A Manly Mansion

A now-demolished property in Stuart Street, on the corner with Addison Road, had a variety of uses over the years. It began in 1885 as Elibank, the large mansion home of a Mr James Smith. Three years later, the house changed its name to Keira, possibly after Mount Keira on the outskirts of Wollongong, and the householder was Mrs Rosina FitzStubbs, widow of well-to-do land agent Robert Fitz-Stubbs. From 1905 up to the mid-1920s, a Mrs J Ritchie was the householder, and the house, now referred to as Keira Hall, was a popular bed and breakfast establishment.
In 1932, there was a change of use, and the building became the home of Manly Presbyterian Grammar School for Boys, founded by the Educational Trust of the Presbyterian Church of NSW. An advertisement described how “its commanding position, pleasant play grounds and large, sunny, well-ventilated rooms combine to render the Manly Presbyterian Grammar School ideal for the welfare and education of boys.” The Headmaster was Mr J H Irvine.
The School closed in 1939 with the approach of WWII, but then in 1940, the site was developed as ‘Keera Hall’, a house for “underprivileged and delinquent children”, run by the Social Service department of the Presbyterian Church in New South Wales. An appeal was launched for funds to provide necessary furnishings: “single iron bedsteads, mattresses, bedding, blankets, linen, also for kitchen and dining-room furniture and equipment; also for a few men, who could bring along a few tools and paint-brushes and repair and tidy the place and the grounds.”
The Boys’ Home closed in December 1962, and the site was subsequently redeveloped with a large three-storey block of units.