Close frontal view of two pointed-arched windows in pale sandstone, each filled with elaborate Gothic Revival tracery of quatrefoils and cusped lights over leaded glazing, with moss on the surrounding ashlar.

Government House

Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney

Edward Blore, in London; supervised by Mortimer Lewis and George Barney. 1836 or 1837 to 1845, finished 1847 by some accounts. Sandstone.

Size
Two storeys, with turrets. No height found, so the drawing is estimated
Material
Locally quarried sandstone, slate roof, cedar joinery
Status
State Heritage Register. The Governor’s official residence and office again

The architect never saw it. Edward Blore, who worked on Buckingham Palace, drew this castellated Gothic house in London, and Mortimer Lewis and George Barney built it from his plans. A ball for Queen Victoria’s birthday was held in the unfinished house in 1843, and Governor Gipps moved in during 1845. It looks out over Farm Cove from what was then a raw colonial shoreline, with battlements against no enemy at all.

It was extended repeatedly: a porte-cochere in 1873, the arcade you see in the drawing in 1879 to 1880, and extensions to the ballroom around 1900. Its life as a residence has been less steady. From 1901 to 1914 it was leased to the Commonwealth for the Governor-General. In 1996 Premier Bob Carr stopped it being a residence, saying the office should be “less associated with pomp and ceremony”. About 15,000 people protested outside Parliament House and 55,000 signed a petition, and the Auditor-General found that having no resident Governor cost $600,000 more, not less. In October 2011 Premier Barry O’Farrell announced that the Governor would move back.

The stone

The Governor’s office says it’s built of locally quarried sandstone. The Dictionary of Sydney adds that from 1896 to 1901 Vernon replaced the facade in Pyrmont stone. Photographs show a patchwork of paler and browner blocks on the garden front, which may reflect that work, though no source says so.

Read about Sydney Sandstone

Sources

  1. Government House, Sydney, Wikipedia (incorporates NSW State Heritage Inventory text)
  2. Government House, Dictionary of Sydney
  3. Government House history, Governor of New South Wales
  4. NSW Governor, Marie Bashir, to live in Government House Sydney, WomenRep (post of 7 October 2011)