In the beginning ...

The traditional owners of the land from South Head to Petersham were the Cadigal group.
Following British settlement a series of land grants were made in Paddington.  In 1833 the solicitor, John Gurner, received a grant of over 7 acres which was to be known as Gurner's Paddock.  By 1843 Gurner had built his house, "Duxford", on the property.  In 1881 the Crown resumed about 2 acres of Gurner's land off Glenmore Road for use as a new public school for Paddington.

John Gurner died in 1882 and his landholdings, renamed the Duxford Estate for marketing purposes, were then subdivided and offered for sale in 1885.  Cambridge Street was formed at the same time as the subdivision running between the newly created Gurner Street and Glenmore Road.  Glenmore Road had been in existence for at least 50 years as one of the earliest thoroughfares in Paddington and was formed in the 1820s as a bullock track to and from the Glenmore Distillery and South Head Road (renamed Oxford Street in 1875).

The Sands Directory (available at the Mitchell Library) lists only 2 houses in Cambridge Street in 1887.  Two years later there are over 40 houses, indicative of the construction boom of the time.