Bomera and Tarana, Victorian villas in Potts Point, Australia.
Bomera and Tarana are two adjoining villas in Potts Point featuring different exteriors, one in sandstone and the other with rendered walls, both overlooking the harbour. The buildings display Italianate architectural features and were constructed by the McQuade family.
Bomera was built in 1856 for William McQuade, a Windsor merchant, on land that formed part of the 1822 grant to Judge-Advocate John Wylde, after whom Wylde Street is named. Its architect was John Frederick Hilly, who used sandstone in an early Italianate style; the stables, coach house and boundary walls were finished by 1865. Tarana was designed by Edward H. Buchanan and built by John Alexander Oag in 1889, with a third storey added by Sheerin & Hennessy in 1907. The property joined the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 23 June 2000.
The name Potts Point honours Joseph Hyde Potts, accountant at the Bank of New South Wales, who bought six acres of Judge-Advocate John Wylde's 1822 grant in 1830; Wylde Street carries the judge's name. William McQuade, a Windsor merchant who helped establish Randwick Racecourse, bought the land in 1856 and built Bomera that same year. The houses are also known as Boomera and Taranah.
The properties sit in an established Sydney neighbourhood with good access. Following restoration in 2003, Bomera became a single residence while Tarana operates as three separate apartments.
The gardens of both homes contain trees over a century old, including a Queensland Kauri Pine planted around 1900. This towering tree shapes the western section of the grounds to this day.
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