Historic "Regentville", Heritage Listed House, Permitted by Wollongong Council to be Destroyed
I first set eyes on "Regentville" at the age of two, shortly after my grandparents, the Mitchells, built a home on Mount Ousley. From there, you can see the ocean for miles, and the mountains are so close you feel you can can almost reach out and touch them. My grandmother used to take me to the sitting room upstairs at night and show me the fairy lights of the city, and the lights of the ships out to sea.
From that age, whenever I visited my grandparents, I'd be taken for a walk to the park, and we'd go past the magnificent mansion, built in 1883 at 9 Macarthur Avenue, the name of which had been changed during the 20th Century to Strone House.
I loved that house. All my life I dreamed of one day owning it.
The house was owned by the 1950s by the Finey family. I have been able to find very little information about them but they were not the original owners of the property. George Finey was a famous cartoonist who joined the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in 1914. It is not known if there is any connection but Finey is an unusual surname. The most recent owner, Lewis Haswell Finey, was named after his uncle, Haswell Finey killed in action in France on 12th January 1917. I suspect that Mr Finey was born in that year. His cousin Lewis Haswell Finey, born 1918, was also named after Haswell. The Fineys were then living in Brighton, South Australia. They moved to Tailem Bend soon after. By 1939, Donald Lloyd Finey, also a WW1 veteran, was living in Wollongong, as a letter to the Army shows. Cecil Lloyd Finey was another casualty of WW1.
Mr Lewis Finey, who never married, inherited "Regentville" from his mother. My grandmother said Mrs Finey would always answer her when she spoke and I can remember saying hullo to her, as a small girl, and she responded; but Mrs Finey did not seem a happy person and spent all her days in the front garden obsessively weeding, as if weeding would somehow get rid of whatever demons were haunting her. Local children sometimes called her the Witch, and Regentville (Strone House) was the Witch's House. But Mrs Finey was a quiet, harmless person.
Perhaps the sadness of those lost in war played on her mind. During World War 2, many members of the small Finey family died: Bruen, David, Francis Edward, Lewis Haswell, Norman Harold, Paul Bradshaw, Robert Percival and Robert Dixie Finey.
Mrs Finey was moved to a nursing home in the 1970s, leaving her son Lou alone in the huge house. Mr Finey is a very intelligent and refined person; if you were old fashioned you could call him a gentleman. He has always had an interest in the stockmarket and in finance. When he was younger he loved big American cars; he drove one until well over the age of 80, at some point after which he handed in his licence.
I was a frequent visitor to Mount Ousley and I always had to visit 'my house', Regentville. It was made of huge stone blocks. At the front was a circular driveway, where horses and carriages would come, bringing ladies and gentlemen for the balls that were held there during the 1800s and early 1900s. Over the years nothing changed at Regentville. The beautiful gardens, shrubs and trees remained. Mr Finey lived there alone, never renovating, allowing the corrugated iron roof to rust.
In 1983 I was in a position to make an offer for the house. I decided to knock on the door and see if Lou Finey would be willing to sell. I offered him what was a huge sum of money in those days; but he declined. He was very polite and appreciated my interest in his family home. He took me inside and showed me all the rooms. There was a central hallway from which all the bedrooms led; each one having a beautiful ornate fireplace. There was a ballroom; all the original furniture from the 1800s was still in place; the carpets dating from the 1920s, still in perfect condition. In the kitchen were three huge fuel stoves on which the servants would cook banquets for the guests in years gone by. The stoves were like new, having not been used since about 1940. Out the back were the stables and servants' quarters.
From the front steps you could see all over the coast, the blue ocean glistening in the sun. It was an eerie feeling being inside this amazing old house. A friend of mine with quite an imagination once told me she sensed 'something evil' there. I don't know: to me it was just the most perfect house in the world.
I am lucky to have seen inside Regentville. I doubt if more than two or three people have since the 1940s. Mrs Finey was reclusive, and her son Lou has always been a very quiet and reserved person.
At the time I met with Lou Finey, I asked him what he intended to do with the house. He told me he hated the design of it, the way the rooms all led off from the central hallway. He said he would like to demolish it, but it had been heritage listed. I asked him why he didn't rent it out; he thought that would be too much bother, and it would need too much renovation before it was suitable to live in. I got the feeling he did not have happy memories of the house. I think it was a terrible tragedy that it was just left to self-destruct, as empty houses seem to.
