This Art Deco gem is part of Alexander Macleay’s original botanical gardens which he lovingly and lavishly built to embrace his grand 1834 Elizabeth Bay house.

Apartment 5 is for sale through Greg McKinley and Penny Timothy https://www.rwebay.com.au/6694577/

The original Elizabeth Bay estate has since been subdivided many times.

However, at the rear of the property archaeological evidence remains of the original 1830s convict-hewn stone retaining wall and a carved grotto, once used as a cooling respite from Sydney’s humidity and summer heat for the Macleay family.

Apartment 5 is one of 15 apartments in this three-level building which retains its original floor boards, brick fire place surround and chic entrance foyer with cross-banded wooden panelling, original tenants’ noticeboard and hand-tooled wooden balustrade.

The exterior design includes a curved facade, typical of the period, and is surrounded by carefully-coiffured gardens and a cluster of bougainvillea and palm trees.

The original Hills Hoist washing line, now an Australian icon and listed as a National Treasure by the National Library of Australia, remains in situ in the rear gardens.

The closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics featured a sequence with giant Hills Hoist robots roaming around the Olympic arena.

The Melrose Hills Hoist is the only known example remaining in the 2011 postcode area and possibly the only one left in the eastern suburbs; a piece of urban garden heritage.

Melrose apartments were designed by Pitt and Phillips, architects, who were prolific during this period with many of their apartment blocks sharing similar signature design features.

They also designed its buddy building adjacent at 35B Billyard Avenue, 33-34 Billyard Avenue Elizabeth Bay (since demolished1934), 35-39. Victoria Street Darlinghurst for Trustees of the estate of Mary Scales (1934), Macleay-Regis apartments 12 Macleay Street Potts Point, for Mr H.P. Christmas (1937 designed by Eric C. Pitt), 7-50 Wolseley Road Point Piper for Wolseley Investments Pty. Ltd., proposed alterations to two flats, 2nd floor ‘The Astor’, Macquarie Street Sydney for Mrs. L.R. Osborne (1960), Cliveden Flats Wolseley Road Point Piper and proposed flats 8 Wentworth Street Point Piper (1975).

Potts Point and Elizabeth Bay contain the largest collection of Art Deco apartments in Australia, a collection which is heritage listed.

To see more on the history of Hills Hoists click on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48t4q_RAPp4

To read more click on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hills_Hoist

by Andrew Woodhouse