Elizabeth Bay House

Detail of the four poster bed and beaded watch pockets in the Principal bedroom, Vaucluse House

Watch pockets

Watch pockets hung on the head cloth of a four-post bedstead and originally served in place of bedside tables, which were uncommon in the 19th century

South elevation, Elizabeth Bay House

Conservation in action: Elizabeth Bay House external joinery work

Museums of History NSW is undertaking external joinery conservation works to the front facade thanks to the funds generously donated by our supporters during the 2022 Annual Appeal

Strings, Litchfield Binckes square piano in the morning room, Elizabeth Bay House

Here and there: concert playlist

Experience a concert at Elizabeth Bay House showcasing a magical evening contrasting two different musical worlds

Florilegium plants

Queensland kauri pine

The kauri’s journey from the rainforests of Queensland to the garden at Elizabeth Bay illustrates the close links between gentlemen gardeners and the Botanic Garden

Vibrant pencil and watercolour image with animal eyes and swirling patterns.

King's Cross: bohemian life In Sydney

Artists, intellectuals, writers, radicals, revellers and misfits made Sydney's King's Cross home from the early years of the 20th century well into the 1970s

Title TBC (Elizabeth Bay House 1)

The inspiration behind Iridescent: Elizabeth Bay House

Find out more about the curatorial research that inspired artist Gerwyn Davies’s flamboyant response to Elizabeth Bay House, featured in the Iridescent exhibition

Square shaped piano with lid open and music stand up.

The Oxley piano

An unusually well-preserved 19th-century piano is helping MHNSW to authentically re-create the sounds of the early colony

EBH Volunteers shoot

Stitching for our house museums

For almost 15 years, a dedicated group of volunteers has gathered to sew, crochet, knit, embroider and stuff historically authentic soft furnishings for our houses

The sofa in the morning room at Elizabeth Bay House
Museum stories

The finest house

In 1835 colonial secretary Alexander Macleay set about building the ultimate trophy house, a shimmering, classical styled jewel box, perched in rugged bushland on the northern side of present day Potts Point, high above Elizabeth Bay with majestic views across Sydney harbour and beyond