Elizabeth Bay House
The finest house in the colony
With harbour views, sweeping staircases and spectacular landscaped gardens, Elizabeth Bay House was Sydney’s ultimate trophy home. Built for colonial secretary Alexander Macleay, after the governor, the most important public official in Sydney, it was by all accounts the finest house in the colony. Yet it tells a familiar story: of ambition and passion, of riches to ruin.
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
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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
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
Here and there: concert playlist
Experience a concert at Elizabeth Bay House showcasing a magical evening contrasting two different musical worlds
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
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
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