Photo by: Michael Gardner

Terrace houses: 84-90 Hordern Street, Newtown. Sydney, New South Wales.

Unpretentious single storey rows of narrow cottages like these are the glue that ties together many of Sydney’s Victorian streetscapes.  While not as heroic two and three storey rows they play an equally important role.  This particular row appears to date to the early 1860s.  To address the uneven slope of the street, the terrace is split into two compartments of paired terraces, the hallways of which run side by side with a single room and double hung window at the front of each.

The two sets are split by a dominant party wall which features a single shared chimney on a medium pitch corrugated iron roof.  Minor party walls protrude only at the front.  There is very little decoration save for some vermiculated patterns on the party wall ends.

The terraces are built up to the property line with a palisade cast iron fence rises toward a sparing lacework fringe.