Ewenton

Ewenton is a heritage-listed residence at 1 Blake Street, Balmain, Inner West Council, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by James McDonald and built from 1854 to 1872. It is also known as Blake Vale. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.

Ewenton is a heritage-listed residence at 1 Blake Street, Balmain, Inner West Council, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by James McDonald and built from 1854 to 1872. It is also known as Blake Vale. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.

House

The house was originally constructed in 1854–1855 and substantially extended in different stages from 1860 to 1872, and is of post-Colonial, Italianate classical and rustic Italianate styles, with unusually interesting sandstone detailing. The house reflects the various periods of construction and styles, including Georgian (1854), Victorian Classical Italianate (1860) and Victorian Rustic Italianate (1872). It presents as a three and four storey sandstone building to the east, water frontage. Significant features include the third storey oriel bay window, decorative timber verandah and arched windows. Two storey (plus attic and basement) large building with hipped and gable ended slate roof has a number of eclectic features such as bay window and verandah. The house consists of Post-Colonial, Italianate classical and rustic Italianate styles in parts. A three-storey south wing with basement is totally different to the north wing. Built in high quality stonework with unusual detailing such as heavily outlined window openings and continuous window sills. String courses boldly define the different storeys and express the diminished thickness of the stone walls as the building rises. The first and second levels feature small narrow arched double hung windows with a center-holed "top knot"at the top of the gable end. The verandah extends across the basement level. Above, on the ground floor level the verandah extends across the facade and changes height at the heavily moulded arches of the door openings, with a double- arched curved corrugated steel roof over. The fascias of the arcaded verandah are perforated and the roof is supported on timber columns with Corinthian capitals. A criss-cross balustrade is common to both verandahs. The first floor level east facade of the north wing has a central projecting oriel bay window with a separate conical shaped roof with large windows on either side with curved pediment type mouldings above. Entry to the house is on the western facade. There are tall cast iron gates at the end of Blake Street. Pedestrian access is down a flight of stairs in line with the main gate then by a curving path to the entrance portico. Steps and a central path, at right angles to the house, lead back up the driveway. A long driveway leads down to the separate garage building. The east side of the house overlooks the Ewenton Park and the harbour.

Garden

Ewenton is set amongst established gardens and features significant camphor laurel trees on the west of the house as well as sandstone retaining walls, gate potss and paths. The original (or early) and current main entry is off Blake Street, where the original sandstone gate posts remain and a section of iron picket fencing with forged spears set in a masonry base. The gates are modern. The original (or early) iron picket gates have been relocated within the property's garden. The house's eastern front is clearly visible from adjacent Ewenton Park, facing Sydney Harbour. The current owners, who acquired Ewenton in 1991, undertook extensive works to the house and concentrated their efforts on the creation of a garden. Modifications to the garaging, drive and entrance made the house functional and provided deep beds for bold plantings, creating a garden suited to the setting. The garden in its current form is derived from the environmental factors the landscape now faces and the desire to have a garden suited to the period of its architecture. Entering from Blake Street, through gates that now sit in the location of the original grand entrance, you enter what appears less like Balmain and more like a private parkland. The drive turns hard right inside the gates and follows a line set by Ewenton's original architect James McDonald. Mature camphor laurel trees (Cinnamomum camphora) bathe the drive and garden with filtered light and a hint of the harbour can be seen through their branches. A mass of understorey planting of exotic sub-tropical perennials and heritage shrubs complements these trees. Originally planted by gardener and passionate tropical plant enthusiast Brendan Lewis, the palette of plants is extremely suited to life under the competitive camphor laurels. As a boundary planting Lewis used shell ginger (Alpinia zerumbet), propagated from tubers he found when clearing out decades of overgrown bamboo, privet and rubbish. The white flowers provide screening from fencing while creating a sense of depth. In the body of the garden Lewis combined drifts of shade-tolerant and flowering semi-hardwood perennials Mackaya bella and giant fan palms (Chamaedorea costaricana) and a purple form of Ctenanthe setosa. Lower on the slope these plantings are also bolstered by clumps of giant bird-of-paradise flower (Strelitzia nicolai), Justicia sp. and more ginger. Recent plantings in the drive garden include masses of Hydrangea and specimen plantings of Camellia japonica, angel's trumpets (Brugmansia cv.s), sweet viburnum and evergreen magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), to add colour, seasonal variation and permanency to perennial drifts and palms. Although not the original driveway surface but built in the same location, the drive passes through the garden and feels more of the garden than a thoroughfare. At a junction in the drive adjacent to a contemporary garage designed by architect Peter Tonkin, the site's steepness becomes a significant feature. A large floating boulder opposite the garage supports a lead-roofed pavilion also designed by Tonkin for the Yiannidises. Footing it is a mass display of Philodendron x "Xanadu", a clipped Japanese box hedge and a collection of Agave attenuata. Around the pavilion plantings of cape leadwort (Plumbago capensis), Viburnum, bird-of-paradise flower (Strelitzia reginae) and day lilies (Hemerocallis cv.s) grow under a black locust (Robinia). A circular garden supporting an urn and bordered with a dense collection of low and ground-cover perennials including beefsteak plant (Iresine herbstii), spike flower (Plectranthus ciliatus), Ctenanthe, Mercury Bay weed (Dichondra repens) marks the top of the steps to the front door and access to the lower garden. Nearby a large stone bench is a feature, built from remains of an old wall demolished elsewhere on the property. New plantings of evergreen magnolia and Camellia have been planted around the bench and adjacent beds. At entry level to the house a steep bank of Mexican lilies (Beschorneria yuccoides), grey sage (Salvia leucantha), green Ctenanthe, ornamental wandering Jew and rock roses (Cistus sp.) dotted with feature Michelia sp., dwarf date palms (Phoenix roebelenii) and pink angel's trumpets (Brugmansia cv.) provide colour and texture viewed from the house. Two traveller's palms (Ravenala sp.) supported by fruit salad plant (Monstera deliciosa), several Brazilian red cloaks and a frangipani (Plumeria rubra cv.) give interest. The path leads around the house's southern side. Below the garage is the garden shed and compost area, hidden behind dwarf palms (Rhapis excelsa), ornamental bananas (Musa ornata) and a large drift of ginger which screens areas below and the adjoining residence. The walk down this side of the house is made from recycled sandstone details collected by the owners. Adjacent to this, past troughts of rabbit's foot ferns the basement stone works contrast with timber steps added by the Yiannikas' and the edge of the harbour-front verandah, designed by Clive Lucas, replacing the original that had long ago been removed. On Ewenton's eastern side the garden opens up and reveals its relationship to the harbour. Once the home of a sloped garden path to a reclaimed lower paddock and boat house, the older landscape has been transformed over the years to become a purposeful lawn, and the publicly accessible Ewenton Park, maintained by the Inner West Council. A mature Moreton Bay fig (Ficus macrophylla), once part of Ewenton's garden and visible in photographs from 1872, is still here today offering protection from southerly winds and the view to White Bay wharves. Bordering the lawn to the south, Philodendron x "Xanadu" forms a carpet that rises up to a collection of Cordyline stricta, beehive gingers and rare Thai blue ginger (Dichorisandra thyrsiflora), under the shade of mature evergreen alders. Adjacent to the house are three clumps of Alexandra palms (Archontophoenix alexandrae).

External links

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373887902 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.