“Too Large and Expensive for Us to Maintain”: Sydney’s Anglican Archbishop’s Mansion Sold for $18 Million

• Sydney’s Anglican Diocese sold Bishopscourt, the archbishops’ Darling Point mansion, in 2016 for $18 million
• The 16-room house dates to 1841
• The buyer later transferred it to his teenage son
• The diocese said the house was too costly to maintain

Bishopscourt, the historic Darling Point mansion that served as the residence of Sydney’s Anglican archbishops, had passed to a new owner who was not yet 18, Eternity News reported on January 11, 2019.

Wang Qinghui, 47, bought the 16-room estate from the Anglican Church in 2016 for $18 million and transferred it to his son, Caleb Wang, in December 2018. The house was built in 1841 and originally owned by early settler Thomas Woolley.

The diocese said it sold because of the cost of upkeep. “It was just too large and expensive for us to maintain,” said Doug Marr, registrar of the Diocese of Sydney. Michael Jensen, rector of nearby St Mark’s Anglican Church and son of a former archbishop, noted that the estate had “been subdivided…over the years” and that the building was a substantial financial burden.

The sale turned a residence the church could not afford to keep into capital it could use elsewhere.

Many Jamaican denominations own manses, rectories and bishop’s residences that were built for a different era. Large, old houses can drain a church’s budget through repairs, insurance and security. The Sydney diocese decided that the money was better used elsewhere and sold into one of the country’s most expensive housing markets. Jamaican churches with oversized clergy houses can weigh the same choice: keep, lease or sell and replace with something smaller that suits today’s needs.

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