Kirkbride Complex - Callan Park, Rozelle, NSW
Extract frpm the Friends of Callan Park website:
Callan Park was initially a combination of purchases by Crown Solicitor and Police Magistrate John Ryan Brenan. In 1839 he bought what he then named the Garry Owen estate.
His residence, Garry Owen House, built about then and possibly designed by Colonial Architect Mortimer Lewis, was on an elevation overlooking the Parramatta River, with a tree lined avenue (part of which survives) from wrought iron gates on Balmain Road through spacious gardens. In 1841, Brenan bought an additional three acres west of his estate and built Broughton House, which he sold with its extensive grounds in 1845.
For many years, Garry Owen was a focus for social life in the area until Brenan’s bankruptcy in 1864 forced him to sell the estate to Sydney businessman John Gordon. Gordon renamed the property Callan Park, and in 1873 subdivided the land for auction as a new waterfront suburb.
The beginning of Callan Park Mental Hospital
Instead, with remarkable foresight, the Colonial Government bought the whole 104.5 acres as a site for a new lunatic asylum to be designed according to the enlightened views of the American Dr Thomas Kirkbride.
Colonial Architect James Barnett worked in collaboration with Inspector of the Insane Dr Frederick Norton Manning to produce a group of some twenty neo-classical buildings, completed in 1885 and subsequently named the Kirkbride Block, offering progressive patient care.
Built of sandstone mainly quarried on site, the buildings have slate roofs, timber floors, and copper down pipes. Spacious rooms lead to verandahs linking several courtyards. The verandahs are supported by hundreds of cast iron columns acting as down pipes for water which is fed into an underground reservoir.
Architecural Masterwork
Dominating the complex is a venetian clock tower with a ball which rises and falls according to the water level of the reservoir. Essential to testament was the calming influence of natural beauty and pleasant parklands, designed by Director of the Botanic Gardens, Charles Moore.
Further landscaping in the 1890’s included the planting of palms and and rainforest trees, and the conversion of an informal pond to the curious sunken garden, which although waterless, survives.
Present day Callan Park
The Kirkbride complex continued to be used for patients until 1994 when the last remaining services were transferred to other buildings in the expansive grounds, towards the Broughton Hall (southern) end of the site. After massive renovations, the Sydney College of the Arts took possession in 1996.
The historic sandstone buildings and linking courtyards have been beautifully restored and new occupants provide an illustration of sympathetic use of a heritage complex. Some of the other historically significant buildings on the Callan park estate were not so fortunate, being allowed to fall into disrepair after being vacated.
Kirkbride Complex - Callan Park, Rozelle, NSW
Extract frpm the Friends of Callan Park website:
Callan Park was initially a combination of purchases by Crown Solicitor and Police Magistrate John Ryan Brenan. In 1839 he bought what he then named the Garry Owen estate.
His residence, Garry Owen House, built about then and possibly designed by Colonial Architect Mortimer Lewis, was on an elevation overlooking the Parramatta River, with a tree lined avenue (part of which survives) from wrought iron gates on Balmain Road through spacious gardens. In 1841, Brenan bought an additional three acres west of his estate and built Broughton House, which he sold with its extensive grounds in 1845.
For many years, Garry Owen was a focus for social life in the area until Brenan’s bankruptcy in 1864 forced him to sell the estate to Sydney businessman John Gordon. Gordon renamed the property Callan Park, and in 1873 subdivided the land for auction as a new waterfront suburb.
The beginning of Callan Park Mental Hospital
Instead, with remarkable foresight, the Colonial Government bought the whole 104.5 acres as a site for a new lunatic asylum to be designed according to the enlightened views of the American Dr Thomas Kirkbride.
Colonial Architect James Barnett worked in collaboration with Inspector of the Insane Dr Frederick Norton Manning to produce a group of some twenty neo-classical buildings, completed in 1885 and subsequently named the Kirkbride Block, offering progressive patient care.
Built of sandstone mainly quarried on site, the buildings have slate roofs, timber floors, and copper down pipes. Spacious rooms lead to verandahs linking several courtyards. The verandahs are supported by hundreds of cast iron columns acting as down pipes for water which is fed into an underground reservoir.
Architecural Masterwork
Dominating the complex is a venetian clock tower with a ball which rises and falls according to the water level of the reservoir. Essential to testament was the calming influence of natural beauty and pleasant parklands, designed by Director of the Botanic Gardens, Charles Moore.
Further landscaping in the 1890’s included the planting of palms and and rainforest trees, and the conversion of an informal pond to the curious sunken garden, which although waterless, survives.
Present day Callan Park
The Kirkbride complex continued to be used for patients until 1994 when the last remaining services were transferred to other buildings in the expansive grounds, towards the Broughton Hall (southern) end of the site. After massive renovations, the Sydney College of the Arts took possession in 1996.
The historic sandstone buildings and linking courtyards have been beautifully restored and new occupants provide an illustration of sympathetic use of a heritage complex. Some of the other historically significant buildings on the Callan park estate were not so fortunate, being allowed to fall into disrepair after being vacated.