The Shipwrights Arms Inn is a heritage-listed residence and former inn and boarding house located at 75 Windmill Street, in the inner city Sydney suburb of Millers Point in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1832 to 1834. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
History
On 20 November 1830, David Leighton (son of John "Jack the Miller" Leighton) sold a parcel land to newly-arrived emigrant, John Clarke. The land was described as bounded by Windmill Street to the northwest, Lower Fort Street to the southeast, on the southwest by Henry McGee's land, and on the northeast by government land. Plans of Sydney from 1825 and 1828 do not show any buildings on the site, so it is concluded that the land was vacant at the time of the sale in 1830.
A few months later, after Clarke had begun to fence the land in accordance with government requirements, the Director of Public Works instructed him to remove the fencing because the ground was dedicated government land. Clarke's appeal to be permitted to retain the land was eventually granted on the basis of his purchase in good faith; Leighton claimed that he had been entitled to sell the land which was purchased from Patrick Marmount, who was given it by Governor Macquarie as compensation for land resumed for the government windmill.
In settling the claim to the land, Clarke was instructed to divide the land with James Lucas, who had purchased an adjacent allotment with a questionable chain of title.
On 17 June 1833, Clarke obtained a Publican's Licence for a new hotel known as the Shipwright's Arms in Windmill Street and he renewed his licence annually until July 1836 which enabled him to trade as publican until July 1837. As Clarke did not own any other land on Windmill Street, nor did he hold any other hotel licences at this time, it is concluded that the licence was issued for a hotel occupying the building at 75 Windmill Street. The words 'Shipwright's Arms' were revealed to still be located on the facade of the building in the late 20th century.
The 'Shipwright's Arms' not only served alcohol but, in line with the regulations of the day, also provided board and lodging. In 1835, Clarke placed a notice in the Sydney Herald stating:
With Windmill Street being the main thoroughfare through to Millers Point proper and with direct links through to the (what is now known as) Walsh Bay wharves area and the steam ferry to the north via Pottinger Street, the intersection of Windmill Street and Lower Fort Street must have been a commercially vibrant area frequented by a range of maritime workers and merchants.
Several other public houses ('pubs') were located in Windmill Street during this period, but the Shipwright's Arms was one of the earliest. The Whalers' Arms had stood on the opposite side of Windmill Street since 1831, but in 1839 it moved to a new building on the corner of Lower Fort Street and Windmill Street. The Hit or Miss and the Live and Let Live Hotels were built after Clarke's Shipwright's Arms on adjacent allotments to the south. The Hero of Waterloo Hotel was built on the adjacent site to the east by George Paton, stonemason, between 1840 and 1845 on land which he purchased from John Clarke's son following the elder's death in 1838. The Hero of Waterloo and two Whalers' Arms hotels, as well as the front verandah of No. 75 Windmill Street are visible in John Rae's painting "View down Windmill Street".
John Clarke died on 20 July 1838, leaving five sons, the eldest also named John Clarke. John Clarke the younger subsequently applied for a deed of grant for the site (to be managed in trust on behalf of all five brothers) on 6 December 1839 and following an assessment by the Court of Claims, the land was granted on 18 June 1840 to John Clarke, cabinet maker. It was at this time that Clarke sold the corner portion of the land to George Paton, stonemason, who constructed the Hero of Waterloo Hotel on the site.
Another of Clarke's sons, William Clarke, a cabinet-maker of Hunters Hill, received the title to the southern half of the allotment (fronting Lower Fort Street and today containing Argyle House, No. 85 Lower Fort Street) in 1844 and he constructed a single storey, three room, brick with shingled roof cottage with front verandah and an outbuilding.
At some stage this separate dwelling and outbuilding, together with a yard area was fenced off from No. 75 Windmill Street and a right-ofway was formed giving access from the rear of the building at 75 Windmill Street to Lower Fort Street. This right-of-way still exists between the Hero of Waterloo Hotel and Argyle House.
The rates assessment books from 1845 to 1948, variously describe the building at 75 Windmill Street as being either "stone" or "brick", with "brick" appearing more often in the records. A detached kitchen is also occasionally included in the description of the place.
In the hipped roof form was altered for the construction of the Hero of Waterloo adjacent.
In 1847, the title to the land was conveyed to three of John Clarke's five sons: James Richard Clarke (cabinet-maker, Sydney), Charles George Clarke (Sydney, shoemaker), and Edward Thomas Clarke (Sydney, mastmaker) as trustees. The City of Sydney Council rate books indicate that the property was occupied in that year by Robert Guy Torr, and the structure was described as a two-storey stone building with shingled roof containing eight rooms with a back kitchen.
In 1853 the Clarke family trustees conveyed the property to Charles Stewart Quail, who in turn, nine months later, sold it to John Hordern of the well-known mercantile dynasty. After John Hordern's death in 1864, the property remained in the ownership of his trustees' until the 1880s.
