“The Mark” apartments at 80 Bayswater Road, Rushcutters Bay, retain the elegance and eloquence of their 1925 provenance.

Apartment 9 sold last week through Jason Boon and Geoff Cox.

Rushcutters Bay is an eastern suburb of Sydney three kilometres east of the CBD.
It is surrounded by the suburbs of Elizabeth Bay, Darlinghurst, Paddington, and Darling Point.

The area was first known as ‘Rush Cutting Bay’ because the swampy land was covered in tall rushes and used by early settlers for thatching houses, matting, making hats and supplying wicks for oil lamps. In 1878 six hectares were reserved for recreation. After reclamation work was completed Rushcutters Bay Park was created.
This picturesque harbour-side park is jointly managed by Woollahra Council and the City of Sydney Council and includes a tennis club, sports ovals, kindergarten, cafes, outdoor gym, a kayak/boat ramp and direct access to the local marina. Many locals enjoy a picnic under heritage fig trees. It is their carefully coiffured “backyard”.

The 1920s were an age of urban growth and change with many flats, as they were then called, built in the inner city Sydney area, including The Mark, built in 1925 according to council records. It’s enjoyed colourful past with local evidence suggesting it may have once been an illegal betting premises or even a “house of ill-repute” about 60 years ago.

And in 1925 apartment design was changing the same time as the effects of the 1925 Parisian Exposition Internationale Des Arts Décoratifs Et Industriels Modernes (Art déco exhibition) rippled through western society.
This landmark exhibition gave rise to a new international style and, ultimately, coined its name, albeit retrospectively in the 1960s; Art Déco.

The exhibition altered design perspectives and revolutionised use of new materials for homes including chrome and decorative items and use of rare enamels, even shagreen (stingray skin).
It is not generally known this jazz-age period also embraced other design directions.
In Australia. The Mediterranean influence also came into vogue as our sunny Sydney climate was embraced by architects. New design features included wider, shady eaves, shutters, terracotta roof tiles; all ideas emphasised by Professor Lesley Wilkinson, Australia’s first professor of architecture and the darling of the eastern suburbs society. This was also mistakenly referred to as Spanish Mission style.

He also simultaneously promoted a neo-Georgian influence, based on Roman classical antiquity influences. It included Roman villa motifs such as formal entrance columns, terrazzo flooring, shutters, panelled walls, Juliette balconies and figurative ceiling mouldings.

The Mark apartments includes a matrix of these elements based on neo-Georgian characteristics with its noble portico, terrazzo steps, inlaid brass nameplate and Tuscan columns.

Apartment 9 also includes original Juliette balconies, chrome door handles, shutters and ornate ceiling filigree, all in their original setting.

Image: The Mark apartments: a subtle stylish, elegance.

By Andrew Woodhouse
Director, Heritage Solutions