Tempe House

Today we went on a walk along the Cooks River, not far from home. The river used to be a sludge pit, home to rubish and dumped shopping trolleys but today there was none of that. Environmentalists are winning!

Whenever I drove south over the Cooks River Bridge a couple of decades ago I was intrigued by what clearing on the south west bank was revealing - Tempe House, a beautiful Georgian villa designed by John Verge and built between 1833-6, for merchant Alexander Brodie Spark.

A few years later ABS fell on hard times and after he died the house had various purposes including a home for unmarried mothers. Much sadness around all that in those days. 

Tempe House was heritage listed in 1999. Thank goodness because now it is surrounded by high rise units. Some of the lower rise ones can be seen in the background.

Thanks for hosting Skeena.