Hordern never occupied the building leasing the building throughout his period of ownership, and it continued to be leased following his death. Rosa Strange had operated a school on the premises in the early 1860s and Thomas Milton, a shipwright, lived at 75 Windmill Street from until 1882.
After this tenancy, the property became a boarding house under the management of Charles Lamb.
In 1880, Hordern's trustees advertised the property for sale. Perhaps in relation to the intended sale, F. H. Reuss surveyed the property in 1881 and produced a plan of it. Julia Quinn, a widow, purchased the site in 1886. She paid less for the land in 1886 than John Hordern had in 1853, and Quinn's transaction also included land in Newtown. This may reflect the perceived "obsolescence" of the building. During Julia Quinn's ownership, the property continued to be used as a boarding house for a number of years. It also appears that new rear outbuildings were constructed directly linking to the rear (south) elevation of the Main wing.
Resumption of No. 75 Windmill Street In 1902, the property (at this time known as No. 65 Windmill Street) was assessed for rates by the City Council and the landlord was still listed as Mary Quinn, while the occupant was listed as John Ryan. The building was described as a dwelling house of stone with an iron roof of two floors with a total of eight rooms.
By the time of the next rates assessment in 1907, the owner of the building (still known as No. 65 Windmill Street) was listed as the "NSW Government Rocks Resumption" with Ellen Josephson as the occupier.
Following the resumption of the property, the Sydney Harbour Trust, and subsequently the Maritime Services Board leased 75 Windmill Street to private tenants as a single dwelling house. New outbuildings appear to have been constructed by the Sydney Harbour Trust about 1915, around the same time that the demolished houses on the south side of the street were being replaced by model workers' housing.
In 1966, an application was lodged with the City Council by a Mrs L. Garroway on behalf of the Maritime Services Board, for use of the two front rooms as doctor's consulting and waiting rooms. A Dr. Geoffrey Davis occupied the front of the building until well into the 1980s.
A number of photographs of Windmill Street taken during the first half of the 20th century show No. 75 Windmill Street visible to the right of the Hero of Waterloo and the building remains largely unchanged over the decades represented by these images.
Public Housing period (1986 to date) The ownership of the property was transferred from the Maritime Services Board to the (former) Department of Housing in 1986. By 1991 the property was vacant and in 1992, a conservation plan for the building was prepared by Howard Tanner & Associates Architects. This was followed in 1995 by comprehensive restoration and upgrading works including the construction of a new rear wing addition containing a family room, laundry and WC fitout. The rear (south) bedroom on the eastern side at first floor level was converted into a bathroom and store and the rear (south) room on the eastern side at ground floor level was converted into a kitchen.
At this time, the Sydney Harbour Trust outbuildings were demolished. Following these works, the property was used as a residence, managed by the Department of Families and Community Services.
Description
Constructed in as a public house or "town inn", No. 75 Windmill Street is a two-storey building with a hipped roof and front verandah and with a later addition single storey rear wing.
Main wing
The Main wing is a corrugated metal, hipped roof building with painted cement rendered front and rear elevations marked out in ashlar over face brick with stone window sills and stone lintels and voussoirs to the ground floor front (north) windows.
The eastern and western elevations of the Main wing abut the adjoining properties at No. 73 Windmill Street (to the west) and No. 81-83 Lower Fort Street (Hero of Waterloo Hotel to the east). The building is fronted with a corrugated metal roofed verandah with timber posts, louvred end screen and balustrade set on a sandstone base wall. The verandah is accessed from its eastern end. The front door of the building is a timber four panelled door with reeding and is surrounded by painted timber external pilasters and entablature.
The main wing has two chimneys, one on the north side of the roof ridge being cement rendered, possibly brickwork with a sheet metal extension and the other on the southern side of the roof ridge being face brick work bagged over with cement with very large metal extension. Generally, roofing accessories, gutters and downpipes are modern and are either galvanised steel or zincalume.
Rear wing The rear wing was constructed in the mid to late 1990s and is a single storey, painted timber clad building with curved metal roof, timber framed doors and windows and projecting eaves with turned timber brackets.
Interiors of No. 75 Windmill Street
Main Wing The ground floor of the Main wing consists of three living rooms and a later kitchen fitout to the rear room on the eastern side. Entry from the original front door leads directly into the main front room with no entry hall or vestibule. The eastern front room at ground floor retains its original timber cornice and ceiling rose. These features (the front door case, cornice and ceiling rose) all dating from 1832–33, are considered to be rare.
The fireplace in the main (west) front room at ground level has been brick over and has a painted timber chimney piece. The first floor consists of a large front room and smaller bedroom to the rear (south) on the western side. The former bedroom to the rear (south) on the eastern side has been partitioned and converted into a bathroom and store room in the late 20th century. Throughout the main wing, the ceilings are a mix of lath and plaster or plasterboard (aside from the main front roof at first floor level which has a timber boarded ceiling), some with timber battening, lime plaster walls, timber skirtings, architraves and linings to doors and windows.