Highbury, also known as the Patrick White House, or Patrick White's House, is a heritage-listed residence located at 20 Martin Road in the inner eastern Sydney suburb of Centennial Park, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by William Nixon and built from 1912 to 1913. Highbury was the home of Australian novelist Patrick White for approximately twenty-six years, until his death in 1990. The property is privately owned. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 19 November 2004.
Patrick White moved into Highbury in 1964 and lived there with his partner, Manoly Lascaris, after leaving his home in the suburb of Castle Hill. The house and the environs of Centennial Park became significant elements in White's novels. White and Lascaris were socially active and hosted many dinner parties in the house. White's biographer, David Marr, described White as a genial host. Following White's death in 1990, the house was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register due to its association with White, who was the first Australian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Lascaris continued to live in the house almost until he died in 2003.Federation House – Centennial Park Retrieved 4 September 2012
History This was the home of Nobel laureate for Literature, writer Patrick White and his partner, Manoly Lascaris from 1964 until White's death in 1990.
Highbury was built on an early twentieth-century subdivision of the western perimeter of Centennial Park. William Kerr, a jeweller, purchased the land in 1908 and, in approximately 1913, occupied the house designed for him by William Nixon, a well-known Sydney architect.
William Mark Nixon (1859-1931) entered private practice in partnership with J. S. Adam in the early 1890s, having previously worked in the Colonial Architect's Office and the Railways Department. Commissions undertaken with Adam included additions to St Andrew's College, University of Sydney and a new residence for its Principal, the remodelling of St George's Hall, Newtown, St Clement's Anglican Church, Mosman, Presbyterian churches at Singleton and Newcastle, hospitals, schools, stores. He is said to have designed "many fine residences in the suburbs and country". Nixon later practised in partnership with his son, Charles Ashwin Nixon until his death after service in World War I. Nixon worked until his retirement in 1930.
Highbury was built in the new residential area known as Centennial Park, which had been hived off by the state government and sold to pay for the creation of a new park, also to be known as Centennial Park. The government specified that certain types of buildings could not be built, for example, terraced houses, to raise the standard of housing in the new suburb. Large detached homes like Highbury became the norm in the area. Kerr lived in the house until his death in 1954, after which it was acquired by the electrical contractor, Frederick Angles. In 1964 the property was transferred to Patrick White.
Patrick White (1912–1990) is regarded as Australia's most famous writer. He is the only Australian to have been awarded the Nobel Prize for literature and is widely studied in schools and universities around the world. White is also recognised for his attempts at an Australian approach to English literature.
White and his partner, Manoly Lascaris, moved to Centennial Park from their previous home at Castle Hill.Walker, 1996 White's mother died in 1963 around the time Patrick and Manoly were preparing "Dogwoods" (at Castle Hill) for sale. The suburbs had started to encroach on the property (at Castle Hill) and White decided to leave for a house closer to the centre of Sydney where his interests - music, theatre, film and friends - were concentrated. They used some of White's inheritance money to buy 20 Martin Road and moved there in 1964.SLNSW, 2012
White was attracted by the open environment of Centennial Park, the proximity to the life of the inner city, the opportunity for a large, light and airy living area, combined sitting room, hall and dining room, modern furniture, polished floorboards with rugs and large wall spaces for painting. Patrick White chose the house and the neighbourhood very carefully for the purpose of his writing in 1964, at which time he wrote to his publisher "I hope to take root in this new house... It will be closer to the source of something I want to write during my remaining years.".
At Centennial Park he wrote The Vivisector and other works. The house and its environs were the setting for events and scenes in White's work. It provided the template for the house where Elizabeth Hunter - who was based on White's mother - was dying in his novel The Eye of the Storm (1973) and for elements of buildings in several other novels. During White's 26 years here a further six novels and two collections of short fiction were published. He also returned to the theatre in the late 1970s, and landmark productions of his plays were directed by two upcoming stars of the Australian theatre, Jim Sharman and Neil Armfield.
He also became involved in environmental and other public issues in the 1970s and 1980s, partly prompted by threats to the Park. Patrick White even threatened to leave the country if the house was demolished as part of the proposed Olympic sports complex in Centennial Park (it was to be resumed along with 36 others (as part of this proposal) in 1972. As part of this protest against the demolition of his house, Patrick White commented in 1972 "No snail likes to have his house crushed. Unlike the snail I can build another. But, unlike the snail, part of me would be left behind". He entertained widely at Highbury, including many famous Australian figures, including regular visitors (until splits occurred) such as Geoffrey and Ninette Dutton, Sidney and Cynthia Nolan, and Barry Humphries.
The house included a large collection of White's furniture and art collections. Part of his extensive artwork collection was donated to the Art Gallery of NSW. Patrick White's ashes were scattered in Centennial Park.
