Salisbury Court is a heritage-listed residence and former apartment building, homestead, kitchen garden and garden at 1–7 Salisbury Road, Rose Bay in Sydney, Australia. The original cottage was designed by John Verge and built from 1834 to 1915. It is also known as Rose Bay Lodge and Rose Bay Cottage. The property is privately owned. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. Rose Bay Lodge (originally known as Rose Bay Cottage) is the oldest surviving house in the Municipality of Woollahra.
History Rose Bay suburb The house stands on part of originally granted to Daniel Cooper Snr (1785–1853) and Solomon Levey (1794–1833), founders of the firm Cooper & Levey, by a consolidated Crown grant of 22 March 1830. Originally the grant comprised ten grants promised by Governor Macquarie to various persons and afterwards was acquired by Captain John Piper, who in 1826 mortgaged these portions together with his "capital...mansion house" (Henrietta Villa, on Point Piper), its coach houses, stables and other buildings built on his adjoining grant called "Point Piper" to Cooper & Levey.
Following Piper's bankruptcy in 1826–27 all of these lands and others passed to Cooper & Levey, who in 1830 held in this area some of land stretching from Woollahra to Rose Bay most of which was then virgin bushland except for the area around Henrietta Villa. It bounded the harbour's edge at Double Bay travelling along a line approximately where today's Ocean Street is until it reached Old South Head Road and thence by that road to a point just beyond the present day Rose Bay and thence by a line to the harbour.
Apart from leasing the villa, Cooper & Levey did nothing to develop or improve their land. Levey left Sydney for London in 1826 and there in June 1829 he gave James Holt, a cousin of Daniel Cooper who had arrived in Sydney from London via Hobart Town in November 1825 with a capital of A£2,300 and had taken up a position in that firm, a limited power of attorney to deal with certain of Level's partnership assets. Subsequently, in June 1831 Cooper gave a similar power to Holt when he left Sydney in that year for London never to return to Australia. During their absence Holt acted as the firm's manager. In October 1833 Solomon Levey died and in the 1834 Cooper admitted into partnership Holt and Richard Roberts, the business to be conducted under the style and firm of Cooper Holt & Roberts.
Development of Rose Bay Cottage Possibly feeling the need for a house away from the city, and the Waterloo Warehouse the firm's principal place of business, and no doubt in view of his impending admission to partnership in the firm, Holt instructed John Verge in September 1834 to prepare plans for "a cottage proposed to be erected at Rose Bay". In November 1834 the Sydney Gazette reported "Mr. Holt of the Waterloo Warehouse has commenced building a commodious residence near Point Piper; and Mr. Haydon of Sydney has also laid the foundation of a house farther on, on an elevated site which commands a delightful view of the harbour".
In April 1837 The Sydney Times reported "...Rose Bay (near Point Piper) and passing the pretty residence of Mr Holt, and Mr Hayworth's picturesque and romantically situated cottage, leaving Mr.William Charles Wentworth's charming villa of classic nomenclature Vaucluse, and Mr Horton James Boto Fogo...". That year Edward Baker Boulton did a number of pencil sketches of the area, some of which are thought to include this house.
Rose Bay Cottage as the residence of Sir Daniel Cooper
Holt apparently lived in the cottage until about 1843, the year in which Daniel Cooper Jnr. (later Sir Daniel) arrived in Sydney. That year also the estate of Solomon Levey was finally settled in England following a complicated and lengthy wrangle over the previous 10 years. Under this settlement Daniel Cooper eventually received Levey's half share in all the firm's real estate holdings in NSW which he settled on certain trusts for the benefit of his nephew Daniel Cooper (later Sir Daniel, of Woollahra House) and his nephew's male heirs. A the time of this settlement (December 1843) the whole of the grant was described as "occupied by a dwelling house erected thereon and about (blank) acres cleared and cultivated now or late in the possession of James Holt. The residue of this lying waste and unproductive". Following his marriage in September 1846 to Elizabeth Hill, sister of George Hill of Durham Hall, Surry Hills, it is thought Daniel Cooper Jnr. occupied the cottage from 1844–48 for it is said that in 1848 his eldest son, also Daniel, was born here.
Daniel Cooper was born in 1821 in Lancashire, England. He was the second son of Thomas Cooper, a merchant, and came to Australia with his parents while still a child. He returned to England at the age of 14 to complete his education, but came back to Australia in 1843 and became a commercial partner with James Holt.Martin, A. W., p. 452. In the same year, he moved into Rose Bay Cottage as a bachelor but three years later, in 1846, he married Elizabeth Hill who was the third daughter of William Hill Esq of Sydney.Burke, Sir Gernard, 1891, "Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Colonial Gentry", E. A. Petherick and Co., p. 54. The couple lived in the house until 1848. In the Sydney Morning Herald in March of that year, there was an advertisement stating that "Rose Bay Cottage", the residence of Sir Daniel Cooper was available to rent.Sydney Morning Herald 6 March 1848, p. 4. James Moffitt (1802–1872) who was a notable stationer, bookseller and engraver, leased the house for 7 years. Sir Daniel Cooper returned to the cottage in 1855. There is a birth notice for a daughter to Mrs Daniel Cooper in the Sydney Morning Herald in August 1855. This time the cottage is referred to as "Rose Bay Lodge".Sydney Morning Herald, 27 August 1955, p. 8.
