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Paul Soresen’s Westella Garden (Katoomba, Australia's Blue Mountains)
Paul Soresen’s Westella Garden (Katoomba, Australia's Blue Mountains)

In the 1880s the original house called Westella was built on the undeveloped track leading from Waratah Street down to Echo Point. It was owned by a minister, the Reverend Mr Mathieson, who leased it out as a boarding-house at least from 1891. Mathieson retained the property until 1914.

From about 1891 until 1894 Westella was run by Mrs Knight, who then moved across Katoomba Street. By 1908 Westella was managed by a Mrs Payne, who was succeeded in 1912 by a widow, Mrs Crisford.

The transformation of the guesthouse into a large establishment with an interesting garden began after 1914, when Mrs Crisford and her sister Mrs Macdougall bought Westella from Mathieson. The two sisters progressively extended and improved the accommodation, bought two adjacent cottages and engaged Paul Sorensen to plan the garden at the rear of the guesthouse. Sorensen had only recently come to the Mountains to work at the Carrington and Westella was one of the earliest commissions in his exceptionally distinguished career as an independent landscape designer. Sorensen’s garden plantings and lay-out survive in part on the Waratah Lane frontage of the property.

Westella remained under one or other of the sisters until 1951. After changing hands and lessees several times, it was damaged by fire and demolished in 1957. The site is now occupied by a large Chinese restaurant with spacious parking for cars and coaches.

The rear entrance on Waratah Lane remains in neglected condition, with the Sorensen garden incorporating a lawn court used for tennis in the heyday of Westella.

Source: New South Wales Heritage Register.

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Taken on: January 1, 2018
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Sets appears in:   • The Blue Mountains (Katoomba, Leura, Glenbrook, Lapstone)   
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ISO: 100
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