Dulwich House #Dulwich #realestate #history #Adelaide #TonyBlair

Dulwich House

Most people have a dream house they would love to buy if they won lotto. Dulwich House at Stuart Road, Dulwich is mine.  Set on 4,800 square metres of land, the home was built in 1880 by builder Robert Huckson. Huckson also built Martindale Hall in the Clare Valley.

Martindale Hall in the Clare Valley (I must do a post on
Martindale Hall - it is a fascinating place)

Robert Huckson not only built Dulwich House but lived there from 1880 to 1883.  In 1880, Dulwich House was only one of four houses built in the area.  Dulwich is a suburb just on the other side of the parklands and is very close to the city. Dulwich was laid out by Colonel William Light, the surveyor of Adelaide, and bought by a Captain of the Royal Navy, Daniel Ping, who leased it out to a local cattle dealer.

The land was eventually bought by John Hector, the then Manager of the Savings Bank of South Australia, who subdivided it.  For a number of years Dulwich was known colloquially as Hector's Paddock.

The gardens of Dulwich House have been much admired over the years and were largely the work of Joan and Neil Hopkins who owned the property for 70 years from 1941 to 2011.  The Hopkins were noted for throwing garden parties in the grounds of Dulwich House every year, to raise funds for charity.

Stables 

The decor of the house has not be changed since the 1960s.

The current owners have engaged architect Pauline Hurren to oversee major extensions and renovations to the property.  Coincidentally, our own bluestone cottage was built in 1880, the same year that Dulwich House was built and we used Pauline Hurren to do major extensions a few years ago.   Adelaide is like that.  Scratch the surface of any Adelaide person and you will find so many connections in common.  But perhaps the links go even further.  For instance, British Prime Minister Tony Blair lived just up the road from Dulwich House in Ormond Ave from 1955 to 1958, when his father Leo was a law lecturer at the University of Adelaide.

And in another nod to history and the interconnectedness of Adelaide, my great-great grandfather Augustus Winter was the secretary to Colonel William Light and was on one of the first ships to land at Kangaroo Island and then Holdfast Bay at Glenelg in 1836.  Perhaps the subject of a future post?