It’s a Maitland Street packed with history, grandeur and lovingly restored heritage homes.
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Regent Street is one of the city’s most sought after locations with a streetscape set to rival that of any other.
Friends of Grossmann House will showcase Regent Street, once the main highway with heavy traffic and coal trucks and now a peaceful part of suburbia, during a heritage walk on Sunday.
Regent Street has some architectural gems from the 1850s to the mid 1900s.
Classified as an urban conservation area, Regent Street is home to some of Maitland’s monumental mansion’s like Benhome and Cintra.
Cintra was built for Benjamin Levy (Managing partner for the firm of David Cohen and Co., merchants, of Sydney and Newcastle) in 1878 and added to in 1887 by its new owner Neville Cohen. It was designed by Hunter architectural firm of J.W. Pender and included a second wing. What began as a 23 room house became 31 rooms including an attic and cellar.
It is an imposing property with ballroom, servants’ quarters and stables and has served as a private home, hospital and also flats. It includes gardens and stables.
The home was sold to the Long family in 1917 and operated as a private hospital from the first World War until the 1930s when it returned to being a private residence.
The NSW Department of Environment and Heritage said Cintra’s garden and stables are of State heritage significance for their exceptional aesthetic value as an outstanding, highly intact example of a Victorian Italianate-style town villa.
The house is a widely recognised architectural landmark in Maitland and contributes to the heritage of the Hunter Valley, demonstrating the pattern of settlement and commercial expansion of the region prior to the growth of Newcastle.
Not far from Cintra and nextdoor to Benhome is Merewa, once a classic Victorian Georgian home of generous proportions with an elegant verandah from which to enjoy the beautiful gardens to the front and rear. Merewa is now a shadow of its former self.
Architectural enthusiast Wayne Campbell will guide the walk which starts at 2pm and will finish with an afternoon tea at Brough House in Church Street. Bookings are essential for the walk ($25 or $20 for National Trust members) and are available through Holly McNamee on 49333330.
