6 Charles Street

6 Charles Street, 1839

This is of interest as the oldest brick building still standing in Balmain. Designed by John Gibb and built by Robert Blake, this simple, symmetrical, beautifully proportioned bungalow calls to mind Bernard and Kate Smith’s description of the Colonial Georgian cottage style with its “agreeable simplicity and sure sense of proportion”. Note the plain openwork iron verandah columns typical of the early colonial period. The simple geometric forms contrast sharply with the ornate iron “lace” and fluted columns that became popular in the second half of the nineteenth century.