Swifts, Darling Point
Swifts is a heritage-listed late-Victorian castellated Gothic Revival mansion located in the suburb of Darling Point, Sydney. Swifts is a rare survivor of a group of similar grand private residences sited on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour. It is described by the Australian Heritage Council as "perhaps the grandest house remaining in Sydney". Swifts was listed on the Register of the National Estate on 21 October 1980, and the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
The motto Perseverantia Palmam Obtinebit, being Latin for "perseverance gains the prize", is carved into the eastern façade of Swifts and seems to sum up the home as well as the lives of those who have lived in it.
Designed by G. A. Morrell, Swifts was built in stages from around 1873 to 1882 by Sir Robert Lucas Lucas-Tooth, the distinguished Australian brewer. In the 1880s, Sir Robert Lucas-Tooth had the house significantly remodelled in the style and likeness of his family home, Great Swifts Manor in Cranbrook, Kent. The house was subsequently purchased by Edmund Resch, also a brewer, and eventually bequeathed by his son Edmund Resch Jr to the Roman Catholic Church upon his death in 1963. In 1997, Swifts was acquired by the Moran family and, in what saved the home from a state of dereliction and possible destruction, underwent total restoration and renovation. Dr Shane Moran is the current owner.
History
Yarranabbe
Darling Point is located within the area of the Cadigal people, one of the Aboriginal clans of the Sydney region, and was known from at least 1795 as "Yarranabbe". The plan of land for sale at Darling Point in 1856 cites the Indigenous name for the point, and the name is listed in the Town and Country Journal's 'Aboriginal names of places' of 1878.Mrs Darling's Point
By the 1830s the vast majority of the harbour fronting land east of Darling Point was held by a small number of landholders, being principally the Cooper and Wentworth families, while at Double Bay, a government village had been reserved. At Darling Point, Governor Darling reserved the promontory for sale in 1831 at the suggestion of the Surveyor General, Thomas Mitchell. The area was subsequently surveyed into large villa allotments and referred to the promontory as 'Mrs Darling's Point' in respect to Eliza Darling, the wife of the Governor. However, the "Mrs" was dropped over time.Purchase by Thomas Barker of the Villa Grants on Mrs Darling's Point
The first auction on the northern part of the promontory came on 11 October 1833 under the direction of Governor Darling's successor, Governor Bourke. At the sale, nine allotments varying in area between were offered. The reserve price per acre was A£10 but the average price actually paid was much higher at £34. Swifts is located on allotment four which was originally in size when it was purchased by Thomas Barker in November 1833. Barker also purchased the adjoining allotment of at the same time. The total purchase price for the was £573.Subdivision of the villa grants
With no development evidently having occurred, Barker's Darling Point grant was soon sold in 1835 to Thomas Icely. Icely had also acquired the neighbouring allotment of Lindesay at the time. Icely had been settled in the colony since 1822 and after an early dalliance in trading, went into pastoralism. The Darling Point grant, arguably the most favourably sited and extensive on the promontory, remained vacant. In the same year the Kent Brewery was opened on Parramatta Road at Blackwattle Bay. It was founded by John Tooth and his brother-in-law, Charles Newnham.Meanwhile, Barker's two grants, within which Swifts is sited, had been purchased in 1838 by Thomas Urmson Ryder, a partner in the mercantile company Aspinall, Brown & Co. Ryder had the land subdivided into 14 lots suitable for villas and put up for auction in April 1840 as the DeLamere Estate, which netted some £13,531. With the northernmost allotments comprising the site of the future Swifts, ownership changed hands successively during the 1840s and 1850s through conveyance, mortgage or trusteeship, but no development ensued.
During this time John Tooth was declared bankrupt and the Kent Brewery was leased to his nephews, brothers Robert and Edwin Tooth. Subsequently, in 1844, Robert Lucas Tooth was born to Edwin Tooth. After Frederick, the youngest brother, joined the partnership in 1853, the company traded as R.E. & F. Tooth. In 1855, Edwin Tooth returned to England with his family and remained there until his death. Robert Tooth, Edwin's eldest son, returned to Sydney to join the family brewery in 1863, after having spent his formative years in England and completing his education at Eton. During that year Edmund Resch also migrated to Australia from Germany.
