‘Ingleburn’ 13-15 Kingsland Road Strathfield is a Federation Bungalow style house featuring a gabled slate roof. The house was designed by its owner architect Alfred Gambier Newman and built 1913-1914.
Alfred Gambier Newman (1875-1921) was born in Mount Gambier, South Australia to the Rev. Charles Newman (1841-1911) and Emma Newman (née Fisher). Emma Newman died in 1896 and the Rev. Newman married Elizabeth Vickery in 1900. Both the Newman and Vickery families were devout members and significant financial supporters of the Methodist Church.
Elizabeth Vickery Newman (1860-1942) was the daughter of Ebenezer Vickery MLC, a wealthy industrialist and politician. Following his death in 1906, many members of the Vickery family settled in Strathfield. Alfred Newman was a trained and practicing architect in South Australia, but moved to Sydney in 1906 and took on many large commissions including the design of ‘Tiptree’ Llandilo Avenue for the Rev. Newman and Mrs Newman and ‘Lauriston’ The Boulevarde for Amy Vickery.
Alfred G Vickery acquired land in Kingsland Road for the purposes of building a house. He married Elsie Murphy (1877-1932) in 1913. In the same year, he lodged a building application to construct a brick residence with a slate roof of more than six rooms on lots 17, 18 & 19, Kingsland Road west[1]. Newman is listed as the owner. The site is described with a 214 foot frontage and depth of 300 feet. The estimated value of the construction was £1600. The builder was A Searle, Alviston St, Strathfield.
The house was named ‘Ingleburn’ 7 Kingsland Rd Strathfield and completed by 1914. Alfred Vickery died in 1921 aged only 46 years, leaving a widow and two daughters[2]. In the fifteen years he practiced in Sydney, Vickery produced a range of architectural designs, particularly a large number of Methodist Churches. In 1908, he designed the Strathfield Methodist Church in Carrington Avenue (now Strathfield Uniting Church) and until his death, he was a superintendent of the Strathfield Methodist Sunday school.
Following his death, the house’s ownership transferred to his widow Elsie. Ownership transferred in 1941 by the executors of Mrs Newman’s estate to her daughters Elizabeth Gray Newman and Cecily Reinette Newman. Part of grounds that faced Llandilo Ave was subdivided from ‘Ingleburn’ and sold to Clarence Cull, who built ‘Hornsby’ at 17-19 Kingsland Road in 1940[3]. ‘Ingleburn’ was renumbered as 13-15 Kingsland Rd.
By 1951, the Newman sisters sold ‘Ingleside’ to Marjorie Parker. The property was described as ‘cottage, garage and tennis court’ in the 1951 land valuation[4].
In 2013, ‘Ingleburn’ was listed as a heritage item on Strathfield Council’s Local Environmental Plan. The property is also listed as an item (4702223) on the Significant Buildings Register of the Australia Institute of Architects (AIA).
References
Department of the Valuer General NSW – Valuation List – Valuation District of Strathfield 1930, 1942, 1945, 1948, 1951
Family Notices (1921, January 19). The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1883 – 1930), p. 8. Retrieved March 16, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239737434
Mr. A. C. Newman. (1921, January 22). Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 – 1931), p. 33. Retrieved March 16, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article165642650
Jones, C (2020), ‘Hornsey’ viewed at https://strathfieldheritage.com/streetnames/kingsland-road-strathfield-2/hornsey-17-19-kingsland-road-strathfield/
THE LATE MR. A. C. NEWMAN. (1921, January 29). The Methodist (Sydney, NSW : 1892 – 1954), p. 2. Retrieved March 16, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article155274324
Strathfield Council Building Register Vol.2
Strathfield Council Valuation Lists 1911-1913, 1914-1916
Footnotes
[1] Building Register Application 56/1913 dated 3 August 1913
[2] Mr. A. C. Newman. (1921, January 22). Observer p. 33.
[3] Jones, C (2020) ‘Hornsey’, strathfieldheritage.com
[4] Department of Valuer-General, Valuation Lists, Municipality of Strathfield 1951
Strathfield Heritage 