Soon after, Mr Finey moved in with a friend who lived in a house behind Regentville, renting a room from her. This was the beginning of the end for the house.
Squatters moved in and there was looting. One night in 2006 a blaze was started, and the house was almost gutted.
I read about the fire in the newspaper and drove to Mount Ousley to see the damage. The house was salvagable. All the stone walls still stood and part of the roof. I climbed over a barrier and went inside. The mess was just tragic. But I still held out hopes that the house, being heritage listed, could be saved.
Mr Finey applied for permission to demolish the house. It seems permission was denied because he then put it up for sale. The real estate agent put up a huge sign which said the house could be restored to its former glory or demolished. The house stood on about three quarters of an acre of land.
Regentville was sold to a developer and Wollongong City Council permitted them to demolish this important part of Wollongong history. This council would leave no historic home standing given half a chance: shame on them.
I do not know what happened to the stoves or the remaining timber. I can't bear to think of the remains of this house lying on a dump somewhere.
I feel a great sadness at the end of Regentville.
Regentvile 1880
In the 1940s
After the fire, the front steps.
Regentville 2007
Remains of Strone House - Regentville 2007. The gardens and shrubs have been torn out and taken away.
All that remains of Regentville today. May 2007. A huge part of the tragedy is the destruction of the gardens and the tearing out of shrubs and very old roses.
- 2134 reads
Always sad to see history end up as rubble
I'm very sorry to hear about this. Councils do not do enough to protect historic homes. In many cases they can be burnt down deliberately to circumvent the heritage listing as apparently is the case with the NEC hall in the other article. Years of neglect such as this house suffered also take their toll and owners cannot be compelled to keep the heritage house in good condition. It sounds to me as though the owner had some very distressing memories from his past in that house.
Regentville was not "destroyed" by Wollongong City Council
This artice is the biggest load of unmitigated pointless sentimental and inaccurate slop I have ever read on heritage. Wollongong City Council did not start the fire nor did they have any hand it the building becoming damages or unhabitable. A burnt out building is a public menace if left in that state WCC had not option but to permit demolition once it was damanged to that extent. As for the heritage nostalgia, it is the elderly gentleman rolling around alone in that huge house that was falling apart around him that I feel sorry for. Plus having to put up with visitors who were obviously angling to get his property from him and abusing the poor old guy by feinging interest in him simply in order to get inside his home. Typical of heritage fanatics who place a decrepit building over and abve the safety and well being of humans.
Regentville could have been rebuilt
It was not so damaged it could not have been rebuilt. But the council gave permission for its demolition. No-one said the council lit the fire. You don't have very good comprehension skills.
And who on earth do you
And who on earth do you expect to fork out the million dollars it would take to "rebuild" Regentville? The poor old guy mouldering away in the place and trying to survive on a limited income? The public purse? Get real here. It is that poor old man I have sympathy for, living in that decrepit place, falling apart around him and without enough funds to repair it and live decently and safely. That article accused Wollongong Council of "destroying" Regentville. How so? Precisely how did the Council destroy the place? It is sentimental, irresponsible article, full of sympathy for an inanimate building and none for the old man left in that house all alone and with only nosy visitors who care about and love the house calling in - not anyone for him. Where are the people who care about people?
Galah didn't read article
I read the article. You must have missed something. He was a very wealthy man. No doubt the house was insured. He didn't live there. He moved in with someone nearby years ago. He could have sold the place then to someone who would fix it up. THE HOUSE WAS UNDER HERITAGE PROTECTION. It was very significant in Illawarra history. EVEN THOUGH DAMAGED BY FIRE the heritage protection should have continued. He was willing to sell. He did sell - to a developer. A heritage protected house should never be sold to a developer. There would have been countless people out there who would have bought it and repaired it. It would have sold for less maybe. Also, the developer could have been given permission to use part of the property on condition they repair the house and make it available to the public as a museum or something similar. You obviously don't give a damn about history and would have had the Victoria Barracks pulled down years ago. You silly galah.
