GRPS Art Show

The 2016 Glenmore Road Public School Art Show was held earlier in the year and I think you'll agree one of the classes had some great inspiration this year!

The students from 1D took their inspiration from Cambridge Street.  Now this was "inspiration" so it is very hard to pick individual houses, especially seeing the teacher requested no house numbers!  That said I think it is a great project to connect the kids to the local environment and added to that it was a great installation.

Looking forward to seeing this project kept going in future years.

Gil Docking

I had the pleasure of knowing Gil Docking in his later years.  He was a fixture on Cambridge Street, owning number 69 Cambridge from 1972 until he passed away in 2015 at the age of 96.  We recently profiled 69 Cambridge in the Open House section on the blog, here's the link.

Gil was known primarily for his work in arts administration.  Indeed, in 2014 he was to be awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the Arts.  He was the inaugural Director of the Newcastle Art Gallery, which was established in 1957.  The above photo dates from his period at Newcastle (he is pictured with William Dobell).  One of his claims to fame is that he identified Brett Whitely, with the Newcastle Gallery being the first to purchase his work at the age of 19.  From Newcastle he moved to run the Auckland Art Gallery from 1965.  Whilst in New Zealand Gil wrote the definitive book on New Zealand art, Two Hundred Years of New Zealand Painting.  In 1972, Gil moved to Sydney to take up a position at the Art Gallery of NSW where he served as the Deputy Director and a period as Acting Director.

As well as a distinguished art career.  Gil also served in the air force during WWII.  Flying in a squadron of Bristol Beaufighters Gil's plane was shot down over the North Sea.  He served as a prisoner of war on the German / Polish border (Stalag Luft 3A, pictured below) until being liberated by the advancing Russian army in 1945.  For more about Gil's wartime's exploits, including some more of his wartime diary, follow this link.

Gil's obituary was published in the SMH in January 2016.

Gil was married to Shay Docking.  Her profile on the blog is here.

69 Cambridge Street ...

Well, there's been a fair bit of time elapsed since my last post on the Cambridge Street blog but I've been inspired to start posting again after visiting this open house at 69 Cambridge Street.  Marketed by Bresic Whitney who labelled this as a "Unique corner terrace for renovators ... few are this thought-provoking.  All the bones are here for a creative of cosmetic touchup.  Terrace renovators will be eyeing off these in/outdoor spaces with anticipation."  Sounds good.

I've been in this terrace before, having afternoon tea with the amazing former owner, the late Gil Docking.  He is such a distinguished character he will get his own post on this site shortly.  However, avid readers of the Cambridge Street blog would've come across 69 Cambridge a few times already ...

- We have covered this houses name in a post here.  The group of terraces from 61 to 69 Cambridge Street were built c. 1887 and originally named "Aberdeen Villas".

- We have also covered a notable resident in a short piece on Gil's wife, Shay Docking, here.  Shay was an important female artist and resident on Cambridge Street from 1972 until her death in 1998.

More importantly for the house is the fact that what would be the main bedroom was the artist's studio (pictured above).  The studio has a trap door floor which exposes a long 3m by 10cm slit in the ceiling of the entrance corridor (photos below).  Gil Docking cut this slit so that larger artworks could be merely dropped through the floor and carried out the door rather than being carried down the stairs.  I do hope that the new owners maintain at list this slit in the entrance corridor as a physical reminder of the terrace's former function.

For the rest of the terrace, I agree with the agents assessment.  This will be a renovators delight.  It is an end terrace that gets glorious northerly views over the City and Paddington / Rushcutters Bay.  The roof terrace is something special (picture below).  I will be interested to see what this sells at auction for, although probably not as interested as the Art Gallery of NSW.  Gil generously bequeathed his estate to the Art Gallery and I understand the proceeds are going to fund a program named for Shay.  Fantastic.

Studebaker trials - Cambridge Street.

So I am not surprising anyone who knows Cambridge Street to admit that it is a little steep.  What I didn't realise is that Cambridge Street's steepness would be newsworthy.  The below article from the Sydney Sunday Times of 6 January 1929 relates how the Managing Director of Studebaker took out the journo to show him how the car handled some of the well known steepest hills in Sydney.  

