By Cathy Jones (2023)
‘Lyndoch Place’ 2 Barker Road Strathfield is a two storey brick Interwar Old English style house, which is located on the corner of Barker Road and Chalmers Road. Its entry faces Barker Road. This property is an heritage item on the Strathfield Council Local Environmental Plan 2012. The property is described as:
‘A substantial two storey Inter-War Old English House with a large hipped and gabled terracotta tiled roof. To brick gables face Barker Road marking the main street frontage. Another gable faces the secondary street frontage to Chalmers Road. One of the gabled fronts has imitation half timbering, herringbone brick work and a decorative bargeboard. Timber framed double hung windows are arranged in pairs and groups. A flat roofed bay window was on the ground floor. A verandah on the first floor has been enclosed. The house has tall chimneys with corbeled brick tops. The front fence has a red brick base and peers, contemporary with the house. Two fence panels have been replaced with tongue and grooved boards. And araucaria is in the north east corner of the garden. Palm trees on the west side of the house and cypresses are at the side’[1].
The land on which ‘Lyndoch Place’ is built was originally granted to Joseph Newton in 1841. About 2 acres of land was acquired by John Keep, ironmonger, in 1892[2] and the house ‘Wynola’ (later known as The White House) was erected by 1894. ‘Wynola’ fronted Chalmers Road and was bounded by Barker Road, Newton Road and Wallis Avenue.
In 1925, the part of the grounds of ‘Wynola’ were subdivided into 16 lots (Lot 15 contained the house ‘Wynola’, tennis courts and grounds), which was offered for sale as the ‘Wynola Estate’. Part of Lot 1 was acquired on 31 December 1929 by Charles Donald Saxton, Company Director[3]. Saxton (1898-1981) was a principal of Saxton & Binns, timber joinery, builders and supply merchants of Pyrmont.
In October 1932, Saxton lodged a building application to Strathfield Council to erect a brick dwelling with tiled roof at an estimated cost of £3500, a vast amount for a house in 1932, which was the height of the Great Depression. The house was designed by renowned architect Emil Sodersteen and built by master builder Sydney Skinner of Strathfield[4]. Sodersteen (later known as Sodersten) let a contract to the builder Skinner and in November 1932, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that the architect E. L. Sodersteen was supervising the erection by the builder Skinner of a residence in Chalmers and Barker roads, Strathfield[5].
Emil Sodersten is one of Sydney’s most renowned architects. His work primarily encompassed the Australian architectural styles of Art Deco, Functionalist and Moderne. Sodersten (1899-1961) studied architecture at Sydney Technical College and University of Sydney. He founded a private architecture practice in 1925 in Sydney. In 1927, Sodersten won a design competition for the National War Memorial in Canberra. He worked with architect John Crust on the War Memorial, but withdrew in 1938. It was opened in 1941. This was the first national architectural monument in Australia. In Sydney he designed numerous apartment blocks, including Birtley Towers at Elizabeth Bay, and office buildings, including the City Mutual Life Assurance Building, also with Crust. While not widely known for designing Old English/Tudor styles like ‘Lyndoch Place’, he also designed Tudor styled ‘Wichita’ 10 Warrawee Ave, Warrawee (built c.1928 and heritage listed by Ku-ring-Gai Council) and also designed St Bedes Church of England in Drummoyne (1931).
Following completion, the house was numbered 2 Barker Road Strathfield.
The property transferred on 17 February 1942 from Charles Donald Saxton to Norman Verne Bush, of Five Dock, butcher. Norman Verne Bush (1906-1947) was the son of Albert John Bush (1879-1951) and Eva Johanson (1882-1954). His father, Albert J Bush established A J Bush’s Meats in Newcastle in 1909, which expanded to 12 shops by 1921. In 1921 he moved his family to Homebush and in 1925, established the wholesale butchery business of AJ Bush & Sons at 38 Parramatta Rd Homebush[6]. In 1928, Norman Bush married Ethel Hooker (1902-1977).
Following his fathers retirement in 1940, Norman Bush and his brothers Alfred, Lance and Albert formed a partnership of the firm of A J Bush, butchers.
Norman Bush was killed in a plane crash in January 1947 at Bankstown Airport. The plane, which was one of two planes owned by Bush’s Meats, crashed on take off. His 9 year old niece Helena was also killed and his brother Alfred Jeffrey Bush was seriously injured[7].
Following his death, ownership of 2 Baker Road transferred to his brother Alfred Jeffrey Bush (1912-1993) of Enfield, wholesale butcher, in May 1949[8]. In April 1955, the house transferred to Lancelot Alwyn Bush (1920-2008), butcher, brother of Alfred Jeffrey Bush[9]. During Lance Bush’s ownership, the house name ‘Pindari’ appears[10].
Lancelot Bush was the registered owner of this house until June 1978, when ownership of the house was transferred to Brian Francis Pegum of Strathfield, medical practitioner and Margaret Mary Pegum, his wife.
The house has more recently been renamed ‘Lyndoch Place’.
The house once featured prominent Bunya Pines at the front of the house as shown in the 2004 photograph. The trees were listed as landmark trees on Strathfield Council’s Significant Tree Register but were later vandalised and removed.
References
[1] Strathfield Council, 2 Barker Road Strathfield, Heritage Inventory Sheet
[2] NSW Land Register, Certificate of Title v.1078 f.201
[3] NSW Land Register, Certificate of Title v.4351 f.164
[4] Builder Skinner recorded in Strathfield Council Building Register.
[5] NOTES AND NEWS. (1932, November 22). The Sydney Morning Herald, p. 6. Retrieved August 7, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16932396
[6] History of Bush’s Meats viewed at https://ajbush.com.au/about/ downloaded in April 2023
[7] History of Bush’s Meats viewed at https://ajbush.com.au/about/ downloaded in April 2023
[8] NSW Land Register, Certificate of Title, v.4379 f.35
[9] NSW Land Register, Certificate of Title, v.4379 f.35
[10] Department of Valuer-General, Valuation Lists, Municipality of Strathfield, 1960
Strathfield Heritage 