Heritage Nazis at it again
This is yet another example of heritage Nazis at work. They expect the owners of such properties - even those in derelict statethat would cost a mint to restore- to personally subsidise their private passions by losing money when selling such a property. If any of you happen to own any property, I would enjoy sending you a letter telling you I have admired your home for years, I think it should be heritage listed and that you should lose a few hundred thousands dollars on any subsequent sale to satisfy my little lick of excitement when I walk past your property. Local government heritage listings are in many, many case nothing more than backdoor part nationalisation of private property without any compensation being paid to the owner. Presicely how much are you willing to donate to "the public" or more presisely these heritage fanatics who want to heritage list anything, irrespective of its actual condition or the ability of an owner to afford it. Who says this lonely old man was wealthy? The individual who listed after this lonely guys property and had their so called "generous" offer to buy it knocked back. If it was so damn generous, then how come it sold to another? I suggest it was because the succesful buyer was prepared to pay what it was worth, unlike the creep who prowled around the place pretending to be interested in the elderly owner, when all they wanted was the property cheaply. If you had been prepared to pay the going market rate, it is clear he would sell. Banning sales to "developers" is nut case policy. Precisely who is a developer? Do they go around with a sign on their forehead stating this? If you own a property, I would like to institute a ban on you selling it to anyone under 2 metres tall. How about that? At least with my ban, a tape measure settles the matter quickly. If it wasn't for developers, almost all the people living in the CBD would hav no where to live.
I agree that heritage listing have gone to far
Council heritage listings are a blight on NSW local government. I have recently read the Productivity Commission report into Built Heritage that exposed how local government was rorting and misusing their heritage listings powers. This included listing items without a proper, professionally acceptable heritage assessment, often using drive by or walk by assessment - not even bothering to examine the state of the property, its interiors, the amount of it that is authentic or to take into account the issue of the cost of restoration. Heritage listings by local government have resulted in stupid listings such as sewer vents, abandoned telephone exchanges and suggestions in Wollongong that a derelict cow shed and asbestos ridden Housing Commission cottages should be listed. This is heritage madness. The sooner the NSW Department of Planning take heritage powers away from local Councils the better. At leats they will have some solid criteria a property will have to meet before they slap a heritage order on it.
Heritage madness
Heritage fanatics have gone too far - especially in Wollongong. A local heritage specialist architect (surprise, surprise: he earns consierable income from this specialisation) is employed by Wollongong Council to author reports on heritage which recommend (surprise, surprise) that the listings be increased. The same heritage specialist architect then is appointed as an "independent" to the Wollongong Council's Heritage Committee, where he gets the inside running on any Development Applications on heritage listed properties coming before the Council AND also gets to have further input into heritage policy - expanding it of course. Then, when poor owners of such properties seek to have variations on heritage listed properties so they can eg., buld a garage or put a window in to allow light and air into their children's bedrooms, guess who it is recommended they hire to write the specialist heritage reports? The incestuous and self serving and conflicted nature of these Wollongong heritage fanatics should be the first thing the new Council CEO gets stuck into.
Re: Historic "Regentville", Heritage Listed House, Permitted by
Hi, I am researching my family tree and have come across your story. This old man must be some relative, as Stephen Finey is my great grand father, and as in your story my grandmother and all her siblings have the second name Lloyd as some members of your story. This is because her great grand father and grand father came to Australia on the Ship Lloyds from London to Adelaide and settled in Brighton, so it seems that there are a lot of similarities. If you can add any further information I would greatly appreciate it. Lesley
"Regentville"
Hi Lesley,
I have a bit of further info but most of it came from the National Archives website where you will find the service records and many letters of your great uncles.
What hand did developers have in this destruction?
This beautiful building was heritage listed.....I want to know which
developer was involved in its destruction. Which developer got
permission to knock it down? Was it maybe Tabak or Tasich or Vellar or
Kollaras? And did council employee Ms Morgan have a hand in
it?
http://www.icac.nsw.gov.au/index.cfm?objectID=EFB7FED2-F509-B599-35C733065258E362
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/21/2168846.htm
Re: Historic "Regentville", Heritage Destroyed
The fact of the matter is that the owner stood to make far more profit
by clearing the site prior to offering it for sale. Instead he chose to
leave the building insitu. Sadly when the property was auctioned no-one
came forward who was prepared to restore the property. For this
unselfish action Mr Finey should be congragulated, not chastized.
Mr Finey
Poor Mr Finey is not at fault here. Wollongong Council should have forbidden its sale to anyone who would not restore it. I know that Mr Finey hated the house and it held sad memories for him, but it is Wollongong Council that should have protected this beautiful historic house. I wonder what happened to the ovens that were in perfect condition. I hope they were not destroyed. This is one of Wollongong's greatest historic building tragedies.
Profit and Regentville
The owner did not need to make a huge profit. Nearing the end of his run, he has no-one to leave the money to anyway. A million dollars would have been plenty to see him out.
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