The future of the historic Sunnyside Mansion at Beverley Park is expected to be revealed next week with an announcement that the property has been sold as part of a lot of five homes.
The mansion has been offered for sale by Highland Commercial Property as part of an amalgamation of five lots at 186-190 Princes Highway and 2-6 Lacey Street, Beverley Park.
The 3077 square-metre amalgamated block has an R3 Medium Density Residential zoning with a height limit of 21-metres under the new Kogarah City Plan.
It’s sales material describes it as a “prime development site in one of Sydney’s strongest growth market regions” and with expansive Botany Bay views.
A spokesman for Highland Commercial Property said that any development would have to incorporate the Sunnyside mansion.
An announcement on the future of the site is expected next Thursday, he said.
Sunnyside is regarded by some as the oldest property in St George and Sutherland Shire, built sometime before 1870.
It has colourful history, starting as a farmhouse and over the decades used as flats, Church of England rectory, kindergarten and a boarding house.
A proposal to convert it into a McDonalds restaurant in 1993 met with community opposition.
It was purchased by Neil Bown who spent 18 years restoring it.
It was then purchased in September 2014 for $2 million plus.
The history of Sunnyside:
1848: Irish immigrant Matthew Carroll bought 179 acres of land for Sunnyside in ‘‘Koggorah’’ for £178.
1860-1870: Sunnyside was built as a two-storey sandstone farmhouse with slate roof on a property with horse stables.
1906-1923: Master horsewoman Mollie McWilliam gave riding lessons and Fred McWilliam bred bulldogs on the property, including Sunnyside Cestus, a ‘‘British bulldog’’ featured on WWI posters.
1937: The house was converted into flats, with the ground floor rented out as a Church of England rectory.
1941: Sunnyside sold for £1400, so that Sherwood kindergarten and primary School could use the property.
1959: The house served for decades as a boarding house for men, with boxed-in verandahs and basic timber cladding. Rooms were rented out in the early 1990s for $46 to $80 a week.
1993: McDonald’s proposed to turn the sandstone building into a restaurant. The proposal failed after public protest.
1995: Current owner Neil Bown purchased Sunnyside for $450,000.
Details extracted from Sunnyside, An Old Kogarah Residence, by Beverley Earnshaw.
