How a clever reno restored this Sydney heritage spot to its former glory

Since the time when Bounty mutiny survivor William Bligh was Governor, the Rum Rebellion was being fomented and a skilled convict labourer cost three shillings a day, families have lived along a ramshackle laneway up from the harbour’s edge.

And now a series of old terraced homes on Long’s Lane at The Rocks, dating as far back as 1806, and only saved from demolition by a community campaign, are finally being restored back to their former heritage glory.

Dr Wayne Johnson, archaeologist with the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, at the renovated terraces.Credit: Nick Moir

“It’s wonderful to see as this precinct contains a really interesting piece of our history,” said Dr Wayne Johnson, an archaeologist with the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, who’s been studying the area for the past two decades. “We know it’s been here since 1806 and it’s been featured on early plans of Sydney, with people living there back then.

“At first, it was convicts, then later it became known as ‘Maori Lane’ because a lot of Maori whalers lived there, and then in the Gold Rush days, sailors would jump ship and stay there before going to the goldfields. We know of one hiding under the floorboards of a house until he was caught and sent back.”

The 18 old houses and shops were originally earmarked to be demolished in the 1960s and replaced by high-rise commercial towers. The proposal stirred such a backlash from locals, however, that the Government backed down. The 1980s saw another scheme for an 800-bed hotel that never, eventually, went ahead.

But now the properties are having their heritage features carefully restored, while their interiors are adapted for modern living, ready to be put up for private sale.

A historical view of Long’s Lane.Credit: Wentworth Capital

Architect Tim Greer of Tonkin Zulaikha Greer said many of the houses, dating from 1806 to the mid-1880s, were so solid and well built, standing on the harbour’s sandstone bedrock, they’d lasted well.

“I think the joy of restoring them was realising that, a very long time ago, this used to be a thriving residential neighbourhood sitting on the eastern slope of the harbour,” he said. “And now people will go back to live in them, and have families and continue its tradition, which is really exciting.

“These were some of the original houses in Sydney, going back to the beginning of colonial settlement, and we purposefully kept our work very subtle so it’s like you’re buying historical buildings and you don’t see the contemporary overlay.”

After the renovation.Credit: Wentworth Capital

The 17 houses and one commercial property are now set to be the only privately-held Torrens title houses in The Rocks, with prices starting from $1.4 million for a one-bedroom stables house, to $9 million for a grand, circa 1880, three-level, five-bedroom residence that was once a butcher’s shop and house.

The renovation was kept subtle on purpose.Credit: Wentworth Capital

The project was undertaken by Sydney-based real estate investment firm Wentworth Capital, which won the Government tender for the job.

Executive director Paul Apostoles said as soon as he looked at the site, he decided to go for it. “It was one of Sydney’s earliest residential subdivisions and nobody knows it’s there!” he said. “You’re in a hidden pocket of the CBD, and it has such a special feel to it.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own privately in The Rocks, never to be repeated. The whole team loved every minute of this work.”

Johnson said the site has signs of all the layers of earlier residents, from tenements built by enterprising convict butcher George Cribb in 1823, a pub, The Black Dog, and another, The Ocean Waves.

“The story of Long’s Lane is one of constant building and rebuilding in one of the earliest parts of Sydney,” he said. “Paul and his people have embraced the history of the area and you can see the love they’ve put into the buildings.

“We still have people come by from time to time and say their grandparents or great-grandparents once lived there. You see the pride in the neighbourhood.”