Development of Swifts by the Tooth Family: 1872–1900
In 1869 the Darling Point property was transferred by means of mortgage to Francis Mitchell. Mitchell's professional background was in shipping, being for many years in business with Alexander Berry and Edward Wollstonecraft, and he was the senior partner of Messrs Mitchell & Co., ship chandlers and ship owners. Mitchell's business dealings had brought him into contact with Robert Tooth in 1850, one of the partners in the Kent Brewery owned by the Tooth family. Shortly before his death, Mitchell sold the property in around 1872 to Tooth's nephew, Robert Lucas Tooth. The Sands Directory of 1873 already lists Robert Tooth as being the occupier of the Darling Point site. Tooth was subsequently created a baronet in 1906 and was given a Royal licence to assume the name and arms of Lucas-Tooth. From that time he became known as Sir Robert Lucas Lucas-Tooth.Original construction: c1873–1882
With ownership of the site from at least 1872, the original plain two-storey portion of Swifts was under construction from c.1873–1875. The revised plans, including the sandstone tower and castellation, as well as other significant extensions, would seem to have been completed in at least 1877. Beatrice Maude, the daughter of Sir Robert Lucas-Tooth and Helen Tooth, laid one of the foundation stones for the remodelling of Swifts on 18 March 1876. The silver trowel was retained by Tooth & Co Ltd and later donated to the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. The original 1874–1875 house was modelled on the family home in Cranbrook, Kent named "Great Swifts".Expansion: 1882–1900
The 1880s was a boom period throughout the Australian colonies as money from English banks poured in to fuel expansion. The brewery industry at this time also experienced marked growth, with the number of breweries in the state peaking at an all-time high during the 1880s. In Sir Robert Lucas-Tooth's personal life, his stature in colonial society had grown through entering the Parliament of New South Wales in 1880, representing the seat of Monaro in the Legislative Assembly.In 1882, the prominent French-born Sydney architect Gustavus Alphonse Morrell was engaged by Sir Robert Lucas-Tooth to expand Swifts. The drawings were prepared by J. H. Harvey. Morrell's design for Swifts drew on Sydney's Government House in matters such as sandstone masonry façades, castellations and tower, the long arcade and porte-cochère. In planning the house, Morrell provided a mansion which was as up-to-date as any to be found in England. It was built at a time when servants were mandatory in any household of social status, with cook, kitchen and house maids, butler and footmen, and the management of the grounds and stables required gardeners, coachmen, and grooms. In 1888, Tooth & Co Ltd was formed and Sir Robert Lucas-Tooth was managing director to 1889. Sir Robert Lucas-Tooth and his family then left Sydney in 1889 for England with the remodelled house having only recently been completed. He did, however, make frequent visits to Australia. There is also record of Mr Tooth holidaying at Aldourie Castle, a 7,000 acre estate on the southern banks of Loch Ness in Inverness, Scotland in the summer and autumn months of 1891. Sir Robert Lucas-Tooth was invited to contest one of the northern seats in the United Kingdom's House of Commons in the early 1890s and seems to have used Swifts as a base during his frequent visits back to Sydney. Swifts was leased to the lawyer Henry Harris between 1892 and 1897. In January 1896, a burglary was committed at Swifts when thieves prised open one of the windows next to the main entrance and took property, including jewellery and other portable items to the value of £40. Ernest Burns and John Smith were later found guilty of the theft.
Purchase of Swifts by the Resch family: 1900–64
Edmund Resch Sr: 1900–28
In 1900 Swifts was purchased by the German emigrant brewer, Edmund Resch, born in Bavaria in 1847 and who arrived in Australia in 1863 to seek his fortune on the goldfields of Victoria. During the 1870s, Edmund entered into partnership with his younger brother Richard in opening a cordial and aerated water factory. Edmund opened the Lion Brewery in Wilcannia in 1879. Over the next few decades, Edmund and his brothers, Emil and Richard, opened other branches of the Lion Brewery in the region. The partnership dissolved in 1885, with Edmund retaining the Wilcannia operation. Meanwhile, Emil went on to establish Carlton & United Breweries with others.In 1900, Resch, who had built a Sydney brewing operation in the late 1890s, purchased Swifts. In June 1900, for reasons unknown, the property title was transferred from Edmund to his wife, Carolina, only to be transferred back to Edmund in October of that year. In Resch's ownership, the alterations were confined to some interior redecorating and a tennis court, suggesting Resch was quite content with what they had received courtesy of his business rival, Sir Robert Lucas-Tooth.
During the First World War, when anti-German sentiment was rife throughout the country, Edmund contributed generously to the war effort and made up the difference in pay for about sixty employees who had enlisted. In 1909, Edmund and Carolina Resch left for Europe for five years, only to return in 1914. During this time Swifts remained unoccupied apart from the Resch's servants. In 1915, Sir Robert Lucas-Tooth died at his English estate Holme Lacy. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Sir Robert Lucas-Tooth's last words were: "I would like my work to go on."
Throughout Australia during the First World War the internment of German nationals was common and there was animosity towards anyone of German origin, including the Resch family. In an editorial on 4 March 1916 the Mirror of Australia stated, in a page three editorial, that "The Resch family live at 'Swifts' Darling Point, Sydney, a house which has a commanding view over Sydney Harbor, and could, if so-desired, be easily used for purposes inimical to this country. No German should be permitted to occupy such a residence". Edmund Resch evaded such formal action until November 1917, when Resch was arrested for an 'indiscretion' and interned at Holsworthy Internment Camp for a period of four months until, due to ill health he was transferred back to Swifts where he remained under house arrest, with a guard to ensure he could not leave or receive visitors, until the end of the war. According to reports, the indiscretion involved the flying of a German flag atop Swifts. Edmund Resch died at Swifts on 22 May 1923. Probate of his estate was sworn at £316,828. By April 1924, property title was transferred to Edmund Resch Jr and Arnold Resch as joint tenants.