1 Blake Street, Balmain NSW 2041

Ewenton

Ewenton began as one of the grandest of the houses that grew from Robert Blake’s early Balmain estate. The oldest part, known as Blake Vale, was built around 1854–55. When Ewen Wallace Cameron acquired the estate he transformed the relatively restrained house into a larger family residence, using the advantages of a hillside plot and waterfront approach to establish a distinctive Balmain landmark.

In 1860 Cameron engaged local architect James McDonald to give Blake Vale an imposing new entrance and upper storey. Cameron renamed the enlarged home Ewenton. A further campaign in 1872 brought McDonald back to design a dramatic southern wing, with three high storeys and unusually emphatic stone-window detailing. The architecture is a record of several building phases rather than the product of one uniform design.

Cameron died at Ewenton in 1876. The family’s subdivision helped create the surrounding street pattern. Later the house was used for boarding and commercial purposes and deteriorated during industrial ownership; a serious fire struck in 1980. Conservation and restoration saved it. Its historic street identification as 6 Ewenton Street should not be confused with its current reported address at 1 Blake Street. The genuine journal photograph records the major 1872 wing before later restoration.

Source: Peter Reynolds, “Robert Blake: Soldier, Sheriff and Spec Builder”, Leichhardt Historical Journal No. 8 (1979), pp. 16–23; photograph at PDF page 21. View LHJ source PDF.