Ferdinand Reuss (1821 - 96)

Ferdinand Reuss was active as an architect, builder and surveyor during the 1870s and 1880s. He trained as a civil engineer in the firm of Robert Stevenson, the great lighthouse engineer and grandfather of Robert Louis Stevenson. He was working in the USA, when the discovery of gold led him to Victoria in 1851. He soon moved to Sydney, however, and established an architectural business at 134 Pitt Street, Sydney. By 1863 he was living in Hereford Street, Glebe and within about two years purchased two parcels of land on either side of Pyrmont Bridge Road near Woolley Street. On these he built 'cottages', most of which he rented to others. He built The Hermitage at 154 Bridge Road (in which he lived from 1866 until his death in 1896),

Reussdale, now and then!

Hamilton at 156 Bridge Road (now derelict) and Reussdale, shown here (now and then) at 160 Bridge Road are thought to date from the late 1860s. Reussdale is seen as the earliest example of High Victorian domestic design in Glebe and its very existence is threatened by neglect [as seen in above photo], despite the listing of these Reuss' buildings by the National Trust. Local residents continue to be outraged by this blatant abuse of such a highly-valued heritage building.

On the other side of Bridge Road, Reuss is attributed to the building of No. 177 and his family later built Hamilton Lodge (named after Sir William Hamilton) in Woolley Street.