Eryldene is a heritage-listed former family residence and now house museum located at 17 McIntosh Street in the Sydney North Shore suburb of Gordon, Australia.

[1] The group of thinking-architects responsible for ushering in the 20th century were Hardy Wilson, Robin Dods, Harold Desbrowe-Annear and Walter Burley Griffin.

The same depth of thought and changes which they brought to homes did not begin to percolate into other types of building, which merely acquired from them the vices of individualism to compound their blatant stylism, for another 40 years.

His search for architectural truth, a deep love and appreciation of beauty, an interest in history and an abiding faith in the concept of the artist-architect led him to strive for the pre-Victorian virtues.

[1] In 1908 Wilson and Stacy Neave (another architect from Sydney) commenced their grand tour of Europe and North America, where they found the work of McKim, Mead & White and the American Colonial Revival style particularly impressive.

[8][1] After Wilson's visit to China in 1921, the firm incorporated Oriental motifs and details, examples of which are found at Eryldene, Gordon (1914–36) and Peapes Department Store, Sydney (1923).

[1] In 1925 Wilson returned to Sydney, where he became disillusioned with the state of Australian architecture and began writing his view sand ideas in a fictionalised biography "The dawn of a new civilisation" (1929) under a pseudonym of Richard Le Mesurer.

Designed by William Hardy Wilson, it reflects his interest in the Georgian Revival style of architecture, adapted for Australian conditions.

Professor Waterhouse also had a distinct influence upon the design of the house and is responsible for the simple hipped roof now apparent, rather than the gables often favoured by Wilson.

[1] E. G. Waterhouse was a linguist and from 1924 Professor of German at University of Sydney, as well as being an avid gardener at his home, Eryldene and (later) a leading world authority on camellias.

[1] Of large forest trees he admired only the picturesque angophora (A.floribunda or A.subvelutina), the "apple oak" of the colonists; and, presumably the turpentines (Syncarpia glomulifera) which he planted along the rear boundaries of Purulia.

In 1914 he managed to acquire twelve advanced plants, 3 to 4 feet high, kept six for the garden he was planning and building at Eryldene and gave the remaining six to Hardy Wilson.

Waterhouse's interest from 1914 was well before 1937, when English writer Sacheverell Sitwell's book Old Fashioned Flowers included camellias, leading to a revival in growing them.

[13][1] The genus "Camellia" was named (i.e., published) by the great Carl Linne (Linnaeus) in 1735, in his Systema Naturae, for a plant described in (surgeon to the Dutch East India Company, Engelbert) Kaempfer's Amoenitatum Exoticarum 1712.

The name was in honour of Jesuit apothecary and naturalist from Moravia (now Czech Republic) Georg Josef Kamel, who worked in the Philippines in the early 18th century.

[1] After the Second World War, Waterhouse retired as Professor of French and German at Sydney University, and began Camellia Grove Nursery at St.

He notes the role of nurseryman Michael Guilfoyle of the "Exotic Nursery" in Double Bay, whose 1866 catalogue listed 95 varieties of camellia, all grafted.

[15][1] In 1950 Waterhouse with Sydney nurseryman Walter Hazlewood, Alex Jessup (former Director, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne) and Dr Merrilees, founded the Australian Camellia Research Society.

[13][1] Since the World War II the genus Camellia has enjoyed an unprecedented revival due in no small measure to the untiring efforts of the late Professor, both in Australia and in every country suited to its cultivation.

[1] Of large forest trees, he admired only the picturesque angophora (A.floribunda or A.subvelutina), the "apple oak" of the colonists...; and, presumably the turpentines (Syncarpia glomulifera) which he planted along the rear boundaries of Purulia.

[7][1] The house was designed to link with its formal garden setting, which was laid out by Wilson and Professor Waterhouse and is testimony to their shared interest in the Orient.

On the left stands an open octagonal summerhouse of slim mid 19th century cast iron columns, supporting a pitched roof with terracotta shingles.

[1] To the right at the front is a lawn area, garden seat and whitewashed terracotta pots with large camellias and azaleas in it, the driveway at the western side to a single garage behind the house.

Eryldene was designed by William Hardy Wilson, Australia's leading advocate of the Old Colonial Georgian Revival movement, with major input from Prof. Waterhouse.

Its symmetrical facade faces the formal garden frontage from which a central sandstone path and steps lead to an entrance verandah beneath the roof line.

The verandah terminates at a loggia at each end and is broken up into five bays with wooden Doric columns placed at regular intervals, four of which are paired to mark the entrance at the centre.

They are enriched by detailed elements inspired by colonial architecture researched by Wilson, including windows, doors and fanlights, architraves, skirtings, picture rails and mantelpieces.

[23] As at 12 June 2007, Eryldene is of outstanding cultural significance being the most intact surviving example of the work of William Hardy Wilson, the prominent early twentieth-century Australian architect, artist, writer and advocate of the Colonial Revival style.

It comprises a residence, complementary outbuildings and garden setting, reflective of the close similarity of interests of both architect and client, Professor E. G. Waterhouse.

It is also, arguably, the most significant surviving residence designed by William Hardy, celebrated for his influence on Australian architecture in the first half of the twentieth century.