The House I Keep Coming Back To: The Real Story of the Swifts Mansion, Darling Point
There's a house in Sydney’s Darling Point that I can't seem to stay away from.
Behind a brooding sandstone wall covered in shade from the towering Moreton Bay figs that line the streets of the posh pocket of the Eastern suburbs, there’s a gothic mansion that has an air of mystery. And tight security (which adds to the allure, right?).
My parents were married there in 1984. Four decades later, I stood in the same grounds and married Brook and Chris in season 13 of nine’s Married At First Sight. It’s a house that has quietly been one of the most fascinating buildings in Sydney, with a history most people walk straight past without ever knowing.
So I did a little digging, let me tell you what I found about the history of Swifts.
Exterior shot of Swifts mansion, photography by CC Media Films, film photography by Euphoria Films
A castle built on beer
Swifts is a late-Victorian Gothic Revival mansion, all turrets and gables and slate, sitting on some of the best harbour real estate in the country. The Australian Heritage Council has called it "perhaps the grandest house remaining in Sydney," and once you've stood in front of it, you don't argue.
It was built in stages between roughly 1875 and 1882 for Sir Robert Lucas Lucas-Tooth, a brewer who made his fortune the way a lot of thirsty Sydney fortunes were made back then: beer. He reportedly wanted a house that reminded him of home, so he had it remodelled to look like his family's ancestral seat in England: the Great Swifts Manor in Cranbrook, Kent, which is of course where the name comes from. And because he could (thanks to Sydney’s thirst favouring his ales), he hired the French-born Sydney architect Gustavus Alphonse Morrell to make it grander still.
This was the 1880s, money was pouring into the colonies from English banks, and Sir Robert built exactly the kind of structural statement a man like that can when he wants everyone to know he's arrived. Cheers.
The rival who bought his house
To keep the tale of ales juicy, the keys to Swifts swapped hands in 1900, when Sir Robert’s greatest business rival, the German immigrant and fellow beer brewer Edmund Resch purchased the property.
Resch had come out to Australia in 1863 as a teenager chasing gold, ended up in brewing instead (you might argue liquid gold’s more satisfying I guess), and founded the Lion Brewery empire with his brothers.
So one brewing dynasty built this house, and a competing brewing dynasty moved in and put their feet up. I’m just imagining them all charging their pewter pints in front of the open fireplace of the fancy drawing room toasting to their business victories. Resch was so happy with what he'd inherited from his rival that he barely changed a thing, just some redecorating and a tennis court. Of course.
The Resch years weren't quiet. During the First World War, with anti-German feeling running hot, Edmund reportedly topped up the wages of about 60 of his employees who'd gone off to enlist. And in 1929, after the family sold the brewery to Tooth & Co, it’s alleged someone (thought to be a disgruntled worker who didn't want the merger) set off dynamite against the wall surrounding Swifts. The papers had a field day: "Terrific Explosion Tears Hole in Wall Round Edmund Resch's Mansion." A house with its own explosion. Boom.
Three cardinals and a very big will
When Edmund Resch Jr died at Swifts in 1963, he left a personal fortune of £6.5 million, at the time the largest estate ever lodged for probate in Australia. For another little twist, despite his Lutheran background, he left the house and a huge chunk of that fortune to the Roman Catholic Church, with much of it going to the Sisters of Charity to build St Vincent's Private Hospital.
That single decision saved Swifts. All around it, the grand old Darling Point mansions were being knocked down and replaced with home-unit high-rises. Resch's will effectively locked Swifts away from sale and demolition for 20 years. While its neighbours fell, Swifts stood.
For decades after that, it was the official residence of the Archbishops of Sydney, home to three cardinals: Gilroy, Freeman and Clancy. And its private chapel was used for masses and weddings.
Which brings me to my mum and dad.
PHOTOS: Exterior photos of Swifts, Darling Point, taken on the day of my parents' wedding in October 1984.
1984
My parents were married at Swifts in October 1984, when the house was the residence of the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney and its chapel was still hosting weddings. I grew up knowing ‘Mum and Dad got married in that big fancy mansion’, but I didn't really know an awful lot about Sir Robert or Edmund or the dynamite back then. To me it was just the beautiful place where my parents got married, and I kind of knew that had something to do with beer, which was very on-brand given they ran a pub (another lovely thread woven into the significance of this story, isn’t it).
PHOTOS: My parents' 1984 wedding at Swifts, Darling Point. Yes, they had a professional photographer. No, there aren’t many photos where everyone has their eyes open.
Full circle, and a full restoration
By the 1990s the house needed saving again. In 1997 the Moran family bought Swifts for a reported $12 million and spent years bringing it back, working with the NSW Heritage Council to restore it to its original 1870s Tooth-era glory: the decorative paintwork, the ballroom with its portraits of composers and its sprung dance floor, even the pipe organ.
And the loveliest detail of all: the current owner, Dr Shane Moran, is a descendant of Thomas Barker, the merchant who was granted this very land back in 1833, before the house even existed. After all those owners and all those years, the land came back to the family it started with. Sir Robert Lucas-Tooth's dying words, reported in the Herald, were "I would like my work to go on." It has.
And then there was Brook and Chris
Fast forward to me, standing in those grounds, marrying Brook and Chris for Married At First Sight. I play absolutely no part in the choice of location for the ceremony I am a part of. I’m told, in secret, of the address as close to the time of filming as possible. So you can just imagine my absolute delight when I found out my Season 13 ceremony would be at Swifts!
Bec conducting the MAFS ceremony for Brook and Chris at Swifts, photo by nine
I've married a lot of couples in a lot of beautiful places, but standing in that spot, knowing my parents said their vows in the chapel inside the grand doors behind me, four decades earlier, in a house built by warring beer barons and saved by a will and restored by the family who first owned the dirt, well. Not many ceremonies come with that much history holding them up.
A good friend of mine, a photographer, shot a wedding there recently too, and seeing those images land in my feed gave me the same feeling all over again. Some places just hold love well. Swifts is one of them.
The stunning Swifts Mansion, photography by CC Media Films, film photography by Euphoria Films
If you're dreaming of a Swifts ceremony
Swifts is privately owned and is currently a residential home, however it does open for a small number of events, so it's not your everyday wedding venue. Those who do book this incredible venue are likely to have their incredible day curated by specialist luxury wedding planners. If you are lucky enough to celebrate your love in a place like this, it’s my humble opinion that you deserve a celebrant who'll match the setting: professional, elegant, and poised yet relaxed and genuinely fun, who will craft a heartfelt ceremony that will become everyone's favourite part of the day.
That's what I'm here for. If you're planning a wedding that’s gloriously grand and full of heartfelt joy, get in touch and let's talk. I've got you.
Bec xx
