Photo by Michael Gardner. All rights reserved. Used with permission

Terrace Houses: 21-51 Georgina Street, Newtown. Sydney, New South Wales

This photo taken from the Newtown Synagogue shows the long row of fifteen grand triple storey Italianate style terrace houses dominated by a massive Moreton Bay fig tree in the middle of the street. Almost half of the row fronts Hollis Park.

Each terrace house is divided into three bays. The end terraces have a protruding bay around the doorway which forms a square Italianate tower. The towers features a range of decorative motifs including vermiculation, round arched windows, classical entablature, paterae, dentils, string courses and other mouldings while at the base is a rusticated level including a voussoir motif around the doorway. The straight parapet features eclectic ornamentation including some castle motifs including gothic arcade and turret like corners on the towers giving the row the feel of a large manor.

The verandah roof curves out in a waveform and at least a couple of them have coloured bands of corrugated iron which was popular in the period and may have originally featured on all of the houses.  The verandah spans the bottom two levels, a prevalent style in Sydney, with the top floor undressed. The verandah demonstrates the filigree style with cast iron lacework and two cast iron classical columns to divide each bay with fringes and brackets on each. Notably the bottom floor has a faceted italianate bay window and also a classical moulded balustrade encloses patio.

The row was presumably built around 1884-85 which is a similar vintage to the nearby L’Avenue terrace reflecting very similar stylistic traits indicating possibly that the same builder developer and or architect was involved.