Works

At last and almost two years after lodging an application with the Heritage Council of NSW for restoration works to the roof and chimneys, an approval has been granted to undertake the works. It is anticipated that work will begin late 2019- early 2020 and take approximately five months.

The works involve the reconstruction of two chimneys which were removed in earlier times, repairs to the roof structure and the recladding of the roof with timber shingles (the original fabric).

The removal of the painted render is deferred until further evidence of possibly damaged brickwork, underneath the render, being repairable and that the face brickwork will not be detrimentally affected from the resultant increased weather exposure. Institutional assistance in respect of the latter is being sought to ensure proper protection. It is not known when the original building was rendered or for what purpose. Exposed red face brickwork was a signature issue with the architect, Francis Greenway.

The basement air vents have been reconstructed. The original vents had collapsed several times in the past and on one occasion included the use of used railway sleepers to replace the collapsed vaulted brick ceilings. Evidence indicates that these vents were amongst the last features to be constructed with the original building and utilised the left over bricks from the main house construction comprising a great number of half bricks and broken bricks. The sandstock bricks for each vent (actually a tunnel) totalled approx. 2400 in number. and were probably produced in the China Town brickworks which was the first major brick kiln in the Colony and located within 2 kilometres from Cleveland House (see image below).

The existing eastern wall of the house is an infill verandah wall (adjoining what is known as the ‘kitchen block’, a secondary building on the south-east corner of the property) which results in the original external wall of the house actually being on the inside of the house. The windows in this section are not original and steel lintels have been used in the window openings instead of the traditional relieving brick arches featured in all of the other window openings including the French doors; the ceiling is clad with masonite sheeting and the floor is modern reinforced concrete.

An application to reconstruct this section was rejected by the Heritage Council of New South wales and is currently subject to appeal to the NSW Minister for Planning.

Update: The appeal to the Minister was rejected (see DA proposals).