The witching house

[KANACKI]

 hello All

I have not been around for while  so I post a new ghost story from my records.

The witching house

The Abbey, a rustic Gothic house Annandale whose stone is supposed to have come from St. Mary's Cathedral destroyed in 1865, is the picture perfect mansion of a haunted house.

In two of the rooms where the ghost is said to walk, there is high, beamed ceilings, alcoves, stained glass, furniture engraved with medieval scenes. Once a bedroom, it is now a music room. Stained glass windows add to the strange atmosphere of the house. The inner Sydney suburb of Annandale possesses a 40-room house of mystery said to be haunted by a "lady in grey."

The mansion, built in 1881, is known as The Abbey. It is one of a group of buildings called the Witches' Houses. With its ecclesiastical architecture and shadowy Gothic splendour. The Abbey is a classic example of the haunted house of literature. Yet nobody knows the identity of its ghost. But that is only one of the riddles connected with The Abbey. What is the meaning of the bearded golden men and the pelicans which decorate the walls of some of the rooms?

The man who had the house built never lived in it. It remained unoccupied, but fully furnished, for nearly five years after it was completed. Local people believe secret tunnels connect The Abbey with nearby houses

The house, built in carved sandstone, with gargoyles and stained glass windows, overlooks Rozelle Bay on Sydney Harbour. Its 40 rooms have been divided into flats, but some are still immaculately preserved in their original lavish, almost gaudy style. There are vast marble fireplaces, high beamed ceilings, walls of hand-painted tiles, mosaic patterned floors and balconies. At one time it was all under the threat of the demolisher's hammer. The Abbey was in the middle of an area scheduled for redevelopment and zoned for housing units.

But the State Planning Authority persuaded the Leichhardt Council to change the building's zoning to a relatively new category special uses, historical buildings. Now The Abbey, even if sold, could not be demolished. This pleased the next owner. Mr. L. E. Davis, and his family are delighted who purchased the house in 1959.

So is the National Trust. Mr. John Morris, the Trust's N.S.W. assistant director, said: "The Abbey and the houses nearby, called the Witches' Houses because of their pointed towers, are a splendid piece of townscape. They would enliven any skyline, and are probably among the most romantic private buildings in Sydney.

'They are classified B by the Trust. By this we mean they are buildings which are highly significant and their preservation is strongly recommended."The Abbey and the Witches' Houses, three of which remain, were all built by John Young, a celebrated master builder of last century. One of his granddaughters still lives in one of the Witches' Houses up to around 1972.

Young came to Australia in 1856 at the time of the gold rushes, when there was plenty of money for building. He was then in his late 20s. In England, leading architect Sir Joseph Paxton had employed him to make drawings for London's Great International Exhibition of 1851.

Young spent several years in Melbourne and built some city landmarks, including the Bourke Street Synagogue, and completed St. Patrick's Cathedral. Ballarat Jail was his first Government job.In Sydney he was given the contract to build St. John’s College. Sydney University. When St. Mary's Cathedral was burned down in 1865. Young built part of the new church. Stone from the cathedral is supposed to have gone into The Abbey.

Young put up the large building in Prince Alfred Park for the Great Inter colonial Exhibition of 1870 which cost Sydney Municipal Council £20,000 ($40,000). He also had a hand in the Garden Palace building in the Domain for the International Exhibition of 1879.Among other Young buildings were the Public Lands Office in Bridge Street, the old Redfern Railway Station (Sydney's main rail terminal before Central Station), and some of the Harbour fortifications.

Young went to live at Annandale in the late '1870s in a house already standing that he called Kentville after the English county of his birth. Only a few years before, a trip there had been regarded as 'a run into the country." Most of the area had been originally given in grants to George Johnston, leader of the troops who arrested Governor Bligh in 1808. Johnston built a Georgian style farmhouse and called it Annandale, after the district of Scotland where he was born.

In the 1870s Johnston's descendants decided to sell a large part of the estate. The story goes that businessman Anthony Hordern (of department store fame) had first offer to buy the land for £100.000 ($200,000).Mr. Hordern asked the agent selling it to consult his adviser. John Booth, of Dowling Street. But the agent contacted John Booth, of Balmain, by mistake. This John Booth got in touch with John Young. They formed a building and investment company, with Young as the chairman and major shareholder, and bought the land.

Although Young succeeded at business, his private life was not so happy, relates Mr. Alan Roberts, president of Dining-room sideboard that looks like an altar. Painted panels depict scenes of a feast, birds and flowers. The Annandale Historical Association, who has researched the history of the area.
"His wife became sick and pined for England." Mr. Roberts said. "She decided to go back for a while. Young stayed and, hoping she would return, started to build The Abbey for her. She never came back. She died in England."

