International House is a heritage-listed commercial building at 14-16 York Street, in the Sydney central business district, in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Robertson & Marks and built during 1913 by Howie, Brown & Moffat, Master Builders. It is also known as Pomeroy House. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
History
The land, containing the site was originally granted to T. D. Rowe by Crown Grant dated 4 July 1837. The site was adjacent to the military barracks which occupied fifteen acres of valuable land in this part of the town.
The barracks were enclosed within a fortress-like wall which began just north of present Margaret Street and extended to Barrack Street, taking up the whole area between George and Clarence Streets. The barracks constrained the development of the area for general commercial purposes. Investors had to wait until 1847, when the new Paddington barracks were completed. The old barracks were demolished between 1850 and 1853 and the valuable land was subdivided and sold at between forty and eighty pounds a square foot.
By this time the site of International House was owned by Peter William Plomer. The contemporary rate books describe the property as a two or three storey stone and slate building "stores" or "warehouse".
From the 1870s the site was occupied by a four-storey warehouse. In 1875 Jeremiah Brice Rundle took possession of the site. Rundle was a squatter, merchant and businessman. He was born in England and arrived in Australia in about 1835. After prosperous years which he spent as merchant and commission agent by 1867 he held over in Queensland and NSW. In 1881 he was appointed to the Legislative Council of NSW and was also a director and chairman of the Australian Joint Stock Bank. Between 1870 and his death in 1893 he was a director and chairman of the Australian Joint Stock Bank. Between 1870 and his death in 1893 he was a director of various other companies, such as the Sydney Meat Preserving Company, United Fire and Marine Insurance Company. According to contemporary records Rundle was one of the leading merchants and businessmen who made their contribution to the rapid progress of this part of the city.
Rundle died in 1893 at his residence "Pomeroy", Potts Point. His estate was later managed by the Permanent Trustee Company. The warehouse erected on his estate was a business proposition of the trustee and was named Pomeroy House in honour of Rundle. On 27 November 1913 an application was lodged by the office of architects Robertons & Marks to erect a building on the south-east corner of York and Barrack Street. The builders of Pomeroy House were Howie & Moffat, Master Builders. It was designed in the Federation Free Classical style. The category of Federation Free Classical included a considerable variety of architectural expressions drawing on a large repertoire of motifs from different countries and periods. It was a style well suited to express the confidence that accompanied the dynamic growth of the city in this period.
When Pomeroy House was first listed in the Sands Directories in 1916 the tenants included warehousemen on the second and third floor. By 1917 most of the floors were occupied: a millinery manufacturer on the first floor, warehousement on the second and third floor, Department of Home Affairs, Accounts Branch and Commonwealth Electoral Office on the fourth and seventh floor and an export company on the eighth floor. The Assessment Book in 1918 describes Pomeroy House as a warehouse of 10 rooms, which means that the floors were not yet partitioned at this stage. From 1922 even the basement was rented out and was occupied by a wine and spirit merchant company. Because of the good location, its closeness to the business centre, office space was much in demand in this area in the next decades. By the 1930s the building accommodated forty different offices. Some of them such as Bond Industries Ltd occupied a whole floor, but other floors were partitioned and shared between 8-10 different agents. According to the records by 1921 the building had 23 rooms.