More worries for Vaucluse heritage site

The future of Vaucluse’s heritage-listed Strickland House is again uncertain following fresh revelations that the state government has been discussing tenancy with New York University.

The historic 4.9-hectare parkland could be entered into a sellable 99-year lease and any of its six existing buildings converted for student accommodation, it was reported in The Sydney Morning Herald last month.

A member of the Woollahra History and Heritage Society, June Poland, said she had been contacted by a representative from NYU in August and had since become concerned that the institution’s intentions “were bigger than Ben-Hur”

This is not the first time that third-party involvement has been considered for the waterfront site, which reportedly costs the government $380,000 annually, to help pay for upkeep costs.

Ms Poland and her husband have been lobbying with the Society for 25 years to keep the 1850s site protected and its gardens open daily to the public.

Peter Poland has since told The Bondi View that they’re “always worried” for the estate’s fate, and have collected thousands of petition signatures highlighting significant concern.

“Our view is that the community would not be in favour of any proposal that doesn’t let the parkland be public and the house kept historic,” he said.

The Department of Finance and Services, which bought the site in 1914, confirmed that NYU had contacted the government with proposals for the site but declined to comment on the status of the application.

“One would hope that the community would be consulted before anything is decided,” Mr Poland said.

Vaucluse MP Gabrielle Upton echoed these sentiments in a letter to the Minister for Finance and Services, Greg Pearce, following the recent NYU Sydney campus reports.

“If there are plans, there must be an open and transparent process which takes account of the local community’s long held concerns,” she said.

The Department has not responded to queries regarding the terms of a possible contract but reports in NYU’s student newspaper indicate that it would be conditional.

The president of the university, John Sexton, told NYU Local that they were in negotiations with the NSW government for a large property with water views that would be a “gift” in exchange for renovation.

The state government has attempted to subsidise Strickland House’s running costs since it ceased operating as a nursing home in 1989 after more than 70 years.

But revenue as a function venue and film set – with appearances in multiple television shows and Baz Luhrmann’s blockbuster Australia – is far outweighed by the yearly running costs.

The main estate is open to the public only one day a year and would require a large sum of money to return it to its former glory.

Yet various ways suggested in the last 20 years to facilitate restoration, such as boutique hotels, restaurant-style cafes and an Aboriginal museum, have all been rejected during the application process.

The state purchased the estate, built originally for Sydney’s first lord mayor in 1856, with the intention of adding it to neighbouring Neilsen Park.

– By Emilia Terzon