By Cathy Jones
‘Glencona’ 10 Wakeford Road Strathfield was built in 1895 for hotelier and company director William Paul Small and his wife Annie (née Beaumont). Small was the managing director of the Hotel Metropole and the Australia Hotel in Sydney.
Small (1859-1929) was born in England and migrated to Australia. According to his obituary, he was originally in business in Melbourne, but selected as a young man to be the managing director and general manager of the new company known as the Hotel Metropole, Ltd. Part of his role was to work in conjunction with the hotel’s architects, Sheerin & Hennessey in the design of the new building. The Hotel Metropole was a very prestigious hotel with frontages on Young, Bent and Phillip Sydney. The building cost £150,000 pounds to build and opened on 14 January 1890. The hotel closed in 1969 and demolished. Small was managing director of the Hotel Metropole until his retirement in 1925. He was also a Director of the Australia Hotel, owing to its part ownership by the Hotel Metropole.
In November 1894, Small purchased Lots 17, 18 and 19 from Thomas Corey in Wakeford Road Strathfield. The house ‘Glencona’ was built in 1895. In 1844, Small married Annie Beaumont (1864-1944), the daughter of William Beaumont (1814-1904), a prominent early resident of Strathfield who lived at ‘Presteign’ The Boulevarde Strathfield. The Smalls had two children, William Beaumont Small and Hilda Beaumont Small (later Moginie). He was a prominent member of St Paul’s Church of England, Burwood. Small died in 1929 leaving a vast estate valued at £192,912. Though he had moved from the Strathfield area, he left charitable bequests to local institutions including the Burwood Children’s Home.
In 1895, Annie Small purchased ‘Elaine’ 95 The Boulevarde Strathfield. This house was rented for periods but the Small family lived in this house in the early 1900s before selling it around 1911.
In 1899, ownership transferred to Marion Fleming Macdougall, wife of John Macdougall of Annandale, a wholesale stationer and bookseller. The house was then sold to Anne Lord, wife of Arthur Lord of Sydney, Accountant in 1905. In 1913, ownership transferred to Arthur Utz of Strathfield, merchant. On 2 March 1923, the property was transferred from Arthur Utz to Claude Crago, flour miller.
References
FUNERAL OF MR. W. P. SMALL (1929, July 3). The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1883 – 1930), p. 9. Retrieved March 8, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article246803490
OBITUARY. (1929, July 2). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), p. 12. Retrieved March 8, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16560731
Land Title Search, NSW Land Registry
LATE MR. W. P. SMALL. (1929, October 4). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), p. 7. Retrieved March 8, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16589930
Digby, E., Men of Mark, p22, 1889.
PROBATE JURISDICTION. (1929, October 25). Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales (Sydney, NSW : 1901 – 2001), p. 4440. Retrieved March 8, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223024615
Strathfield Heritage 