817 Victoria Road

Ryde NSW 2112

Investor's Dream:
"The Retreat" presents a fantastic opportunity for astute investors. With its rich history and original architectural features, this property holds significant potential.

PLEASE NOTE:
THE BEST PARKING IS ON Shepherd Street RYDE or in Addington House 813 Victoria Road, Ryde

Address: ‘The Retreat’ 817 Victoria Road Ryde
Contact: Gavin McCutcheon 0413 686 969
Email: gavin@atrealty.com.au

State Heritage Register: Listing No: 00506

Statement Of Significance

The Retreat is an item of State significance as a rare example, in the Ryde district, of a simple early to mid 19th century sandstone cottage built by Isaac Shepherd, the owner of Addington and a member of the NSW Parliament, for his sister, Ann and brother-in-law, William Henry. Henry an early pioneer in the Ryde area and a close friend of Samuel Marsden, was a member of the first group of white missionaries to visit Tahiti. The Retreat is important as a heritage item because it is one of the oldest buildings in the area and has early associations with Addington. (Heritage Office files)

Criteria a) Historical Significance
The land on which The Retreat was built was owned by James Shepherd and his descendents, the Henry family, from 1799 to 1911. The Retreat was built about 1843 to provide a home for Ann Henry, nee Shepherd, when she and her husband, the Reverend William Henry, retired as missionaries in Tahiti. The Shepherd family were significant pioneers of the agricultural, commercial , religious and civic life of Ryde in the nineteenth century. The neighbouring homes of Isaac Shepherd at Addington and his sister Ann at the Retreat are rare survivors of contiguous family houses. (Commission of Inquiry 1987) Criteria b)

Historical Association Significance
The Retreat is associated through the Reverend William Henry with the first church service in the Ryde disctrict in 1798 and early efforts to build a local church and school. The Retreat is associated thorugh the Reverend William Henry with the first Christian missionaries to visit the Pacific and establish a European settlement there. Henry was among the first group and remained through personal and political adversity as the longest serving member of thesepioneer missionaries. His children and their descendants, scattered through Tahiti, Hawaii and New Zealand, pioneered European settlement in the South Pacific. (Commission of Inquiry 1987)
Criteria c)

Aesthetic/Technical Significance
The Retreat is significant as a modest house to which its construction relied upon family members and a retirement pension of a retiring missionary. The scale of the Retreat, a small cottage, set back from a thoroughfare which even in the 1840s was a main route to
Parramatta, evokes the modesty and retirment of its missionary worker and his slight financial resources in comparison with his waelthier in-laws, the Shepherds at the adjoining Addington. (Commission of Inquiry 1987) Criteria f)

Rarity
Though Ryde is the third district of European settlement in Australia, only a small number of its buildings before 1850 survive. The Retreat is a rare example of a simple cottage that were once common in the disrict. (Commission of Inquiry 1987)

Physical Description

Site:
The Retreat is sited on a large residential block, the building itself being set back considerably from Victoria Road. The front garden contains remnants of previous landscaping, including rose bushes, a central pathway leading to the house

Cottage:
The Retreat is a four roomed sand stone cottage, with a later addition of two attic rooms each with a dormer window facing the rear of the cottage. A kitchen and bathroom wing has been added to the rear of the cottage.
The external walls of the cottage are of solid dressed sandstone now rendered both sides. The hipped corrugated iron roof is of timber collar tie construction with batten spaces indicating that it may have been previously shingled. The roof eaves have a timber boarded soffit.
Several walls and ceilings in the rear rooms are of lath and plaster while other ceilings are of pressed metal.
The timber floors, window joinery and fireplaces appear to be in sound condition (Branch Managers Report 249/85, 1 July 1985)

SITE HISTORY:
The land on which "The Retreat" was later built was originally a grant of 30 acres from Lieutenant-Governor Paterson to James Squire in
July 1795. Squire found land closer to the river more suitable for his brewery and wharf and in July 1799 sold his grant to his neighbour
(and former assigned convict servant (RCC, 2016)), James Shepherd, for 50 pounds. This land was owned by Shepherd's descendants until 1911.