With a colourful range of buildings and similarly colourful lifestyle, these very aspects of Manly life are being explored in an exhibition at the Manly Art Gallery and Museum, titled Condemned and Preserved. Condemned and Conserved explores the lost and preserved built heritage of Manly. Once the famous Sydney ferries made Manly accessible, mansions, hotels, guest houses, holiday homes and flats proliferated.
However, the exhibition not only looks at the bricks and mortar of the Manly area, it also explores the lives of those who once inhabited this earlier lifestyle.
“Life was gracious in the early days, with picnics scenic walks, Venetian water carnivals and two camera obscura,” said Curator of Condemned and Conserved, Robin Moorhouse. “Later, of course, there was surfing, dancing, dining out, cinemas and ice skating.”
Manly, with its stunning ocean beaches and gentle harbour coves, attracted many property developers throughout the years.
The many transformations give Manly the character that it possesses to this day. Among the more striking buildings commemorated in Condemned and Conserved is Marinella, built in 1881. Known locally as ‘Dalley’s Castle’ (it was home to Colonial politician William Bede Dalley), Marinella was a great sandstone pile built during the 1880s boom time, a period of grandiose architecture which included St Patrick’s Seminary and Clavering (now Dalwood).
Opening on 19 April, the exhibition will run until the 25 August 2002. For further information, contact Manly Art Gallery and Museum Curator, Katherine Roberts, on (02) 9948 3391.
