page_title: Darling House, Millers Point
section_title: Construction of Darling House, c.1840
hierarchical_section_title: Darling House, Millers Point / History / Construction of Darling House, c.1840
caption_attribution_description: English: John Rae's drawing "Millers Point from Flagstaff Hill" painted 1842
context_page_description: Darling House is a heritage-listed seniors living property and former residence located at 8-12 Trinity Avenue, in the inner city Sydney suburb of Millers Point in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. The property is owned by Dr Shane Moran through his luxury seniors living and aged care group Provectus Care Pty Ltd. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
  The Georgian-style Old Colonial sandstone building incorporates parts of an original c. 1833 to c. 1835 dwelling house, the existing sandstone house was constructed in 1842 under the ownership of Joseph Farris. The name of the house, which originated from the local community in the 1800s, is derived from the original land grant by Governor Darling. Darling House holds particular historical, social and architectural significance due to its influence on the history and early social development of Millers Point and early colonial Australia and as a representative example of Georgian style architecture in neo-colonial Australia.
context_section_description: The sandstone building now known as "Darling House" was built by Joseph Farris in the early 1840s, a period of great depression in Sydney. It was a large house of eight rooms (at a time when most houses in Millers Point contained two or four rooms), with its construction clearly being an attempt by the owner to build a fashionable stone dwelling designed to fit in with the other grand Lower Fort Street houses. The success of local mercantilist ventures and associated industries became evident in both commercial and residential architecture, constructed for merchants such as Robert Towns and Robert Campbell. Sections of Millers Point became regarded as affluent enclaves, with Argyle and Lower Fort Streets known as 'Quality Row.' Darling House was built to provide residential accommodation for the growing number of workers moving into the area that were associated with the expanding wharves along the Millers Point shoreline (such growth resulting from the exporting of wool to England and from the whaling industry). The site on which the house was built comprised two allotments, the northern allotment was granted to Joseph Farris and the southern allotment to Michael Gannon, a local builder. Soon after the allotments were granted Gannon admitted that, at the time the grant was made, the southern allotment was actually the property of Farris and in 1842 Gannon formally conveyed the allotment to Farris for the nominal sum of five shillings.
  Upon construction, the interior of the house was divided by a large corridor. On the ground floor to the left of the corridor there was a dining/living room with two bedrooms on the right. On the upper floor there were four bedrooms on either side of the corridor. A stone kitchen and breakfast room were connected to the rear of the house, a bathroom to the right of the backdoor and timber laundry against the rock face. During the 1860s the ground and first floor Victorian verandas were added to the house, with the first floor windows being converted into French doors. These modifications are classic representative examples of the development of Australian architecture away from the traditional English styles in response to local environmental factors. English bald faced buildings offered little protection against the sun while the French doors and veranda allowed for greater air circulation through the house alleviated the effects of the heat during the summer months. Such architectural features are illustrative of the way in which Australian architectural styles were forced to differ from the traditional English styles to accommodate for the vastly different Australian climate.
caption: John Rae's 1842 sketch "Millers Point from Flagstaff Hill", with Darling House to left
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