By Cathy Jones
‘Yalemba’ 7 Albyn Road was built in 1921 for owner Hubert Palmer as a brick cottage of 6 rooms at estimated cost of £1580. Strathfield Council approved the building application at the Council meeting of December 13 1920. The builder was S Walsh of Pitt Street, Sydney.
This house was built on the former site of the house and school ‘Compton Cottage’, which was owned by Dr Phillip Sydney Jones and was leased to his sister, Mrs Ford, who lived and operated a school at this site.
The Sydney Morning Herald 15 December 1920 reports that the offices of architects Messrs. Henry Austin Wilshire and Day, accepted a tender from Mr S P Walsh to build a residence at Strathfield. There are no other buildings recorded to S P Walsh in this time period other than this house. It is likely that Wilshire & Day may have designed this house.
The architect Henry Wilshire had close connections to Strathfield being the son of James R Wilshire, MLC and direct descendent of James Wilshire, original land grantee of the Redmire Estate on which this house is built. Many members of the Wilshire family resided in Strathfield in this period and were related to the Thompson and Jones families (including the before mentioned Dr Phillip Sydney Jones and Mrs Ford, his sister) including the architect Henry Austin Wilshire.
References
Fox & Associates, Strathfield Heritage Study, 1986
GENERAL NOTES. (1920, December 15). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), p. 8. Retrieved August 7, 2019, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16879883
Sands Sydney Suburban and Trades Directory, published by John Sands [1875-1932]
Strathfield Council Building Register Vol. 2 [1920-1924]
Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), Wednesday 15 December 1920, page 8
Wise’s Post Office Directory of Strathfield 1936
Hurbert Palmer continued to occupy this house until at least 1960.
Strathfield Heritage 