‘A sunblocking monstrosity’: The Sydney housing plan that puts heritage gardens at risk

Known as the spiritual home of camellias, the state heritage-listed house and gardens Eryldene on Sydney’s north shore have always been a place of stillness and reflection.

That tranquillity has been disturbed by a proposed apartment complex that many locals say is out of character among the detached Federation homes on the green streets of Gordon and will harm the gardens.

If the nearly 28-metre-high development proceeds, it will be “like a cruise ship” moored on its horizon, said an Eryldene supporter. Another called it a “sunblocking monstrosity” and posted a drone video on YouTube to illustrate its impact.

The Heritage Council of NSW, the government’s independent statutory authority, and National Trust say overshadowing from the three proposed eight-storey residential blocks with 162 apartments and 25 affordable units would remove the very thing that plants need.

Sunlight.

Supporters say it would provide what people need.

Housing.

Located 400 metres from Gordon station, within the area identified for higher density housing by NSW Transport Oriented Development (TOD) policy, the 7776 square metre site along McIntosh Street and Werona Avenue, is now occupied by four homes, three tennis courts and pools.

In its submission to the state’s significant development (SSD) planning panel, the National Trust said the proposed development would destroy the property’s “ability to have sun falling on its garden”.

The Heritage Council said it would threaten growing conditions for the unique and internationally recognised camellia collection. They contain more than 500 species of camellias planted by the late Professor E. G. Waterhouse, and another 50 he propagated. Some are 200 years old.

Designed for the Sydney University professor and his wife, Janet, by colonial revivalist architect William Hardy Wilson in 1913, the house was considered then to be as plain as a tramshed compared with the Federation homes nearby. Its furniture and finishes were thought frugal and austere compared to the Victoriana of the time.

Museums & Galleries of NSW says “all of Eryldene” is of state heritage significance, from its house and garden to its oriental teahouse, temple, pigeon house, walled fountain; original garden furnishings; furniture, art works and artefacts from China, Japan, Europe and Australia.

The house and gardens are kept going by volunteers like Helen Wallace, who first visited in the mid-1970s. “I just loved it.”

The garden has plants that Wallace remembers from her grandmother and great-grandmother’s gardens, many not sold or seen often today including some red fuschia.

The Heritage Council recommended the height of two blocks nearest Eryldene on McIntosh Street be reduced by “at least three storeys” to address overshadowing, and said the bulk and scale of the development was intrusive when seen from the garden.

‘Streets like McIntosh should be accessible to more than just one kind of resident.’

A local resident

Eryldene trustee Mark Brandon said development near Gordon station was inevitable. But it needed to be sympathetic to the heritage conservation zone where homes are traditionally one- and two-storey detached Federation bungalows.

“I’m not saying that an uplift in height is out of the question. It’s just how the development is done,” Brandon said.

The inclusion of 15 per cent of floor area as affordable housing made the project eligible for a 30 per cent height and floor space bonus under the State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021.

Local Annie Son Ni Li said the affordable apartments would open the suburb to a more diverse range of people. Many people automatically opposed development, she wrote in a submission to planning in favour of the development. “This kind of thinking isn’t helpful, especially when we’re facing a housing crisis. Streets like McIntosh should be accessible to more than just one kind of resident.”

The developer CPDM Pty Ltd has undertaken additional sun tracking studies hourly, including from 9am to 4pm on the winter solstice, June 21. CPDM project director Ross Norton said his team compared the shadows cast by its proposed block directly to the west of Eryldene, compared with the existing trees at south and rear boundary, and its immediate neighbour.

The project may deprive the property of sunlight between 9am and 10.30am on that day, but the biggest loss was caused by the existing mature trees.

“As sun moves in a northerly arc, our shadowing is eliminated,” Norton said.

He said the developer was also considering fears that the disruption of groundwater, surface stormwater, and potential contamination during the construction program will affect the gardens. The lower four floors of the proposed development had been designed to reflect the character of the existing local housing and the streetscape in McIntosh Street.

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