In earlier (July 2018) blogs on this site I presented the backstory of two socially desirable but very different garden suburbs in Sydney – Daceyville in Sydney’s east, ‘Planning for a Working Class Lifestyle Upgrade, a Template for the Sydney Garden Suburb: Daceyville, NSW’, and Haberfield in Sydney’s inner west, ‘Planning for Suburban Bliss, a Template for the Sydney Garden Suburb: Haberfield, NSW’. Just a kilometre away from the centre of Haberfield is Croydon, contained within this small suburb is the Malvern Hill estate, known for “its salubrious residential streets” (Johnson, John, Malvern Hill, Dictionary of Sydney, 2008, https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/malvern_hill, viewed 10 May 2024) (including Edwin, Thomas, Walter, Reed, Murray, Tahlee, Dickinson, Lea and Highbury streets, Malvern Avenue and Paisley Road).

Gads Hill to Malvern Hill dress circle: The Malvern Hill estate came into being from a 1909 subdivision, prior to that the area was known as Gads Hill and already boasting a rich colonial architectural stock, famous for its stately 19th century villas…Gads Hill Villa, two-storey mid-Victorian home of Ashfield mayor Daniel Holborrow from 1873–1904, and ‘The Hall’, the residence of Samuel Dickinson (which with fellow publican George Murray owned an early estate in the suburb𝐚. The new estate was intended to a “quintessential Federation period “garden suburb”𝐛, with complex designs, multiple gables, tall chimneys and generous verandas. The estate’s growing affluence was reflected in a great number of the new buildings being architect-designed, a notable surviving example is the Malvern Hill Methodist (now Uniting) Church, a red brick Federation Gothic-style structure designed by prominent architect Alfred Newman (Johnson). A sense of what the estate was offering in prestigious residences can be gained from this description of a Federation house in the Crescent (2 Dickinson Ave) valued at in excess of £4,700 in 1917….”one of the finest houses in Croydon, interior fittings elaborate and costly, 8 rooms, including a billiard room, large area of land, beautifully laid out, having motor garage etc” (Johnson).

Acquiring an American taste in architecture: By around 1912 Californian bungalows started to be built alongside the Federation homes. In contrast to them the bungalows had low pitched roofs (and thus low ceilings), squat chimneys, dark brick roughcast walls and deep verandas supported by massive pylons [‘Malvern Hill Estate – Croydon, NSW, Australia – Australian Historical Markers’, www.waymarkers.com]. Attached to residential approval was a covenant requiring all buildings to be of high-quality brick or stone (or both), with slate or terracotta tiled roofs. Semi-detached and terrace dwellings were banned, with no commercial buildings within the estate (these were strictly confined to The Strand shopping strip [‘C29 Gads Hill, Croydon Heritage Conservation area’, Inner West Council, www.innerwest.nsw.gov.au].

The Strand: The Strand, lined with Canary Island date palms, “was designed as a broad and elegant shopping street and promenade” running south from the train station, leading to the residential streets. The Federation-style post office was the first building construction on the Strand (1913), followed by a line of shops on the western side (the eastern side shops didn’t start to appear until 1917) (Waymarkers.com). A fruiterer, a florist, grocery, bakery, pharmacy, bottle shop, a couple of cafes, Italian, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Indian/Sri Lankan eatery and spices shop, two pizza places, dance studio, art studio, hairdressers, Scottish speciality shop, but NO supermarket Goliaths!

Due to the high-quality structure and distinctive character of many of the Malvern Hill dwellings the area was placed under heritage protection as early as 1983-86, this is in stark contrast to Croydon’s adjoining suburbs Ashfield and Burwood which are both characterised by an abundance of high-rise units and high density living. The desirability of living in the Malvern Hill estate makes it Croydon’s expensive pocket with realty prices soaring upward with a North Shore-like trajectory.

Endnote: Mystery of the name The name “Malvern Hill” is not locally significant, and its origin is not known. Topography offers no real clues as the only elevation in the estate is no more than the mildest upslope running from the rail line to the Liverpool Road ridge. Possibly the name references Malvern Hills, a rural district in Worcestershire, UK (Johnson).

𝐚 both men have streets named after them in the estate, as was the practice with early landowners

𝐛 spaning the years 1909 to the 1920s