By Cathy Jones (2025)
‘Aparima’, 143 Albert Road Strathfield is an Interwar Californian Bungalow. It is located on the 1841 Joseph Hyde Potts grant and was built in 1919. The house first appears in the 1921 Sands Directory for William Hirst. This house was originally numbered 103 Albert Road, but was renumbered 143 Albert Road in 1947.
The land containing this property is part of the original 1841 grant to Joseph Hyde Potts. A portion of the Potts land was transferred to George Todman and William Von Der Heyde in 1885, and by 1899 was transferred to John Hinchcliff. A transmission application was made by Hinchcliff’s estate in 1902 and the vacant land transferred to Mrs Nelly Evers in March 1912. In 1915, land fronting parts of Albert Road, Dickson Street and Merley Road was owned by Charles William Counsell of Summer Hill, contractor. There appears to be an arrangement between Counsell, the land owner and Richard Fauxton Curgenven, a builder, to subdivide the land into 23 Lots and build a number of new houses in Albert Road, Dickson Street and Merley Road.
In May 1919, Curgenven lodged a building application to construct a build a brick cottage with a tiled roof of at least six rooms. The estimated value of the construction was £800. Curvergan was also the builder.
In December 1919, Counsell transferred ownership of Lot 5 to William Hirst. It is assumed that the house was built around the time, which was named ‘Aparima’. In November 1924, ownership transferred to William Shackfield Newton (1900-196). Newton was a prominent Sydney solicitor and grandson of the Anglican minister Rev. William Shackfield Newton of Pitt Town. Newton married Helen Isabel Nangle (1902-1982) in 1925.
In 1964, his widow Helen Isabel Newton became the sole owner. From January 1965, the owners were Ernest and Myra Andrew.
Reference
NSW Lands Registry
Sands Sydney Directory
Strathfield Council Building Register
