Historic Sunnyside Mansion at Beverley Park will become part of $17.5 million development which will include a seven-storey block of flats.
Last year, the mansion was offered for sale by Highland Commercial Property as part of an amalgamation of 186-190 Princes Highway and 2-6 Lacey Street, Beverley Park.
Details of the development application by Truland Developments Pty Ltd were made available by Georges River Council yesterday.
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.
Its sales material described it as a “prime development site in one of Sydney’s strongest growth market regions” and with expansive Botany Bay views.
Sunnyside is regarded by some as the oldest property in St George and Sutherland Shire. It was built c.1870 and was home to Irish immigrant Matthew Carroll and his family.
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.
In 1995 it was purchased for $450,000 by Neil Bown who would spend 18 years restoring it. In September 2014 he sold Sunnyside for $2 million plus.
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.
