Martens' "Account of pictures painted at Sydney, N.S. Wales" records that he received 4 guineas for a picture of 'Spencer Lodge' from Jno. Lamb Esq. on 10th October 1851. [Mitchell Library ZDL MS142]. Two preliminary drawings exist in the Dixson collections of the State Library of NSW: an undated sketch titled 'Spencer Lodge, Millers Point / Edwards Esq' (ZPX 26, folio 42) and one titled 'Millers Point, Sydney Harbour' dated 'Oct. 1847' in an album associated with Eliezer Levi Montefiore (1820-1894) (ZDL PXX60, folio 49).
Spencer Lodge, Millers Point, was a twelve-room brick and shingle colonial townhouse with a verandah looking westwards across Darling Harbour towards Balmain and another verandah looking across the Harbour to the north shore. It was built in 1835 for a Mr Edwards who lived in London and its first tenant was the wealthy merchant John Lamb. Lamb had a wharf and warehouse on the water's edge not far from his house. Shirley Fitzgerald and Christopher Keating in
Millers Point: the urban village (1991) say that Spencer Lodge, along with a house named Moorcliff, was "a tangible statement of the prominence of mercantile gentry in early Millers Point" (p.28).
Martens' view of Spencer Lodge is painted from Balmain.
(MM February 2005)
