''Berith Park'' is an historic house located in

Wahroonga Wahroonga is a suburb in the Upper North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, 18 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of Ku-ring-gai Council and Hornsby Shire. ...

, an upper north shore suburb of Sydney,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. Completed in the

Federation Queen Anne Federation architecture is the architectural style in Australia that was prevalent from around 1890 to 1915. The name refers to the Federation of Australia on 1 January 1901, when the Australian colonies collectively became the Commonwealth of Au ...

style, the house was listed on the

Ku-ring-gai Council Ku-ring-gai Council is a local government area in Northern Sydney ( Upper North Shore), in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The area is named after the Guringai Aboriginal people who were thought to be the traditional owners of the area ...

local government heritage register in 2015 and is in a heritage conservation area.

History

''Berith Park'' was designed by Francis Ernest Stowe for Alfred Smith, who came from

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

. Smith acquired the land in 1897 and the house was finished around 1909. By 1914 the house was in the hands of Sir Arthur Rickard, the founder of the Dr Barnardos charity for children. Rickard made substantial changes to the house, putting in tennis courts, a swimming pool, a ballroom, an ornamental lake, cricket oval and gardens. The house was later bought by Alderman Stanley Crick, the

Lord Mayor of Sydney The Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of Sydney is the head of the Council of the City of Sydney, which is the local government area covering the central business district of Sydney in the State of New South Wales, Australia. The Lord Mayor has be ...

and a founder of

Fox Studios 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

. ''Berith Park'' was used extensively as a location in a number of films. Crick later started selling off parts of the property. The

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

bought the house in 1955 for use as a home for the Dominican Fathers and then

Dominican Sisters The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

. It was sold again in 1979 and extensive changes were made. In 2004 more subdivisions were made and an acre of the land was sold off. Vivian and Wendy King purchased the house in 1990 for $5 million from retired bookmaker Bruce McHugh. The Kings sold the house in 2002 for $5.59 million. In December 2016 the house was sold by Warwick and Karen White for over $15 million dollars. It is a very precious house that is over 100 years of age.

Description

Berith Park is a double-story house with an area of over . It is situated on of land, with tennis courts and a swimming pool added by owners in the early 20th century as well as another 2 story summer house on the 2 acre property. The property also hosts the last piece of the endangered Blue Gum Forest, adding to its luscious green lawns and sprawling gardens. The main house has over 7 bathrooms and 5 bedrooms, it also has an additional other 8 rooms including a kitchen, library, gym, lounge room, laundry room, study, dining room and a ballroom with 10m high ceilings. The summer house than has an additional 3 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, lounge room, a study and a Billiards room bringing the grand total to 7 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms and 12 other rooms. The grounds also contain a championship sized tennis court, a pool, a golfing range, 3 ponds, 2 fountains as well as 4 large lawns and a forest area. It is currently the most expensive house ever sold in the North Shore Region due to its acres of land as well as the Victorian Styled mansion and one of the largest as well.

References

Bibliography

* {{commonscat, Berith Park, Wahroonga 1909 establishments in Australia Houses completed in 1909 Queen Anne architecture in Australia Houses in Wahroonga, New South Wales New South Wales Heritage Database