Graythwaite is a heritage-listed former private home and former hospital and now school administration building located at 20 Edward Street, North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
On the 25 October 1833, Thomas Walker conveyed 5.3 hectares (13 acres) of his grant, to the north and east of where Graythwaite was later built, to William Miller, for £20 and thirteen shillings.
[1] Three years after his death, the house and remaining land was sold to George Tuting, a mercer of Pitt Street, Sydney for £1,500.
Sayers added a large new two-storey sandstone wing c. 1855, created the terracing and planted an orchard on the lower grassed area on Union Street.
Sayers' financial difficulties continued until 1867 when the property was offered at auction by Richardson & Wrench, on behalf of the mortgagee, on 8 July 1867.
Dibbs, c. 1875, demolished Walker's house and added to the Sayers sandstone building to complete Euroka / Graythwaite as it remains today.
[1] On 1 October 1915 the property was formally transferred by Dibbs to the Crown, in consideration of "my admiration of and sincere sympathy for those brave men who have so unselfishly given their services and their lives fighting for the Empire in the cause of Justice and liberty."
Dibbs presented the deeds of Graythwaite to the Premier of New South Wales who handed the property on to the NSW branch of the Red Cross.
The terrace embankments and driveway north from Union street are fairly densely vegetated with mature trees and shrubs including native and exotic species and flatter areas are grassed.
Entry from Union Street is through a recessed entrance gateway via a formalised driveway up the south-facing slope to the front of the historic building complex.
The semi detached villas and other subdivision developments to the south and west are screened by vegetation even through they remain close by in distance terms.
This land all formed part of the Graythwaite estate under earlier owners, and comprises a range of buildings including houses built for Dibb's children, c. 1880s, and later school development, c. 1900 and later.
Much deliberate and accidental tree planting has followed on these terraces, making the site rather secluded now, with the exception of long views from the main house south/south-sou-east to the city/Pyrmont, and west/west-south-west to Balmain/Leichhardt and the river.
[1] Mature tree specimens across the site comprise mainly figs (about 40 large specimens) being a large number of Moreton Bay figs, also Port Jackson figs (F.rubiginosa), giant bamboo to the west of the main house, and to the south-east of the main building group, firewheel tree (Stenocarpus sinuatus), pepperberry tree (north NSW rainforest species - see below), Cook's pine (Araucaria columnaris) - a very tall specimen visible across (south of) the Harbour Bridge) on this ridge, Monterey pine (Pinus radiata), four Florida palms (Washingtonia robusta) and Norfolk Island hibiscus (Lagunaria patersonia) line a carriage loop immediately south of the main house, and large numbers of white/grey poplar, Populus alba, some of which are suckers of older trees/regrowth clumps, spreading (but which probably represent earlier shelter belt or ornamental plantings of this species).
[1] A carriage driveway from Union Street is lined on the west with brush box (Lophostemon confertus) and on the east by camphor laurels (Cinnamomum camphora), which appear to be at least pre 1950s, possibly 1930s.
Both may owe their presence to associations with colonial botanists James Backhouse and Allan Cunnungham, and then-director of the Botanic Gardens, Sydney, Charles Moore, who did much to promote the planting of NSW and Queensland rainforest tree species.
[2][1] A number of fruit trees remain or have been planted in the last 10–20 years in some cases on the banks immediately west and south of the main house.
These include citrus (oranges, lemon, mandarin), fig, loquat, pomegranate, carob, peach, banana (extensive clumps of these), a quince tree, pawpaw, white mulberry (over 40 years old) etc.
"Weeds" may of course represent earlier deliberate plantings, which have reproduced themselves on site, or wild seedlings introduced by visiting birds dropping seeds or regenerating naturally with relatively little disturbance/changing light conditions as mature trees fall or are removed.
Species include white poplars (as above), long leaved privet (Ligustrum ovalifolium), small leaved privet (L.sinense), nettle tree (Celtis australis), camphor laurels (as above), sweet pittosporum (Pittosporum undulatum) (probably wildlings ex bird-dropped seed), brush box (as above), night cestrum (C.parqui), coral tree (Erythrina x sykesii), smooth leaved rambutan/native quince, Alectryon species (local native, some bird-seed dropped, some natural regeneration), bleedling heart tree (Omolanthus populnifolius), African olive (Olea africana), lantana (L.camara), much of which has been removed since 2000 by volunteers, asthma plant (Parietaria sp.
Adjoining land to south and west (Union and Bank Streets) zoned 2(b), permitting two storey development, residential mainly.
[1] As at 28 October 2016, Graythwaite is an early example of a prominent North Shore residence which has been altered extensively over its life to reflect the social standing and status of its changing ownership.
His substantial two storey residence "Euroka" built in the mid 1830s is encapsulated within "Graythwaite" and together with the detached stables are arguably the earliest remaining fabric of the early settlement of North Sydney.
[1] Its present use as a convalescent home reflects the compassion and generosity of Thomas Allwright Dibbs to provide a caring place for Australian soldiers on their return from the Great War.
The residence and stables buildings contain remnants of all phases of the property's development and this is reflected in its high archaeological, educational and research potential.
The property has been recognised by others to contain one of the largest and most significant collections of late 19th century cultural plantings in the North Sydney area.
Graythwaite has historical significance as an early example of a prominent North Shore residence which has been altered extensively over its life to reflect the social standing and status of its changing ownership.
Its present use as a convalescent home reflects the compassion and generosity of Thomas Allwright Dibbs to provide a caring place for Australian soldiers on their return from the Great War.
The highest levels of significance of Graythwaite then relates to its associations with the early development of North Sydney and not necessarily its Convalescent Hospital use.
With regard to its historic, aesthetic and technological/research criterion, Graythwaite retains remnants both in its building fabric and its landscape from the earliest development of the North Shore and is considered rare and of state significance.