By this time, Sir Daniel Cooper was a member of Parliament and had been elected as Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. He must have made some substantial improvements to the garden, as the photo of his house shows a fountain. Mr Francis Grundy, in his memoirs, made a note of Rose Bay Cottage. He said "Rose Bay and its one large low house, alone and its orderly grounds, crisp trim lawns and splashing fountain (is) where Sir Daniel Cooper once dispensed his generous hospitality'.Grundy, F. H., 1879, "Pictures of the Past: Memories of Men I Have met and Places I Have Seen", p. 291. A photograph of his house in 1855 showing its isolation in Rose Bay and a close up picture of the fountain referred to is shown below.
Sir Daniel Cooper lived at Rose Bay Cottage while his new house was being built nearby called Woollahra House. The next resident appears to be Walter Lamb as a birth notice is in the Sydney Morning Herald in July 1860 for a son born at "Rose Bay Lodge" to the wife of Walter Lamb.Sydney Morning Herald, 21 July 1860, p. 10. It is not certain how long Walter Lamb resided here but the Sands Directories show that Sir John Hay was in residence from 1866 until his death in 1892.
Daniel Cooper leased the cottage "known as Rose Bay Cottage formerly in the occupation of James Holt...and the plot of land called or known as the Bush Paddock..." to James Moffitt (1802–74) a noted stationer, bookseller and engraver of the period, for 7 years. The whole of this land was then enclosed by a "paling" or close fence. No express provision was contained in the lease permitting the lessee to make improvements and if any were made these became the property of the lessor. For this reason it is thought none were made. At the rear of the cottage on an adjoining separate piece of land of about 6 acres was a hut known as "Hargraves' Hut" and other buildings. These were occupied by John Hargraves, apparently an old retainer of the Cooper family who was granted a life tenancy of this area in 1849. After Hargraves left the land in c.1855 Sir Daniel Cooper used it during the building of Woollahra House (1856+) as his kitchen garden when he was in occupation of the house.
Rose Bay Lodge as the residence of Sir John Hay
It is thought Moffitt occupied the cottage until expiration of his lease and then Cooper and his family took up residence (1855–60?) during the building of Woollahra House. Cooper subsequently left Australia in 1861 and never returned permanently to reside there. The cottage subsequently became known as Rose Bay Lodge but it is not clear whether this was during Cooper's occupation of it at this time or later during Sir John Hay's long occupation. It is clear however from later plans that the additions and alterations to the cottage resulted in it being called Rose Bay Lodge. After Cooper vacated the house it is said to have been occupied for a short time by Walter Lamb (1825–1906) before Sir John Hay (1816–1892) took up a lengthy residence of it. The precise date of Hay's taking possession is unknown. His name appears on various maps from 1878–89 as occupant of Rose Bay Lodge and he died there in 1892. He is thought to have taken up residence here when he was appointed MLC in 1867.
Sir John Hay was born in 1816 in Scotland. In 1838 he married Mary Chalmers and soon after the couple sailed to Sydney. They settled in the Upper Murray and in partnership with his brother in law, James, became a very successful farmer. In 1856 he became a politician and represented several rural electorates in the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales and was elected as Speaker in 1862. He moved from the Legislative Assembly to the Legislative Council in 1867.Martin, A. W., 1972, "Hay, Sir John (1816-1892)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol 4, Melbourne Uni Press, p. 361. When he became a politician in 1856 he lived in Sydney but it is not until 1866 that he is shown to be residing at Rose Bay Cottage in the Sands Directory.
Sir John Hay was a very keen gardener and may have further added to the garden at Rose Bay Cottage. He also owned some land not far from this house called "The Garden" which according to an advertisement was about in size and was "laid out into gardens, ornamental grounds and on which is already erected a gardeners cottage."Sydney Morning Herald, 2 May 1892, p. 3. A related site in Double Bay (now called Overthorpe also listed on the NSW State Heritage Register) was the site was Sir John Hay's "garden" - an unusual listing in the 1880s Sands Directory at the time he resided at Rose Bay Lodge. This garden contained a gardener's cottage and is believed to have been the site of an Experimental Nursery. The selection of mature species suggests a possible link with William Guilfoyle's work (Guilfoyle was connected with the nearby Exotic Nursery at Double Bay). Overthorpe's magnificent specimens of great age and scale are testament to the 19th century passion for collecting and displaying rare and exotic trees.
Sir John and Lady Hay did not have any children and when they both died in 1892 his property was inherited by the children of his brother James. After Hay's death here the house, then on about , was leased to Rosa Rougier, wife of Dr. Emile Rougier and she eventually purchased it in 1900.
Rose Bay Cottage as the residence of the Rougier family and subsequent ownership
The next resident of Rose Bay Cottage was Mrs Rosa Haigh. According to the Sands Directory she first came to Rose Bay Cottage in 1893. In 1895 she married Dr Emile Rougier who at that time was Director of the Pasteur Institute.The Sydney Mail, 3 August 1895, p. 220. The Rougiers liked to entertain and some of their social events are mentioned in the newspapers. For example, in July 1899 they held a luncheon for many notable guests including two Consuls-General.Sydney Morning Herald 15 July 1899, p. 7. In 1902 they held a garden party in the grounds of Rose Bay Cottage. the Sydney Morning Herald reported the event as follows.