FITZROY GARDENS at 60-64 Macleay Street, Potts Point, was originally part of the 1841 subdivision of Colonial Secretary Alexander Macleay’s 54 acre Elizabeth Bay Estate.

The current park was once partly occupied by a grand home, Osterley at 62 Macleay Street,  built in the 1870s but was demolished in 1927. It was resumed by Sydney Council and landscaped in 1939 and was originally intended to be named after Civic Reform Alderman, Ernest Tresidder, but political considerations intervened and the name was changed to Fitzroy Gardens after Fitzroy Ward of the City of Sydney, and a name originally sourced from NSW Governor, Sir Charles Fitz-Roy (1846-1855).

The park was enlarged with the purchase of Maramanah, a grand villa, in 1943. This house was built in the 1860s and for many years had been the home of the Hollander family, immortalised in Robin Eakin’s 1965 memoir “Aunts up the Cross”. Maramanah was demolished in 1954 at the same time as the council resumed Tenilba at 60 Macleay Street.

In 1959 the Sulman Award-winning Florence Bartley Library was built on the site of Tenilba. The former Florence Bartley Library was built on the site of 60 Macleay Street and opened in 1959. It was named after the wife of Sydney Lord Mayor Reg Bartley. The building, designed by Sydney City Council Architect’s Branch, won the NSW RAIA Sulman Award for Public Buildings in 1958. It was demolished in 1997 in association with the Rex Hotel redevelopment amid widespread political controversy

And in 1961 the El Alamein Fountain was installed in the park with its distinctive dandelion shape, soon to become a symbol of Kings Cross. It was designed by Bankstown architects, Robert Woodward and Phil Taranto, who won the main prize of £500 in the City Council fountains contest in 1959. It was named to commemorate the deeds of the Ninth Division of the AIF during World Wars I and II and was opened by Lord Mayor Harry Jensen on 18 November 1961.

Further work in 1971 included the paving of the park to eliminate the ‘dustbowl’ effect created by its large trees. The most prominent specimens are a Chinese Elm and Canary Island Palm both dating from around 1920, and a majestic, central, Port Jackson Fig.

In 1970 Ilma Berzins (1921-1993), the first professionally qualified landscape architect to be employed by a council, designed the current layout for Sydney Council.

In 1975 Elizabeth Bay Road was closed to traffic and, along with the former sites of 1-13 Elizabeth Bay Road, the road was absorbed into Fitzroy Gardens, increasing its size by one-third. However, part of this extra space was soon taken up by the anachronistic Kings Cross Police Station built in 1979. It was built on the site of 1-13 Elizabeth Bay Road in 1979 as a subsidiary station to Darlinghurst which closed in 1987. Kings Cross police station was substantially upgraded and enlarged in 1998 and is now home to the Kings Cross local Area command.

In 2011 a community backlash against Sydney Council plans for a major $11 million redevelopment of the gardens including the police station, council’s car park nearby and the Lawrence Hargrave Reserve opposite saw rallies held in the park: council withdrew its designs. More recent proposals for an over-sized playground and demolition of mosaics proved controversial. Council’s plans for work without a DA were rejected on appeal by locals to the NSW Land and Environment Court.

Kings Cross was the favoured site for Sydney’s New Year’s Eve revellers from 1936 until 1976 until the first Harbour fireworks drew crowds away to The Rocks and Circular Quay.

Fitzroy Gardens has always had two distinctly different uses. By day it is popular with locals, particularly the elderly and for mothers with children and, more recently, dog owners. On week-ends its provides spaces for both the Saturday Farmers’ Markets and Sunday stalls.

In 2010-2011 a community backlash against Sydney Council plans for a major $11 million redevelopment of the gardens including the police station, council’s car park nearby and the Lawrence Hargrave Reserve opposite saw rallies held in the park, before council withdrew its designs.

The whole park is heritage-listed for its historical, social and environmental significance: it contains a wall of archaeological remnants from the 1830s Macleay gardens, and is part of the soul of the area. It is peoples’ backyards for those who enjoy its year-round, shady ambience, which acts a welcome respite from the hum and thrum of busy inner-city living.

By Andrew Woodhouse, Director, Heritage Solutions