It looks like Arden Street in Coogee was the big one back in the day but Cambridge and Cascade street represented Paddington. The Studebaker climbed Cambridge Street "easily from both approaches"!

Shay Docking

Shay Docking was shortlisted for the Woollahra Council local history plaque scheme in 2013.  As a result, the Council has a very detailed biography on their website, link is here.  Shay was an important Australian artist and Cambridge Street resident.

Shay went to art school in Melbourne and lived in Newcastle, New Zealand and Paddington. She was a prolific artist and her works have found homes in many public institutions including the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of NSW, many regional galleries (notably the Newcastle Gallery) and in New Zealand.  Her work has been the subject of two books, "The Landscape as Metaphor" by Ursula Prunster and "Shay Docking Drawings" by Lou Klepac. A portrait of Shay Docking, painted by Margaret Ackland, was a finalist in the Archibald Prize for 1987.

Known primarily for her landscapes, Shay's paintings have a distinctive abstract feel.  The work on top is from the AGNSW collection, "Echidna Country" from 1963. Her drawings are more naturalistic, the drawing above depicts one of her favourite subjects, an angophora tree.  Again this is from the AGNSW, a 1975 work entitled "Angophoras and Hawkesbury".

Shay lived at 69 Cambridge Street.  With her husband Gil, the Docking's purchased the terrace in the 1960's and renovated it. They moved to New Zealand in 1965 for Gil's work as Head of the Auckland City Art Gallery, returning to Paddington in 1972 when Gil took up a position at the AGNSW. Shay was to remain in Paddington until her death in 1998.  The above image is a pencil sketch from 1972 entitled "View from Studio Window at Paddington".  Shay's studio was the front room on the first floor (what would be the master bedroom in a standard terrace layout).  Given the outlook of the Docking's terrace I would guess that the roofs pictured are maybe 46 & 48 Cambridge Street.  One giveaway that you are in an artist's house is the strange slit in the roof of the entrance corridor.  Gil Docking cut a long trapdoor in the studio above, about 2m by 10cm so that larger works could be merely dropped through the floor and out the front door rather than being carried down the stairs.

Christopher Brennan plaque ...

We've previously posted about this famous Cambridge Street resident (see link here).  And here is his plaque!  Sadly this is not on Cambridge Street, we are still working on the Woollahra Council plaque scheme.  This is plaque is part of the NSW Writers Walk down at Circular Quay / the Rocks.  The walk includes about 50 plaques celebrating the works of writers associated with Sydney.  These people either visited Sydney, wrote about Sydney, or lived in Sydney (and Cambridge St!).

Apart from Christopher Brennan, some other plaques commemorate Joseph Conrad, Charles Darwin, Arthur Conan Doyle, Clive James, Ruth Park, Mark Twain and Patrick White amongst others.  So you can see it is quite the eclectic selection.  I took this photo a few months ago so can't recall its exact location but it is on the Opera House side.  Have fun finding it when you're next down there ...

Paddington Town Hall clock ...

A diversion off Cambridge Street today to look at the Paddington Town Hall clocktower.  The Town Hall was built in around the same time as most of the residences on Cambridge Street, officially opening in 1891.  The clock tower came later.  In 1902, the Empire had a new king (Edward VII) and the residents of Paddington thought it fitting that they honour him in a clock tower (as you do).  Here is a link to the SMH article of the day (link to Trove here) where the residents discuss the scheme.  As you can see from the article the two suggestions discussed at the public meeting were "Edward the VII" and "Edwardus 1902" - both of these fine suggestions having 12 letters each.  The council ended up cleverly going with "Edwardus The VII" which is 14 letters except that they made the VII actually correspond to the 7 o'clock.  You can see the detail in the above photo with the E for Edwardus starting at the 8 o'clock.  This is the side that faces Oxford Street.  

The clock was started on 30 August 1905 by the Premier of NSW.  From the comments attributed him by the SMH of the day (again, link to Trove here) he was most excited that the residents had paid for this themselves and not relied on his Government.  He also thought that the day on which peace had been declared between Russia and Japan (ending the Russo-Japanese War) was a fitting time to set it in motion and hoped there would be peace and goodwill on earth as long as the clock continued to go.  Someone tell Sydney Council to stop stopping it!