Endangered Houses Fund

The Endangered Houses Fund program (EHF) is the developer of last resort. Our mission is to save important places that conventional wisdom says are impossible to save. If these projects were easy, they would be done by the private sector.

Through the EHF program the HHT identifies significant ‘at-risk’ properties and saves them from demolition or unsympathetic development. We then secure a sustainable future by offering them back to the community as inspiring places to live or work. This entrepreneurial approach to heritage conservation rotates and re-uses funds, leveraging the power of the donated dollar.

Through the work of the EHF we are able to demonstrate to the community that conservation makes sense, even when the task appears almost impossible. For many important at-risk properties, the EHF is the last hope.

Buildings rescued by our supporters:

Glenfield

Glenfield Homestead, c1920, photographer unknown and Glenfield, Casula 2008. Photograph (c) Paolo Busato

The first property saved through the EHF was the nationally significant Glenfield. Built in 1817 by Dr Charles Throsby, the property was in a terrible state of disrepair, having suffered from vandalism and neglect. Through the generous support of the public over $1.1 million was raised towards the cost of saving this special property. The conservation is now complete and the 1.2-hectare property – which includes a 14-room homestead, garden with stables, dairy, tennis court and views to the east – will soon be sold and become a family home once again.

Click here for more information on Glenfield

Beulah, Appin

Beulah is an early colonial homestead complex on Sydney’s outskirts still in its original landscape setting. The property was threatened by encroaching urban development and its c1835 house was at further risk from demolition through neglect and vandalism. The combination of convict-built homestead, entry bridge and outbuildings in an original setting gives Beulah unusually high significance, especially combined with the large area of endangered Cumberland Plain woodland that surrounds the property. Through the EHF, Beulah and its natural landscape will be transformed into a living property once more using both traditional and contemporary design and building elements.

Throsby Park, Moss Vale

Iconic Throsby Park is the surviving centrepiece of a once vast rural holding. It was granted by Governor Macquarie to Dr Charles Throsby in 1819 and was the earliest land grant outside the County of Cumberland. This grand property has been home to six generations of the Throsby family and is intimately connected to the memory of Del Throsby and the legendary Throsby Park Riding School. Recently transferred to the custodianship of the HHT, the property was kept in a museum-like state for 35 years. The HHT will undertake major works that will once again allow the property to be used as a family home. We need your help to secure a future for this magnificent part of our state’s history.

Click here for more information on Throsby Park

Former St Stephen’s Manse, Moruya

The c1864 Presbyterian manse building is located in Moruya, on the New South Wales South Coast. Its interiors are a catalogue of domestic wallpaper and paint finishes from the 19th and early 20th centuries. The property was endangered because the delicate conservation required was beyond the average purchaser.
The manse is currently in extremely poor condition and our challenge is to create domestic comfort while conserving the fragile interior finishes. This project is an opportunity to share our passion for conservation in a new region and save an amazing relic of the South Coast.

Exeter Farm, Glenwood

Exeter Farm is located on the north-western outskirts of Sydney and consists of two modest timber slab cottages. The cottages were originally set in a rural landscape but are now surrounded by suburbia. Before conservation work commenced the buildings were in an appalling condition and had suffered severe damage from vandalism and termites. They had been uninhabited for decades. It is truly unbelievable that the property is still standing, let alone on its way to becoming a home or place of business.

The Foundation for the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales is the principal fundraising arm for the EHF

Thanks to the generosity of our donors, the Foundation fully funded the conservation of the first house to be saved through the EHF program, Glenfield in Casula. For a full list of the major Glenfield donors please click here.

While all proceeds from the sale of Glenfield's long-term lease will be used to save other houses, we will never have enough money to save all houses. This is why the Foundation continuously seeks philanthropic support for the EHF.

DONATE TODAY

All contributions to the EHF to help preserve our heritage are tax-deductible.

If you would like more information about supporting the EHF, please contact: