Overview
We have a proactive approach to heritage conservation in our local area.This includes conserving buildings with heritage significance dating from the 19th and early 20th centuries, and also outstanding buildings from more recent times which are an important part of the heritage of our local area. In 2021, the Woollahra Council Heritage Gap Analysis was endorsed and that report identified Significant Architects as a topic worthy of study.
Architecture firm Joseland & Gilling is the first to be nominated from a list of significant architects who have made major contributions to our cultural heritage. Formed in 1919, Joseland and Gilling designed buildings in our area in the 1920s onwards. While some of their designs have previously been recognised as heritage items and are contained in the Woollahra Local Environmental Plan 2014, such as Bonnington, a home in Bellevue Hill (pictured above), we understand other buildings in the Woollahra LGA, designed by the firm have heritage values and may merit heritage listing.
We've identified buildings designed by Joseland and Gilling located in Bellevue Hill, Point Piper, Rose Bay, Vaucluse and Woollahra which are not heritage listed. We are now investigating whether any of the buildings identified merit listing as heritage items in their own right, or whether they may contribute to a Heritage Conservation Area where there is a group of buildings with heritage significance.
Joseland and Gilling was formed in 1919, comprising Richard George Howard Joseland and English-trained architect Frederick Glynn Gilling. The firm completed building designs for residential and commercial buildings across Sydney and NSW. The majority of the buildings were located in Sydney city (commercial), the Woollahra local government area (family homes and apartment buildings) and on the lower and upper north shore (apartment buildings and family homes).
A key publication of Australian historical architectural designs, Identifying Australian Architecture (Apperley et al, 1989) identified F. Glynn Gilling as a key practitioner of the Inter-War Mediterranean style, along with the Inter-war Old English style.
We welcome your feedback
Council welcomes your comments on the study. We invite property owners and residents to share information about the property such as images, historic information and stories, aspects of the building you love and anything else you think is relevant to our heritage study.
You can provide your comments by completing the form below or by email to Gina Scheer, Heritage Officer at gina.scheer@woollahra.nsw.gov.au.
The study will be carried out in accordance with the NSW Government guideline Assessing heritage significance 2025. To inform the study we are arranging site inspections.
Next steps
Once the study is drafted, we will circulate this to affected owners for feedback. We will then collate submissions, and update the Draft Study accordingly.
The Draft Study (and submissions) will then be reported to Council’s Local Planning Panel (Woollahra LPP), and the advice of the LPP will be reported to a future meeting of Council. You will be notified again of the upcoming meetings and you will be provided with an opportunity to address or submit correspondence to the decisions makers. Should the Planning Proposal progress, there will be a formal public exhibition of the proposal. If you would like to stay updated via email, press +Follow at the top of this page.
At each stage of the process, property owners and residents of the identified buildings will have an opportunity to make submissions to Council.
For more information see our FAQs section on this page.
Share your comments on one or more buildings to assist in our Heritage Study
Please complete the feedback form below.
