136-138 Cumberland St - The Rocks

on the water photography has added a photo to the pool:

The building at Nos. 136–138 Cumberland Street is a three-storey terrace in the Victorian Italianate style, which is typical in scale and detail to contemporary speculative terraces constructed elsewhere in the inner suburbs of Sydney during the 1880s

The two original stone buildings at Nos. 136–138 Cumberland Street were ‘pulled down’ by c1880. The existing building on the site was constructed by 1882 and was a three-storey commercial building (a shop) with residential quarters above. The building was brick with an iron roof and had ten rooms.

Kellas Watson was an owner-occupier, and it is possible that he operated a drapery shop on the site.

Watson sold the property to Henry Edward Castle, Sydney, commercial broker, in late c1884. Thereafter the shop was used as a shop, leased to Frederick Smith, butcher (c1885–87) and King Hing and Co. (1888–90).

Peter. A. Nelson ran a boarding house in the building from c1892 to c1902.
Much of the land and many of the buildings in the Rocks, including the subject property, were resumed by the NSW Government under The Darling Harbour Resumption Act in the early 1900s.
Nos. 136–138 Cumberland Street remained tenanted until the 1970s, probably as boarding house accommodation. The building was boarded up In the 1980s, and for the next 10 years, squatters intermittently occupied the building, and a period of vandalism ensued during which much of the joinery and many of the fixtures were stolen. The Sydney Cove Authority undertook extensive work in the precinct in the mid 1990s.

As part of the 1990s work, the buildings’ external weathered patina, gained as a result of almost 20 years of neglect was deliberately retained. This unusual presentation heightens the experience of the buildings’ age. However, the retained patina is possibly unsustainable as most solid brick buildings (without a cavity) end up being regularly painted to slow damp and water penetration, even with cement rendered exterior, especially on southern and eastern facades. Eventually, the exterior of No. 136-138 Cumberland Street may need to be painted in the future. It is likely that this eventuality was envisaged when the decision was made in the1990s to retain the patina.

Longs Lane, in the vicinity of the subject property, was known as Maori Lane in the early part of the nineteenth century because a number of seafaring Maoris lived there. They lived near the port of Sydney in order to work for the thriving whaling industry. Longs Lane in the 1860s was far from sanitary with cramped housing, and according to historian Grace Karskens, had ‘…seven houses shared one water tap.’

Source: Government's Architect's Office - Conservation Plan

The modern building in the background is the new The Rocks YHA and it has fabulous views.