Between this early 19th century house and the looming Blue Mountains escarpment is the Nepean River. The Georgian architecture of early Sydney has enduring grace. The eye is pleased as much by what is not there as by what is, a sense of paring-down to a calm and reasoned and functional geometry.
Someday soon this house will be on an island. The land all around was once prime agricultural land, some of the oldest cultivated land since colonisation. It's now the property of a consortium of construction companies, and the quarries supply much of the raw material to feed Sydney's hunger for concrete. As the quarries are exhausted, the Penrith Lakes scheme grows. More information on the area here and on Penrith Lakes here. If you Google Earth "penrith nsw" you won't be able to miss the Penrith Lakes.
Today the road past this house, which has served as an artery for many many years, will be closed to through traffic - a new line of road has been laid out to skirt around the Lakes. I took the opportunity to take some photos of the house before the old road closes.
1 comment:
So I'm guessing there's not a lot of curtilage being preserved. How deeply sad. It is a lovely and gracious Colonial building and a great photograph of it.
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