Old North Sydney History Walk

This walk will help you explore some of North Sydney’s oldest timber and stone dwellings and some of its most evocative streets.

22 Edward Street
20 Edward Street
48-52 Lord Street
40-46 Lord Street
32-38 Lord Street
Lord Street steps
74-76 Bank Street
61 Bank Street
70 Bank Street
66-68 Bank Street
64 Bank Street
50 Bank Street
42 Bank Street
29 Bank Street
Railway line
27-29 Ancrum Street
31 Ancrum Street
Tye Park
37 Ancrum Street
Euroka Street
20-28 Union Street
34-40 Union Street
77-79 Union Street
44 Union Street
111 Union Street
Cnr of Union Street and Blues Point Road
177 Blues Point
218-220 Blues Point Road

North Sydney has been home to some of the wealthiest people in the city and some of its poorest. The buildings in and around Lord, Euroka, Ancrum, Bank and Union streets are evidence of this social divide. On top of the ridge are grand stone-built Graythwaite and Upton Grange, while below are the narrow streets and houses of the old Euroka Estate.

Writer and poet Henry Lawson, who fondly described ‘Old North Sydney’ and its community, knew this area well. He lived alongside the families of stonemasons, carpenters and mariners. But life could be hard. In 1956 the Sydney Morning Herald referred to Ancrum Street as one of several Sydney addresses in which it was ‘hard to live’ and ‘easy to die’. However, by the 1970s gentrification had begun to transform the demographic of the area. The newcomers restored rather than demolished the old dwellings. Much of it is now protected as a Conservation Area that sits partly in the suburbs of North Sydney, Waverton and McMahons Point.

Old North Sydney History Walk - Walks