Description Single storey Federation Bungalow style house, built in 1913, with surrounding gardens. The house includes a collection of post-war furniture, artworks and books that were purchased by Patrick White.
Interiors The internal alterations made by Patrick White and Manoly Lascaris were similar to their approach to their previous residence at Castle Hill in 1953 and combined several popular ingredients of modern interior design of the 1950s and 1960s. White and Lascaris retained the floor plan but removed the remaining Edwardian features and prior decorations, including the Edwardian glass doors, joinery and ceiling mouldings, infilled fireplaces, wallpaper, carpet and faux marble chimneypieces. In their place, White and Lascaris painted all of the walls white, described by White as "the only background for pictures", introduced picture rails in all rooms to hang the artworks, and replaced the carpet with polished timber floors of medium sheen and a light stain, covered with Persian rugs, together with black and white vinyl tiles in the hall, stairway, back porch, and first floor bathroom, and brown linoleum in the kitchen. Electric oil heaters replaced the fireplaces, and bookshelves provided a place for small objects, fulfilling the role of a fireplace mantelpiece.Walker 1996
Artworks were hung throughout the house, many purchased from the Watters Gallery at Darlinghurst or painted by and gifts from friends of White and Lascaris, together with photos and posters from productions of Patrick White's plays, and personal photographs of Patrick and Manoly with friends. The collection includes the painting that inspired White's work "The Aunt's Story". Smaller artworks were even hung in the service rooms of the kitchen, bathrooms and laundry, hung together in defined groups. The careful decoration and arrangement of the kitchen reflected Patrick White's interest in cooking and the time he spent in the kitchen in this pursuit. Throughout White's occupation of the house, the collection of artworks were changed and renewed. At various times White donated some of his collection to the Art Gallery of NSW, such as artworks by de Maistre, Nolan and Whitely, to provide space for new works and fresh inspiration, and also due to ending friendships with the artists. A feature of the interior in the entrance hall is a collection of Greek icons and artworks, called 'Manoly's shrine' in William Yang's book. This formal arrangement of small, intensely coloured artworks provides a counterpoint or balance to the large paintings which dominate the sitting room and dining room. Beyond, is a large Bokhara antique wall hanging that was purchased by Manoly in Egypt, which provides a focus in the hall at its junction with the stairs.
Gifts from friends of White's and memorabilia are found throughout the house on cupboards and book cases, such as small objects, sculptures, pottery and framed photographs, which demonstrate the life, values, friendships and interests of White and Lascaris. For example, the Lyrebird feathers in the sitting room from Withycombe, Mt Wilson, were a valued gift from Lizzie Clark, Patrick White's former nurse and "real mother". Likewise, a small trunk in Patrick White's bedroom had belonged to Lizzie Clark and contains her old papers. A pug cushion was made for Patrick White his friend, Kate Fitzpatrick's mother, and paintings were gifted from Margot Lewers and Ninette Dutton. Several paintings were painted by White's niece Luciana Arrighi and one by his cousin, Peggy Garland.
The building's collection of post-war domestic furniture of Australian and international design, reflects the adventurous taste of Patrick White and his partner, as well as the early history of Sydney's most innovative modern furniture maker and retailer of the 1950s and 1960s, Artes Studio. Most of the furniture was purchased from Artes Studio. The sitting room was fitted out by White with furniture from Artes Studio including table, chairs, sideboard and cupboard. Other modern chairs, three bookcases, and a set of small tables were subsequently purchased from Artes studio, which included a selection of Australian and imported modern designs. Several of the remaining pieces are likely to have been purchased from Marion Hall Best. The new light fittings installed throughout the house were supplied by Finlandia. The floor rugs were purchased over time by White from Cadry's in Sydney and during overseas trips. The Persian Bokhara rug in the sitting room was purchased with the prize money from the Miles Franklin Award in 1958. The garden furniture was first sighted by White in Paris, tracked to a New York supplier and then to an agent in Melbourne. The only period furniture is a bentwood rocking chair, a favourite of White's which he purchased at a shop in Bondi, and the two revolving bookcases, that were purchased by placing an advertisement in the Sydney Morning Herald. A stool is another item brought from the previous house, which at Castle Hill was used for milking and later was used for waiting for the opening of the Macquarie Galleries Christmas sale.
White's plays and novels included commentary on interiors, including humorous and derogatory comments about the fussiness of drawing rooms, with nests of little tables, and "living life behind holland". Significantly, there are no Holland or Venetian blinds at Highbury. The curtains are a combination of modern textured open net with heavier patterned curtains, falling straight without tie backs. Four Thai silk curtains made by Marion Hall Best for their previous house were altered to make two curtains for the dining room windows. Curtains for all other windows were custom made by Finlandia, including the sitting room, Patrick White's study and first floor bedrooms.