When the house was finished. Young devastated did not move in. According to the Sands Directory of the time. The Abbey stood empty but fully-furnished until 1886 when Young let it. Rumour has it that Young, a Freemason of the Glebe Lodge, used the house for Masonic rituals. So called local legends believe Young used the mansion as a temple to his late wife and tried witchcraft to resurrect her from the dead. The stained glass and semi-religious paintings are thought to be decorative effects to suit the Gothic style of the building. But the lady in grey is still a mystery, although it has been suggested that she is the ghost of Mrs. Young.

Mrs. Daune Davis,daughter-in-law of the late owner who died in 2007, who has lived at The Abbey between 1959 and 2007 told me: "There is something odd about the music room and the dining room directly underneath it. They get unbearably cold and I wouldn't stay in one for long on my own. There are stories of footsteps and the clasp of ice-cold arms!

"One night my years ago husband. Geoffrey, went to the fridge where we keep the drinks, out on the little balcony past the music room. He'd been gone an awfully long time and we went to look for him.
"We found him standing in the middle of the music room. He was shaking and couldn't move. He said something that felt like ice had put its arms round him. There was no one there . . . , and we hadn't even started to drink!

"Another time we had a friend stay with us and he asked me why I hadn't spoken to him earlier when he'd seen me in the music room. He said he saw a John Young ... a picture from 1876.woman in a grey dressing gown."1 wasn't in the house at the time. What's more. I don't own a grey dressing gown.
"We hear heavy footsteps every now and then. But nobody takes much notice of them, we hear them so often."One thing about having a ghost in the house, if ever conversation gets dull you just throw in one of these stories."

After his wife went to England, Young devoted his time to his hobbies and his public life. In 1876 he was elected to the Sydney Municipal Council and ten years later succeeded Thomas Playfair as Mayor of Sydney. Later he was the first Mayor of Annandale. He wrote essays on architecture, made plans for a bridge over the Harbor, and pressed for large fruit farms in N.S.W. similar to those in the United States.

Young is often called the "father of bowls" in New South Wales. He laid down a green at his Kentville estate and in 1878 the Annandale. Bowling Club was formed to play on it. In 1880 he invited Victorian clubs to send a team to Sydney, and in April the first match between N.S.W. and Victoria was held there. He was the first president of the N.S.W. Bowling Association, a position he resigned in 1906 only shortly before his death.

When Dr Davies took other the run down estate as it had been previously sub divided as flats in the 1920s and 1930s right up to the end of the 1950. When Dr Davies and his second wife and child bought the place and moved into the rambling mansion in 1959 they restored much of it. As of 2007 Dr Davis passed away in 2007 and the family decided to sell the mansion and its historic collection of book furniture and Collection gramophones.

In a rare chance of history the house was opened up to the public for on site auction of collectibles and furniture. The house once again rather run down need a lot of TLC and the house as of 2009 was sold to new Owners for 4.5 million. The owners are keen to restore this wonderful bit of history to its former glory.
I only hope it is to the satisfaction of the lady in grey that walks the corridors in the spookiest of Gothic mansions.

Kanacki

[Colleen]

What a fabulous history Kanacki.  Loved the stories.  What a priviledge to be able to restore the grand old mansion.

[catseyes]

I would love to live there, lol

[KANACKI]

Hello All

Neogothic or rustic Gothic and Carpenter Gothic and my favorite architectural styles Followed by Queen Anne. They  have some much quirky character to them as if they have personality. In the "Abbey" no room has  the same dimensions and the design was based on masonic symbolism.

Here is more of the inside rooms. I am always drawn to that strange dresser with the Gothic Mirror for some reason.

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

Hello Again

Here is another Photograph of the outside. Up in the Tower there are 4 gargoyles one for each corner of the building.

Kanacki

[Colleen]

I just love it.  I would love to live in it too.

[KANACKI]

I only hope Mr Tibs the cat gets to stay in his mysterious Gothic kingdom. A fitting link between the last owner and the new one.

He struts about the grand old house like lord of the manner.

Kanacki

[Christine]

I know this house.

[KANACKI]

Hello Christine they are my favorite style of house, the Gothic Revival.

I lived in one for many years they are so full of quirky character. I would of loved to have been wealthy enough to buy the Abbey and restore it because it is one of the finest examples of its type in Australia.

Most Gothic revivals in Australia are Carpenter Gothics. They to me have each personality of there own.

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

Hello Again

Here is a carpenter Gothic. This  one I thought about Buying.

Kanacki

[Christine]

Gorgeous.

[JulieD]

I love them! I want to live there too

[KANACKI]

Hello all

Yes the Gothic Style is lovely indeed. But The Queen Ann style is good also.

Here is a fine example of a Queen Anne below.

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

Hello All

Just an update on The witching house. The new owners have done a real wonderful job in restoring the Abbey and turning it into a wonderful home. It breathes fresh live into iconic building that will make any alleged ghost proud!

Check out the pictures below....

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

Here is some more picture of the renovation the new owners have done inside.

Kanacki