Glebe

Glebe is an inner-western suburb of Sydney.

Glebe is an inner-western suburb of Sydney. Glebe is located 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) southwest of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney, in the Inner West region.

Glebe is surrounded by Blackwattle Bay and Rozelle Bay, inlets of Sydney Harbour, in the north. The suburb of Ultimo lies to the east and the suburbs of Annandale and Forest Lodge lie to the west. The southern boundary is formed by Parramatta Road and Broadway. Broadway is a locality sited along the road of the same name, which is located on the border of Glebe, Chippendale and Ultimo.

Glebe's name is derived from the fact that the land on which it was developed was a glebe, originally owned by the Anglican Church. 'The Glebe' was a land grant of 162 hectares (400 acres) given by Governor Arthur Phillip to Reverend Richard Johnson, Chaplain of the First Fleet, in 1790.In the 19th century, Glebe was home to architect, Edmund Blacket, who had migrated from England. Blacket built his family home, Bidura, on Glebe Point Road in 1858, designing it along conventional Victorian Regency lines. He also designed St John's Church, on the corner of Glebe Point Road and St Johns Road. The church was built from 1868 to 1870.

The suburb of Glebe was home to a first grade football team in the New South Wales Rugby League, now the National Rugby League. The Glebe Dirty Reds were formed in 1908 and played in the first seasons of rugby league in Australia, with home games at Wentworth Park. The foundation club did not win a premiership, and was excluded from the competition in 1930.

In the 1970s, feminist activists took over an abandoned terrace house and set up Australia's first women's shelter, the Elsie Refuge.

The original vegetation was the Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest. A veteran Ironbark still grows at the grounds of St John's Anglican Church, at Glebe Point Road.

Glebe Town Hall, a heritage-listed civic building, which was used as the seat of the Glebe Municipal Council from its opening 1880 to 1948. Since merging with the City of Sydney council in that year, the building has been used extensively as a community hall for local concerts, rehearsals, balls, parties, conferences, and society meetings.

Rozelle Tram Depot, constructed in stages from 1904, is the largest remaining tram depot in Sydney, and is one of five remaining tram depots in the state of New South Wales.Operations ceased on 22 November 1958. The depot at present contains six historic trams, some of which date back to the 1930s, as well as an old coach that has been heavily vandalised. The trams that were in near mint condition prior to 2000 have now been vandalised, stripped and painted with graffiti. The depot served the inner western suburbs tram routes to Leichhardt, Balmain, Birchgrove, Abbotsford, and Lilyfield. During its peak of operations the depot was a major place of employment, employing up to 650 staff and was one of few workplaces of significant size in the Glebe area during its period. The depot ceased operations on 22 November 1958.

Sze Yup Temple (Chinese: ???) is located in Edward Street and was originally built in 1898 by Chinese immigrants from Sze Yup, Guangdong, China. It provided a focal point for the early Chinese market gardeners in the area and is still in use today. The present building, which replaced one destroyed by fire, dates from 1955. Arsonists caused another fire in January 2008, damaging the roof and all its contents. Racism and anti-Chinese sentiments just prior to Chinese New Year in February were suspected as motives, but police refused to confirm or deny this. While refusing to agree to community suspicions that the fire was racially motivated, in January 2009 the local council allowed reconstruction work as a sign of goodwill. The temple is heritage-listed.

Bellevue, located in Blackwattle Park, was built in 1896 by Ambrose Thornley for prominent Glebe resident William Jarrett. It was later restored and turned into a café. Bellevue is heritage-listed.

Bidura, situated on Glebe Point Road, was built by the architect Edmund Blacket for his family. Built in 1857, the house may have been influenced by the design of the nearby Toxteth Park. It is heritage-listed.

St Scholastica's College George Allen, who established a legal firm and became Lord Mayor of Sydney in 1844, constructed this building as his home and called it Toxteth Park. St Scholastica's College moved to this site from Pitt Street in the centre of Sydney, in 1901. The building is heritage-listed.

Lyndhurst This mansion was built between 1834 and 1837 for Dr James Bowman, who was the principal surgeon of the nearby Sydney Hospital. It was designed by the noted architect John Verge, in the Regency style. The building was resumed in 1972 with the intention of demolishing it as part of a proposed freeway project. However, it was saved as a result of public protest, then handed over to the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales in 1983. In 2004 it was sold and then returned to use as a private home. Lyndhurst is heritage-listed.

Coroner's Court of New South Wales This building is prominently located on Parramatta Road and often in the news due to inquests being conducted there.

Johnstons Creek rises in Stanmore and flows in a generally northward direction towards Rozelle Bay. The creek passes beneath the stands of the former Harold Park Paceway prior to emptying into Rozelle Bay at Bicentennial Park, Glebe.

Glebe Jubilee fountain erected in 1909 on the corner of Glebe Point Road and Broadway commemorates the Jubilee of Glebe as a municipality.