Raper Street, Surry Hills

G’day, Charles Touma here, and today I’m on Raper Street to talk about an iconic but fairly well kept secret, hidden in plain sight in the magnificent Surry Hills. Now as you know the Surry Hills and Redfern areas have a strong artistic and creative flavour, but did you know this building behind me was once the studio for one of Australia’s greatest artists? Now a studio and museum to celebrate his work, Brett Whiteley bought this building in 1985 and moved into it in 1987 initially to work, but then added living spaces enabling him to live and work here. It had previously been a t-shirt factory.

Before his move to Surry Hills, he become the only artist ever to win all three major art prizes simultaneously in Australia, a feat he produced in 1978, winning the Archibald, the Wynne, and the Sulman Prizes. In the 1970s, he lived in Lavender Bay, and from his apartment window, painted several canvases of Sydney Harbour, which became the catalyst for his artistic fame. His relationship with singer and songwriter, Bob Dylan, culminated in 1986 when Dylan was in town. Whiteley organised a press conference for Dylan here in the studio, and the ensuing interview in front of a self portrait of Whiteley, which went around the world. Whiteley hung out with many musicians, including James Taylor and Eric Clapton, but his friendship with Mark Knopfler led to one of his paintings, Alchemy, being featured on the famous Dire Straits album, “Alchemy Live”, which was a massive hit around the world.

Last year, one of Whiteley’s paintings broke the Australian record for the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction. The piece named “Henri’s armchair” sold for $6.136 million. Having said that, arguably the most valuable of all paintings by Whiteley is “The Jacaranda Tree”, owned by collector, Lindsey Hogg, who allegedly received a bid of $15 million for it. Sadly Whiteley was found dead in his Thirroul motel room after overdosing on opiates, but after his passing, the New South Wales government bought the building and turned it into a museum for all of his work as well as a studio hosting young artists. Now as you know, I’ve been selling in the Surry Hills area for over 20 years, and one of my most recent sales is apartment 20/500 Crown Street, a two bedroom warehouse apartment which we recently sold at auction for $2.5 Million. I hope you found this dive into Surry Hills history interesting, my name’s Charles Touma, my office on Thurlow Street is always open for you to come in and have a chat.