A repository of photographs of leadlight in homes in the Inner Western Suburbs of Sydney.
Summer Hill
Subdivisions
The table below contains a list of the subdivisions maps that have been located in the State Library of New South Wales. Below that are the actual subdivision plans. These plans themselves show not only how Summer Hill was divided but also how graphic design changed from the 1870's to the 1930's.
Summer Hill
Subdivision Images
The extent of Underwood’s estate can be seen in the hand drawn boundary plan of 1877 and in an earlier tentative subdivision plan in 1873. When his will was finally sorted a huge subdivision of almost 60 hectares (147 acres), 392 lots, was auctioned in 1878 but only 12 lots were sold. When a permanent station was built at Summer Hill in 1879, almost in the middle of the Underwood Estate, land sales really took off. A re-subdivision of the estate took place in 1880 around the newly created Bogan Street. The subdivision plans on this page show how Summer Hill developed. They also show how the design aesthetics in advertising changed from the 1870's to the 1920's.
An 1873 plan for the subdivision of the Underwood Estate. The plan is upside down. The plan on the right is a survey plan drawn up in 1877 when the estate was finally sorted out
This plan of the Underwood Estate shows the huge subdivision of almost 60 hectares (147 acres), 392 lots, was auctioned in 1878 but only 12 lots were sold. It also shows that developers were not afraid of exaggerating things. The station was not built till 1879 but it is shown in this 1878 Plan.
The State Library of NSW records this plan as being part of the Canterbury Estate, which it may well have been but it is identical to the lots in the map above that were advertised as part of the Summer Hill Estate.
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This is a survey plan of a resubdivision of part of the Underwood Estate and was probably drawn in 1880.
Parts of the Underwood Estate were further subdivided in 1880 after the station opened. Much of this is now part of The North Summer Hill Heritage Conservation Area
The earliest known use of the name "Summer Hill" was in this 1876 subdivision of the Summer Hill Estate Ashfield. This land is around the Summer Hill Church (St Andrews) in Smith Street (shown as Road). Summer Street is now Moonbie Street and Hill Street is now Henson Street. The Underwood Estate is clearly shown as being not subdivided at this stage.
This plan shows that those lots that were not sold the previous year were put up for auction in 1877. Summer Hill station is not shown on the plan and did not open till 1879.
The plan to the right appears to be part of the Underwood Estate and covers the area of Chapman Street. The mention of the railway station indicates that this probably took place in 1879.
The Hurlstone Estate was the subdivision that never happened. The land was bought by the Department of Education and the land is now occupied by Trinity Grammar School.
These lots were a resubdivision of the Underwood Estate in 1880. The station is shown as is Boylson's Mill and the hotel at the junction of Parramatta and Liverpool Roads..
This resubdivision of part of the Underwood Estate 1880 created Bogan Street and took advantage of the station that now really existed..
This sketch is another resubdivision of part of the Underwood Estate 1881 that created some long and narrow lots on Parramatta Road. Most have been amalgamated and redeveloped.
The sketch above and the subsequent publication plan on the right show that by 1881 when the auction took place development in the south eastern part of Summer Hill was proceeding apace. Ashantee Street is now Edward Street, Abigail Street is now Spencer Street and Tillock Street is now Carrington Street.
This Auction took place in 1882 and the lots in Prospect Road and Louisa Street were described as 'valuable villa sites'.
This further auction of lots in the original Underwood Estate in 1883 now clearly shows the new station and the lots previously sold.
The same map but in black and white.
These lots are smaller than the ones in the nearby Kelvin Grove Estate with 40' (12.1 Metres) frontages and 113' (34.5 metres) deep.
All the streets in this 1884 map have retained their original names.
Summer Hill Public School (or what was to become the school) is shown on this 1886 subdivision. Bartlett Street and the houses that were on it were subsequently resumed for the growing school.
The Summer Hill Estate auctioned in 1885 consisted of parts of Wellesley, Smith, Edward, Spencer, Carrington and Nowranie Streets. It is a wonder why the lots in Smith Street were shown as 'Reserved' on the first map.Were they sold?
St Patrick's Catholic Primary School and the Parish now occupies the south western part of Drynan Street.Most of the lots are shown with 50' or 15.25 metres. The classic 1/4 acre block.
This undated pamphlet for the Tavistock Estate probably predates the one to the left. Smith Street is shown in this map.
Moonbie, Morris and Nowranie Streets have retained their original names. Urana Street is now Smith Street. Where that name came from is unusual because it was Smith Street before 1886 and from thereafter; except for this subdivision. The blocks have been realigned and are now part of the main shopping precinct of Summer Hill.
This second subdivision of the Summer Hill Estate in 1997 shows just how many lots had been sold two years earlier and suggests that quite a lot of building had commenced.
These blocks in Gower Street And Grosvenor Crescent are huge with the largest having a depth of over 100 metres! Most have been subdivided again since 1888.
Some of these houses from the 1892 subdivision still remain. The hotel shown on Parramatta road is the Speed the Plough Inn and later the Plough Inn.
These lots in the Summer Hill Estate were auctioned in 1892. To quote the pamphlet.. 'Land at Summer Hill Station is just about the safest thing to put money into.'
In 1905 there were still lots in the Summer Hill Estate that were offered for sale. This time the map clearly shows the development that had occurred.
The original subdivision of this area took place in 1877 with the Clover Hill Estate Ashfield. This subdivision of the St Andrews Estate in 1905 is now the Clover Hill, Summer Hill Heritage Conservation Area. (C43)
This auction of the Prospect Hall Estate (c.1908) was quite large and the estate agents were Stanton & Sone who were developing areas of Habberfield.
The Haig Subdivision of 1919 was small and one of the last subdivisions in Summer Hill.
Gower Court was the last subdivision of Summer hill in 1937 . The subdivision was created from an amalgamation of 4 lots from the original 1887 subdivision of the Underwood Estate. Gower Court is a large block of Interwar Units. Gower Crescent is now Sunning Place.
This plan for the Summer Hill Estate is recorded by the State Library as being 1794. This was the year that Joseph Foveaux was granted 100 acres in what is now Summer Hill only six year after the arrival of the First Fleet. This sketch is probably from the 1880's.
This plan of Trafalgar Square is probably from the 1880s.
Only the fine print of this sketch reveals that this subdivision took place in 1885. On the corner block there is now a corner shop and a row of terrace houses.