State Library of South Australia

Nurney House [B 4972] • Photograph

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Summary

[General description] This is the text of the 'Mail' article (cited below) which accompanied this image: ' Full of that old world charm that comes only with age, Nurney House, Kingston terrace, North Adelaide, can claim to be one of the oldest and most enchanting houses in South Australia. Its quaint design and rambling roominess breathes the beauty of yesteryear, and in its garden bloom trees and shrubs that are little less than a century old. Capt. Charles Hervey Bagot, who built the house in 1846, came to South Australia six years earlier. Nurney House was renowned for its hospitality, and since it was built only the Bagot family has owned it. Most of the house and a 12 foot high limestone fence was built from the stone garnered from the acre and a half of land. The house comprises 20 rooms with numerous outbuildings. The main part of the building is two story, but a long, single story wing juts out from the left side. It has a flat roof, and in the long ago after-dinner coffee was served there. When Capt. Bagot died Mrs. Christopher M. Bagot became its chatelaine, and the present owner, Miss M. Bagot has lived at Nurney House for the greater part of her life. The wainscotting and doors are of beautiful Singapore and cedar, and all the wonderful old furniture which is also of cedar has been in the house since 1846. There is a suite of underground rooms, and in a side hall the trapdoor to a great underground tank is seen. Water is still drawn for the house by a bucket attached to a long rope. Miss Bagot can remember when the park at the back of Kingston terrace was a lake where wild fowl had their habitation. The house now commands a glorious view of Adelaide and the foothills, but the land which is now all built over was once just bush, and on the way to Adelaide wildflowers lined the tracks. Nurney House was called after Nurney Castle, County Clare, Ireland, the home of the Bagot family. In the dining room the portraits of eight generations of men and women of this family provide a link with the past, and a quaint pencilled sketch of Nurney House when it was first built shows how the garden has grown in the 83 years. A vine which was planted in 1846 now trails its great branches over the verandah, and almond trees and olives which were brought out from Ireland in pots are now monarchs of the garden. Norfolk Island pines and all manner of beautiful shrubs lend their shade to the garden.' In 1930 the house was significantly enlarged and remodelled in an eclectic Italianate style by Captain Bagot's great grandson, influential South Australian architect Walter Hervey Bagot, for his own residence. (See B 5926) [On back of photograph] 'Acre 1028 / Nurney House / Stanley Street, north side / January 1929 / Site: The house stands back about 30 yards from the street / Left side is 70 yards east of Lefevre Terrace / Frontage of two storey portion: 14.5 yards (A one storey wing runs off to the east) / Built in 1846 by Captain Charles Harvey Bagot / named after Nurney Castle, the family home in Ireland / See 'Mail', January 1929, p. 12 / demolished in 1930 (see B 5926) / Reproduced in 'Mail', January 5, 1929'.

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Physical description

Photograph; 16.7 cm x 13.7 cm

Dates / Publication details

Approximately 1929

Collection

Part of Acre 1028 Collection

Subject

Nurney House (North Adelaide, S.A.)

Catalogue record

Return to catalogue

Digitisation information

Date

28/06/2005

Format

image/tiff

Resolution

3,111 x 2,608 pixels (8.1 MP)

Size

24.38 MB

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