Castlecrag, New South Wales - History

History

Castlecrag was originally planned by Walter Burley Griffin, who named the suburb after a towering crag of rock overlooking Middle Harbour, known locally as Edinburgh Castle. Griffin came to Castlecrag in 1925 after tiring of the politics surrounding implementation of his designs for Australia's capital city, Canberra.

Early homes in Castlecrag were built using natural stone to blend into the environment, a common practice in architecture of the Arts and Crafts Movement, which was concerned with creating "the human touch" as distinct from mass production. Later homes were built with bricks using Griffin's patented Knitlock system. Historically, Castlecrag was noted in the early 20th Century as an experiment in communal and community planning and living, and for the liberal intellectual, Theosophical, Anthroposophical and Natural history views of its inhabitants.

Castle Crag Post Office opened on 1 September 1937 and was renamed Castlecrag in 1941.

The streets in the southern older, portion of the suburb were named after parts of castles: The barbette, The Barbican, The Barricade, The Bartizan, The Bastion, The Battlement, The Bulwark, The Citadel, The High Tor, The Outpost, The Palisade, The Parapet, The Postern, The Rampart, The Redoubt, The Scarp, The Tor Walk and Sortie Port. There are also Tower, Casement, and Turrett Reserves, and the main street through the centre is Edinburgh Road.

More recently the residents of the suburb have been noted for their opposition to the Warringah Freeway (Warringah Expressway), which was originally planned to link the Sydney Harbour Bridge with the Northern Beaches, but today terminates just south of Castlecrag in Naremburn.