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

Wahroonga Wahroonga is a suburb on 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 The North Shore is a region within Northern Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia, generally referring to suburbs located on the northern side of Sydney Harbour up to Berowra, and suburbs between Middle Harbour and the Lane Cove River. The ...

suburb of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, 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 British colonies of Australia collectively became the Commonw ...

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 a fictional Aboriginal language group. Major transport routes through the area include th ...

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 Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. 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 Stanley Sadler Crick (9 October 1888 – 1955) was an Australian film producer, distributor and politician. He joined the Melbourne office of Pathe Freres and became manager of the Sydney branch in 1909. He went into production, first in partner ...

, 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 b ...

and a founder of

Fox Studios 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film production and distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Comp ...

. ''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 List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

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

Dominican Sisters The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilian priest named Dominic de Guzmán. It was approved by Pope Honorius II ...

. 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 an estimated $20 million dollars. It is now believed that the house is worth up to $40 million dollars due to its large land area, and Victorian Architecture 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