Some residential blocks on the Peninsula are small as they were originally for ‘camping blocks,’ not houses.
Readers may have noticed that the residential blocks near some of the beaches in the southern part of the Peninsula, such as at North Curl Curl and parts of Freshwater, are very small. The reason is that they were originally subdivided and offered for sale as sites for building weekend camps rather than permanent dwellings.
The Seagull Estate subdivision of 1910 at North Curl Curl is a good example. Located immediately east of Griffin Road, between Pitt and Abbott Roads, it offered ‘85 camping blocks’ and included the advice that there was ‘no building restriction – build what you want’.
The trigger for offering this land was the imminent coming of the tram to Brookvale. The estate was claimed to be near the new tram terminus. If that was not enough to tempt you, ‘every buyer will be presented with a bathing costume’.
The still-embryonic Warringah Council was not necessarily impressed by these types of developments. Their rateable values were small but they created the need for services.
Despite the wishes of the council, residences in Warringah remained sparse and simple for many years. The 1921 Census showed a total of only 2,238 dwellings and only 17 per cent of them were constructed of brick or stone. This compared with 80 per cent in the rest of Sydney. Sixty-eight dwellings were canvas, although a new material called fibro-cement was appearing.
However, not all weekenders were small and primitive.
At the northern end of the Peninsula, such as at Palm Beach – where distance and lack of public transport restricted access to only the wealthier members of society who had motor cars – a much higher class of bungalow appeared and on larger blocks of land. But they continued to be built primarily of timber, albeit to a much higher standard. They retained a ‘weekender’ character.
Richard Michell is the vice-president of the Manly, Warringah and Pittwater Historical Society and the secretary of Friends of Dee Why Lagoon. Visit mwphs.org.au and fodyl.au respectively.