Argyle House is a heritage-listed residence located at 85 Lower Fort Street, in the inner city Sydney suburb of Millers Point in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. The property was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
History The following historical overview has been summarised from the Draft Conservation Management Plan for the property at 85 Lower Fort Street, prepared by NBRS + Partners and dated 29 January 2016.
On 20 November 1830, David Leighton sold a parcel of land at Millers Point to John Clarke. Leighton was the son of prominent Sydneysider John Leighton, or "Jack the Miller" who had erected several windmills in the area and had given the Point its name. Clarke paid for the land which was described as being bounded on the north-west by Windmill Street, on the south-east by the road to Dawes Battery (i.e. Lower Fort Street), on the south-west by Henry McGee, and on the north-east by government land.
Clark fenced his land, in accordance with Government policy but subsequently came into conflict with the government as this parcel of land had originally been set aside for government purposes. The Director of Public Works wrote to Clarke in May 1831 requesting that he remove the fencing. Clarke took his case to the Colonial Secretary, setting out the details of the purchase for which had he paid a considerable sum of money. James Brindley Bettington, a notable merchant of Millers Point, endorsed Clarke's memorial. The original vendor, Leighton, claimed that he had purchased the land from Patrick Marmount, who had been granted the land by Governor Macquarie in compensation for some land he held which had been resumed for the government windmill.
Original structure Clarke was successful in his case and was permitted to retain the land which he had purchased in good faith. Governor Darling specified that the land be divided by Town Surveyor, Ambrose Hallen, between Clarke and Lucas, an adjacent purchaser in a similar predicament. Shortly thereafter, Clarke erected a building on his land. On 27 June 1833 he was granted a Publican 's Licence for the Shipwrights Arms Inn in Windmill Street (this building is 75 Windmill Street).
John Clarke died on 20 July 1838 and left his estate to be divided amongst his five sons. The eldest son, also named John Clarke, applied for a deed of grant for the land on 6 December 1839. The land was subsequently granted on 18 June 1840 to John Clarke, of the North Shore, Sydney. The land was described as measuring "13 perches situated in the Town of Sydney Parish of St Philip County of Cumberland - Allotment No. One of Section No. Ninety Four". Simultaneously John Clarke sold the comer portion of the allotment to George Paton for . On that site Paton erected the Hero of Waterloo Hotel, which was licensed in 1845.
On the 7 February 1844, John Clarke conveyed a portion of the allotment to his brother William Clarke of Hunters Hill, cabinet maker, for the token sum of . William Clarke died on the 23 March 1868 and bequeathed his estate to his wife Charlotte. She subsequently found it necessary to sell the land and contracted with James Brierley of Sydney, carpenter and joiner, to sell the land for the sum of . In 1876, Brierley conveyed that portion of allotment no. one to Samuel Bridgement of Sydney, landowner, for .
In May 1880, Bridgement sold the land, comprising allotment 2 and part of allotment 1 of section 94, to George Minton of York Street, gentleman, for the substantial sum of . This irregularly shaped block had two frontages, Windmill Street and Lower Fort Street. The Windmill Street portion of the property was occupied by the Live and Let Live Hotel, also known as the Central Hotel in 1884–1895, and being the former house and blacksmith's shop of John McMillan.
The block plan accompanying Old System Deed Bk 202 No. 960, depicting Allotment No. 2 and part of Allotment No of City Section 94 is shown hereunder. Outlined on this plan is a building on the subject site fronting Lower Fort Street which is possibly the blacksmith's workshop at the rear of adjoining McMillan's house erected between 1839 and 1841 (site of the Stevens Building at 73A Windmill Street) or it could be detached buildings at the rear of the former Shipwright Arms Hotel (75 Windmill Street) erected by John Clarke in 1840/41.
An 1880 survey of the site shows this building as a single storey stone structure with a verandah adjoining the yards belonging to the Hero of Waterloo Hotel and then numbered 65 Windmill Street. The single storey brick building on the subject site was demolished in 1882 as an auction sale was held on the ground on 15 July, "opposite Trinity Church" of "the whole of the materials contained in the house No. 85 Lower Fort Street". Immediately prior to demolition the Sands Directory names August Ollenburg at this address in 1882, preceded in 1879–1880 by "Henry Hillyer, blacksmith" at 75 or 77 Lower Fort Street. According to the 1880 City of Sydney Assessment Listing, Hillyer was named as the ratepayer at 85 Lower Fort Street in conjunction with "T Bridgeman" (owner) of a house of brick & stone and shingled of two floors and four rooms. The same building is listing in the 1877 Assessment Book in the occupation of Theodore Cavanagh and owned by Samuel Bridgment. It is not possible to confirm occupancy of the building in Lower Fort Street prior to 1877 as the Dands Directory is a highly unreliable source.
