Uther Street, Surry Hills
In the 1800s, Uther Street, Surry Hills was a short passage between Hercules and Waterloo. Yet, the subdivision of the Uther Estate meant that a lot changed with the large block of land owned by Reuben Uther, a famous hat maker situated on Pitt Street, Sydney.
G’day Charles Touma here and today I’m on Uther Street in the magnificent Surry Hills to talk about how this area was established going back to the very early subdivisions in Surry Hills. Uther Street is now a very short connection road between Hercules and Waterloo but in the 1800s when
the Uther’s Estate was subdivided, it was considered part of Belmore Road. At the time Hercules Street was called Young Street and Cooper Lane was simply referred to as a 14 foot lane, presumably referring to the width. Now the Uther Estate was a very large block of land owned by Reuben Uther. He had arrived in Australia in 1807 at 17 years old and became a hat maker working for a company called Lord & Williams. High-quality hats back in the day were the ultimate sign of wealth and sophistication. Uther opened his own Hat shop on 78 Pitt Street and became well known in Sydney society, he married twice, initially to Maria Hacking in 1812 and later to Ann Iredale in 1829. He had 18 children! When he died at the age of 90 in 1880 he was living on Crown Street in Surry Hills.
Uther Street had obviously been named by 1893 because in the council’s archives is a letter from a Mr J.O’Connor of 9 Uther Street, Surry Hills, who is registering a complaint that his cab, which would have been horse-drawn, had suffered wheel damage from the road at Oxford Square. In his letter, he asks the council for 3 pounds to cover the wheel repair and the hiring of a substitute cab. Interestingly it seems there is still a presence from the Uther family in Surry Hills, Katie Uther Design based on Marlborough Street, surely from the same family that once owned a huge parcel of land in this area. Over the last 2 decades I’ve sold a lot of properties within this area which recently include 104/38 Waterloo St, a 1 Bedroom apartment for $645,000 20 Steel Street, a 3 Bedroom Terrace I sold for $1,650,000 140 Devonshire Street, a 4 Bedroom Terrace I sold for $3.85 million amongst many others. I’m passionate about this area and hope you found the story of the evolution of Uther Street, interesting. My name’s Charles Touma, my Ray White office on Thurlow Street is always open for you to come in and have a chat.