By Cathy Jones
Brunswick Street is one of Strathfield’s oldest streets. Built on the 1880 Mount Vernon Estate, a subdivision of the 1867 Redmyre Estate. This street was once known as Redmyre St . The origins of the name ‘Brunswick’ is unknown but could relate to the place name in England.
The oldest house is likely to be ‘Trelawney’ 5-7 Brunswick St, a Victorian villa known as the former home of Arthur John Kessell, a jeweller and former Mayor of Strathfield; the house was originally built c.1887 for contractor James Pumfrey. The house has had a number of names including ‘Edith Villa’, ‘Miowera’ and lastly ‘Trelawney’, when owned by Kessell.
The houses ‘Cressy’ 13 Brunswick Street Strathfield and ‘Coleraine’ 15 Brunswick Street Strathfield were twin freestanding single storey weatherboard Federation Queen Anne style Houses. They were built c1912.
15 Brunswick Street (pictured above) was burnt down in 2002 and 13 Brunswick Street has since been demolished.
Weatherboard houses were rare in Strathfield and in 1920, Strathfield Council prohibited building of houses in materials other than brick, stone or concrete in their planning controls.
As recounted by former Mayor John Robert Firth in 1945:
“Shortly after the area was proclaimed a Residential District, the Council resolved that all new main buildings should be built of brick, stone, concrete, or like material. This step did much to eliminate fire risks and tended to enhance the appearance of the district, for wooden houses frequently become unkempt through lack of regular painting and thus tend to lower the tone of a district”.
Strathfield Heritage 