Elizabeth Bay House

Next open Friday 27 April

10am–4pm

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Address

7 Onslow Avenue, Elizabeth Bay, NSW 2011

Phone

+61 2 9356 3022

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Oval sepia-toned photograph of man with full white beard.

Built at 'very considerable expense', Elizabeth Bay House was once the finest house in the colony, set within a garden of the most remarkable extravagance and fancy. Yet it tells a familiar Sydney story: of ambition and passion over-stretched, of riches to ruin.

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Elizabeth Bay House.

With commanding views over Sydney Harbour, Elizabeth Bay House gleams like a Greek temple. Once surrounded by famous landscaped gardens, it is one of the most splendid private houses ever built in Australia and still arouses our delight and astonishment. Its elegant rooms and fine proportions, sweeping staircase and lavish furnishings reveal the tastes and aspirations of its original owner, Alexander Macleay, after the governor, the most important public official in colonial Sydney. But it was his magnificent gardens which most keenly expressed his tastes and passions, and in the economic downturn of the 1840s pushed him towards ruin. Elizabeth Bay House is an iconic Sydney home, with an iconic Sydney back-story of obsession for property and position stretched beyond means and undone by changing financial times.

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Night light tours at Elizabeth Bay House

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The Latest At Elizabeth Bay House

Elizabeth Farm

Home is where the hearth isThursday 3 August 2017

There’s nothing like the sound of a crackling fire or the smoky aroma of burning wood to keep winter’s frost at bay. With only a few weeks left of winter’s cold embrace we’ve asked two of our curators to shed some light on the humble (and not so humble) fireplaces at Elizabeth Farm and Elizabeth Bay House.

Woman and man standing at fireplace holding candles

Darkness and Light at Elizabeth Bay HouseWednesday 14 September 2016

As darkness fell last Friday evening, the staff at Elizabeth Bay House were dimming the lights, laying fires in the grates and lighting candles from attic to cellar in preparation for a nightlight tour.

Colonial Gastronomy

Colonial Gastronomy: BreadTuesday 3 May 2016

Join colonial gastronomer Jacqui Newling and special guest presenter, artisan bread-maker Nonie Dwyer on 12 June to learn the principles of traditional bread making.

Group of people on the steps out the front of the house.

Creative explosion: Elizabeth Bay House InstameetWednesday 27 April 2016

Elizabeth Bay House was seen through a new lens on Sunday and shared with the world on Instagram thanks to a collaboration between @SydneyFolk, @IgersSydney and Sydney Living Museums.