117–117a Gloucester Street, The Rocks is a heritage-listed terrace houses located in the Long's Lane Precinct at 117–117a Gloucester Street, in the inner city Sydney suburb of The Rocks in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by W. Foggitt and built from 1912 to 1915. It is also known as Longs Lane Terraces/Precinct (Long's). The property is owned by Property NSW, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 10 May 2002.
History
The formalisation of land claims in The Rocks commenced with grants made by Governor Darling in 1829 and continued for close to two decades. Allotment 21 of section 74 was formally granted to John Terry Hughes in January 1839.
In 1848, William Todd, on behalf of George Cooper Turner and Oswald Bloxsome, purchased the allotment. In turn Bloxsome and Thomas Iceton subdivided the land in 1853. Upon this subdivision Richard Wilde, a publican, purchased lots 7, 8, 9 and 10 for just over £2400.
Maps drawn between 1823 and 1842 show an L-shaped structure on Allotment 21 to the south of the study area, which was demolished by 1850. In its place was constructed a single-storey, two-roomed iron building, owned by Richard Wilde, the publican who owned the Erin Go Bragh hotel to the west (fronting Cumberland Street), and occupied by various tenants between 1861 and 1871. This structure again was to the south of the study area. The study area itself remained vacant apart from an iron shed, single storey with two rooms. A decade later the structure had been replaced by a pair of shops with four rooms. This building was later noted in the Rate Assessment Books as stables. In October 1872 Richard Wilde defaulted on a mortgage held by Faulkner Hope Bartlett, and was forced to sell the property for the sum of £1850. The new owner was noted as Robert Read Hickson.
Despite the presence of the stables in 1881, the property throughout this period and into the early twentieth century would more accurately be characterised as vacant land. A map from 1887 records an extensive yard on the property, probably part of stables owned by cab proprietor Patrick Mahoney, from 1885 to 1902, who rented the house from 1882 until 1902. Following an outbreak of the plague in Sydney and The Rocks the NSW government, under The Rocks Resumption Act (1901), resumed the area, which was barricaded to prevent further spread of infection. Some buildings were demolished, and in 1912 the NSW Housing Board began to construct housing in the vacant blocks of land in The Rocks.
The Housing Board, founded under the Housing Act 1912, was the first such agency in the state devoted to the construction of public housing. The Board acquired land upon which buildings were constructed to be leased to "persons qualified under the Act" for business or residential purposes. The Housing Board examined public housing initiatives in the UK and Europe, and incorporated those ideas in constructing tenement dwellings in The Rocks. From 1912, the Housing Board built some 30 units in one development along Gloucester, Cumberland and Little Essex streets. In addition to housing, the Board also sought to ensure a mix of housing, corner shops, pubs and the like in the area. The new terraces, including 117 Gloucester Street, were built by J. H. Thompson of Bondi to the design of Board architect W. Foggitt. The first tenant of the new house at No. 117 (now numbered 119 Gloucester Street) was Charles Smith, of unknown occupation, who lived in the house from 1915 until at least 1932.
Of this large Housing Board development, only the northern units remain: the subject building at 117 Gloucester Street, and the building at 140-142 Cumberland Street. No. 117 demonstrates the typical Housing Board plan form, providing outdoor spaces in balconies, rear yards and roof top terraces. Parts of the Gloucester / Essex / Cumberland Streets Housing Board development were demolished in the 1920s to make way for the approaches to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The remainder of the development was demolished with the construction of the Cahill Expressway in the 1950s to make way for the new freeway. No. 117 continued to be tenanted through the 1970s. The last house was vacated in the 1980s when the house was boarded up. Subsequently, squatters occupied the building. Many fixtures were stolen or demolished during this period, perhaps as a result of the boom in house renovations elsewhere in the inner city.