Does beauty lie in the eye of the beholder? St Neot Avenue, Potts Point, has been described as a “gently urban design which is beautiful”

Unit 4, 21 St Neot Avenue is currently listed through Angelo Bouras and Tonia Croft https://www.rwebay.com.au/7416626/

Buildings in the 19th century were generally built on a more human scale than today’s structures and had fine individual details although buildings in St Neot Avenue were not constructed until after Grantham was demolished in 1937 and the site subsequently subdivided.

The invention of lifts and reinforced concrete buildings went up, up and up. Human scale went down, down, down although many buildings of the early 20th century retained a more moderate scale.

Today’s locals, particularly in higher density areas such as Potts Point, realise that beauty is linked to the scale, setting and bulk of buildings.
A UK study has found that living amid ugliness makes childhoods unhappier.

A new group, Street Level Australia, is pursuing greater beauty in city architecture. It’s founder, Millie Main, says promoting gentle design reduces opposition to development.

She says “the answer is right in front of us. In Sydney, it’s St Neot’s Avenue in Potts Point.”

St Neots Avenue runs west off Wylde Street. It pivots off its corner hexagonal-shaped pocket park, St Neots Reserve, with has well maintained lawns, Agapanthus, heritage seating, a water bubbler and dog water bowl and a bus stop. It takes its name from the birth place, St Neot’s village in Cornwall, England, where the owner of the former mansion on the site, Grantham, was born. Grantham was built in 1836 and demolished in 1937 and the land subdivided. Grantham Street nearby is named after atter the former estate.

All the buildings in St Neots Avenue have three things in common, the three Ss, ie., generous setbacks, handsome settings and overall streetscape value.
The north side incorporates Grantham apartments (number 20), three storeys with its Tuscan columns, terrazzo, bevelled glass doors and gardenesque setting.
Number 18, aptly named St. Neots, is a two-storey Art Nouveau gem while number 16 is a Federation period two-storey apartment block, both with six metre setbacks.

Setbacks provide a gracious entrance to any building and add to the spaciousness of the street as a whole, the quality of the streetscape value and its enjoyment.

Allambie at 10-12 St Neots Avenue is also only two storeys. The avenue then stops abruptly as a result of a nine-metre escarpment. A set of stairs leads down the remainder of the Avenue. Numbers 1-2 are two and four storeys.

On the southern side a 1970s, 11-storey block, Serendipity, hovers overhead. Number 7, Park View, two storeys, is interesting for its striped bricks. Numbers 9-11, The Lachlan, and its buddy building, three storeys, are Art Deco brick buildings, while number 13 is an anachronism, a four-storey 1970s block. Number 15 is a Federation style block with bay windows. Number 17, Trent Bridge, three storeys, is attractive with its striped canvas awnings and generous six metre setback while number 19, simply called Nineteen, has crazy paving and a six-metre setback which provides a sense of arrival.

Number 21 with apartment 4 for sale through Angelo Bouras and Tonia Croft https://www.rwebay.com.au/7416626/ is named Belvedere and is also three storeys. Frangipani overhang the boundary. It has its own private garden. The coloured stone entrance paving adds interest to the topiary hedging on the sandstone plinth front fence and interior foyer wood panelling.

Inside apartment 21 the original pine flooring and period cornices remain

This is St Neots Avenue where, on a clear morning, passers-by can hear the Currawongs warble their morning clarion call and appreciate the flowering gums.

By Andrew Woodhouse
Heritage Solutions