Hotel Challis: 21-23 Challis Avenue Potts Point 

Located within the Challis Estate subdivision of 1889, the grand terraces at 21-23 Challis Avenue were erected about 1893 for James Gilchrist, a master plumber.

The properties were named Byrock (21 Challis Avenue) and Uralla (23 Challis Avenue) . City residences were often named after country properties or towns which and link to the owner and were named after constructions or even renamed more than once. Byrock is a small country village in north western NSW, Australia in the Bourke Shire. In 2016, Byrock had a population of 50 people. It is located on the Mitchell Highway roughly halfway between Bourke to the north-west and Nyngan to its south-east. It is named after a rock hole, called “Bai” by the Indigenous Nyamba tribe. This name was morphed into Bye Rockhole, then Bye Rock, then Byrock.

Uralla is a town on the Northern Tablelands of NSW. It is located at the intersection of the New England Highway and Thunderbolts Way, 465 kilometres north of Sydney and about 23 kilometres south west of the city of Armidale. At the 2016 census, the township had a population of 2,388 people,

The two terrace houses in Challis Avenue Potts Point are historically associated with the 1830s villas of ‘Woolloomooloo Hill’ and in particular, the former Adelaide Cottage site.

The initial settlement in this part of Sydney was the result of the colonial administration’s wish to establish an enclave for the political and military elites. The governor at the time, Sir Ralph Darling (in office 1824-1831) ordered the subdivision of ‘Woolloomooloo Hill’ in 1828 into allotments suitable for the erection of villas with landscaped garden settings.

Darling set down strict conditions for these developments stipulating only one stone residence per allotment, among other things.  The allotments had frontages to the only public road, Macleay Street/Darlinghurst Road, and some had frontage also to the western shore of Woolloomooloo Bay. There were 17 villa allotments. The first seven were granted in 1828 and the others granted in 1831. Challis Avenue is located within Henry Gratton Douglass’ grant issued in 1828. Douglass (1790-1865) arrived in the colony in 1821. A surgeon, he was appointed superintendent of the general hospital at Parramatta and held other colonial positions. Douglass returned to England in 1828 but nonetheless continued with the building of a villa, designed by architect and engineer Edward Hallen. Consequently, the grant with house, named Adelaide Cottage, was more associated with the later owners Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Shadforth and John Henry Challis. Shadforth (1771-1862) was a professional soldier who had arrived in Sydney in 1826 with his regiment. He resigned his commission in 1831 and settled here taking up Adelaide Cottage around this time as well as a country property, Ravenswood, at Mulgoa.

The merchant, John Henry Challis (1806-1880), after whom Challis Avenue is named, purchased the property around 1850 and lived there for a short time before returning to England in 1855. Challis died in France in 1880.

From at least 1855 Challis let the house to Alexander MacDonald, after whom nearby McDonald Street (spelt slightly differently) is named. He lived there through to his death in 1888. MacDonald had migrated to Sydney about 1848 and from the late 1850s was a partner in the Sydney firm of general importers MacDonald, Smith and Company of which Challis was a partner. MacDonald was also associated with the Union Bank. After the death of MacDonald in 1888, Adelaide Cottage was sold by Challis’ trustees.

The townscape of this part of the city began to change in the 1840s owing to the depressed economy and financial pressures on the owners of the villas. Consequently, the conditions of the original grants were changed to allow subdivision of the properties. The demand for housing in the Gold Rush decades of the 1850s and 1860s resulted in the development of terraced dwellings and streets. Challis’ land, however, has remained remarkably intact until its subdivision in 1889.

In February 1890 the NSW Government resumed the whole of the eastern side of Woolloomooloo Bay between Duke Street and Bomerah at the end of Wylde Street for wharf improvements for £45,000.

The resumption followed the recommendations of a parliamentary committee of enquiry held in 1888 and in that same year the trustees of Challis’ estate sold the balance of Adelaide Cottage, around 6 1/2 acres, to The Australian Mutual Investment and Building Company Ltd. This land speculation and finance company had been formed in the late 1870s. The company demolished Adelaide Cottage and subdivided the grounds for housing in 1889. Challis Avenue and McDonald Street were formed in this subdivision. There were 45 building blocks, with majority fronting Challis Avenue that was planted with trees along the pedestrian pavement. The sites were sold by Richardson and Wrench and another agent on 2nd September 1889.

the terms of settlement were: 10% deposit 15% within three months (without interest) and the balance in three equal yearly payments with interest at 6%.

Lots 5 to 9 and part of Lot 10 (21-23 Challis Avenue) were purchased by master plumber, James Gilchrist, in November 1890.

Byrock and Uralla first appear in the Sands’ Directory of 1894 suggesting a construction date of 1893. Gilchrist may have built the houses and other houses in the row to the west.

Gilchrist appears to have died in 1909 and all of the properties were transferred to his widow, Louisa Gilchrist and John Vincent in November 1909. The subject properties were transferred to Louisa and James Joseph Gilchrist, a medical practitioner, in 1913. After Louisa’s death in 1916, the properties came into sole ownership of James Joseph Gilchrist and remained in the family until 1963.

The front elevations have colonnades over the three levels with arched and faceted openings all set on Italianate classical columns with extensive stucco decoration. The buildings have parapets to the street. The four-storey rear wings are also rendered with additional floors and a modern mansard roof. The buildings enjoy gardens to the front with metal palisades fences and rendered masonry piers.

They are an example of adaptive re-use and are currently the Hotel Challis.

By Andrew Woodhouse

Heritage Solutions