Lindesay, Darling Point

Lindesay is a house in Darling Point, Sydney, Australia. It was built in 1834 and is listed by the Heritage Council as a building of historical significance. It was the first major house to be constructed on Darling Point and is aesthetically important as the earliest example of the domestic Gothic style in Sydney. Some of its residents were colourful figures who played an important part in the history of New South Wales. It is owned by the National Trust of Australia.The Riddells who built LindesayCampbell Drummond Riddell was born in 1796 in Scotland. His grandfather was Sir James Riddell, first baronet of Ardnamurchan, Argyllshire. In 1829 he joined the colonial service and was sent briefly to Ceylon as a commissioner of inquiry. While he was in Ceylon he met Caroline Stuart Rodney who was the daughter of the government secretary there.Caroline was born in 1814 in Ceylon and was only 16 when she married Campbell Riddell in 1830 in Colombo. She was part of a very large family. Her father was the Honorable John Rodney and her mother was Lady Louisa Martha Stratford, his second wife. Her mother died when she was a baby and her father married again.Shortly after the Riddells were married they sailed to Sydney where Campbell was to assume his new appointment as Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales. In 1834 Campbell commenced construction of Lindesay on Darling Point. They moved into the house in 1836 and by this time they had one two-year-old son. They resided at Lindesay for only a short time, less than two years. A notice in the Sydney Gazette for April 1838 said that Caroline had given birth to their second child, a son, at Darlinghurst. Campbell and Caroline had five children altogether, two sons and three daughters.