Irrespective of the previous history of the earlier building on the subject site, it is clear from the evidence presented that the house was demolished in mid-1882 and Minton commissioned the construction of a new house on the subject land soon after.
Current housing structure The first reference to the new house (the present building) is in the 1885 Sands Directory when "Evan Evans' boarding house" is listed at 85 Lower Fort Street. Three years later in 1888 a marriage announcement appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald on 17 September for the wedding of William Irvine to "Annie Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Evan Evans, of 85 Lower Fort Street, Sydney."
Following Minton 's death on 14 January 1890, probate of the will was granted on 27 April 1890 to his Trustees, Samuel Charles Dennis and Robert Henry Mathers, to be held in trust for David Glassford B. Clyne, Archibald Clyne and Maria Gordon Clyne. Minton's estate comprised three freehold properties (two situated at Millers Point and one at Ashfield), "money in bank" and "personal effects" and was valued at a total of . The subject site "situated on the western side of Lower Fort Street...[with] a frontage to said street of 40 feet by an average depth of 26 feet...[on which] is erected a dwelling house of Brick on Stone, Slate roof containing 6 rooms and Bathroom etc at a rental of 30/- per week" was valued at .
On 16 May 1897, Minton's Trustees contracted with Kathleen Mary Stevens, wife of John Michael Stevens of Leichhardt, musician, to sell her the property for . Stevens simultaneously raised a mortgage with John T. Neale and converted the property to Torrens title by Primary Application 11340 According to historian Terry Kass, "the presence of an established market at Millers Point for high-class boarding house accommodation appears to have provided the incentive for Kathleen Mary Stevens...to erect the "Stevens Terraces", as a high class boarding house at 73 Windmill Street...completed sometime in 1901, it possessed 8 apartments which were let and rated separately."LTO No. 156 Bk 600, No. 157 Bk 600
Several sources identify Evan Evans as the principal occupant of the subject site in this period, which is referred to as a "boarding house", including the 1891 City of Sydney Assessment Book. The 1891 Census names Evan Evans and William Irvine (his son-in-law) at 85 Lower Fort Street which property was occupied by seven males/two females and one male/two females respectively.
Succeeding Evan Evans as occupant of 85 Lower Fort Street was Alexander Murison who, according to the Sands Sydney and NSW Directory, was the tenant until 1900 when this property was resumed by the State Government and placed in the management of the Sydney Harbour Trust. The subject site was comprised in a larger parcel of land identified on the Plan of Resumption as Item 716 in the ownership of Kathleen M Stevens by Deed Book 600 No 156. 85 Lower Fort Street can clearly be seen in the view of Lower Fort Street from Argyle Street about 1900.
The precipitating factor for the large scale resumption of the privately owned wharves at Darling Harbour and the adjacent residential and commercial precinct in The Rocks and Millers Point "was an outbreak of bubonic plague in Sydney in 1900, with the infection of a van driver, Arthur Payne, who lived next to the wharves, in 10 Ferry Lane, Millers Point, on January 20". The Sydney Harbour Trust took over a total of 803 properties from February to June 1901, including 430 dwellings.
According to Robertson and Hindmarsh, "the land resumed under the Darling Harbour Resumption Act" was divided into two with the immediate waterfront and part of Millers Point vested in the newly created Sydney Harbour Trust. The remainder of the resumed lands became known as The Rocks Resumed Area and the improvements in this area were undertaken by the Public Works Department. Windmill Street was the boundary between the two resumed areas, the buildings on the north side fell within the area managed by the Sydney Harbour Trust, the buildings on the south side...were within the area managed by the Public Works Department" (PWD). The subject property in Lower Fort Street thus fell within the area managed by the PWD.
The 1902 City of Sydney Assessment Listing described the building at 85 Lower Fort Street as brick with an iron roof and comprising three floors and six rooms with an annual value of . Michael Brothers was listed as the person rated and John Stevens was identified as the owner/landlord. Prior to 1901 the building had been used as a boarding house. The 1901 Census, however names Brothers as the principal householder and states that 85 Lower Fort Street was occupied by just two males and one female, suggesting a family unit. Brothers lived in the property until 1923.
Repurposed as a baby health clinic 85 Lower Fort Street was leased to the Department of Public Health and converted to the Millers Point Baby Health Clinic from 1924. A baby health clinic, under the auspices of the Department of Health, was established in Millers Point in 1916 in a small terrace house at Little Essex and Gloucester Streets. The Baby Health Clinic was transferred to 85 Lower Fort Street in 1924. In the interim, operation and management of the baby health centres was transferred to the Division of Maternal and Baby Welfare in 1926. The below figure shows a photograph of construction of steelwork for the Sydney Harbour Bridge in about 1930, and the subject building is identified by signwriting thereon "Milsons Point Baby Health Centre".