- Name
- Old North Sydney History Walk
- Description
-
This walk will help you explore some of North Sydney’s oldest timber and stone dwellings and some of its most evocative streets.
- Points of interest
-
- 22 Edward Street
- 20 Edward Street
- 48-52 Lord Street
- 40-46 Lord Street
- 32-38 Lord Street
- Lord Street steps
- 74-76 Bank Street
- 61 Bank Street
- 70 Bank Street
- 66-68 Bank Street
- 64 Bank Street
- 50 Bank Street
- 42 Bank Street
- 29 Bank Street
- Railway line
- 27-29 Ancrum Street
- 31 Ancrum Street
- Tye Park
- 37 Ancrum Street
- Euroka Street
- 20-28 Union Street
- 34-40 Union Street
- 77-79 Union Street
- 44 Union Street
- 111 Union Street
- Cnr of Union Street and Blues Point Road
- 177 Blues Point
- 218-220 Blues Point Road
- Location
- Brochure
- History
-
North Sydney has been home to some of the wealthiest people in the city and some of its poorest. The buildings in and around Lord, Euroka, Ancrum, Bank and Union streets are evidence of this social divide. On top of the ridge are grand stone-built Graythwaite and Upton Grange, while below are the narrow streets and houses of the old Euroka Estate.
Writer and poet Henry Lawson, who fondly described ‘Old North Sydney’ and its community, knew this area well. He lived alongside the families of stonemasons, carpenters and mariners. But life could be hard. In 1956 the Sydney Morning Herald referred to Ancrum Street as one of several Sydney addresses in which it was ‘hard to live’ and ‘easy to die’. However, by the 1970s gentrification had begun to transform the demographic of the area. The newcomers restored rather than demolished the old dwellings. Much of it is now protected as a Conservation Area that sits partly in the suburbs of North Sydney, Waverton and McMahons Point.
