pane windows to the upper sashes of the double hung windows. The designer has not been identified however the building may be the work of the Government Architect Branch under Walter Liberty Vernon. The roof is clad with slate. Rockface ashlar is used for the body of the wall and the quoins, sills and lintels and mullions have a dressed and rubbed finish. The porch features three dwarf columns above a dwarf wall. (Compare with the carving to the horse trough opposite - Possibly Oakeshott). |
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