The Connaught (Sydney)


The Connaught is a landmark residential apartment building in Sydney, Australia overlooking Hyde Park. It is known for being one of the first high-rise strata apartment buildings in Sydney and for its string of famous residents.

History

The site where The Connaught stands today was originally the site of the Paris Theatre designed by architect Walter Burley Griffin, and demolished in 1981. The thirty-storey Connaught was completed in 1984 by Civil & Civic, builders of the Sydney Opera House, and was named in honour of the Duke of Connaught, Prince Arthur, third son of Queen Victoria and former Governor-General of Canada.

Notable residents

The Connaught has been home to many famous and infamous residents over its thirty-year history. Notable residents have included singers Michael Hutchence and Kylie Minogue, reporter Jana Wendt, film critic Margaret Pomeranz, showbusiness veteran Barry Crocker, reporter Richard Wilkins, infamous criminal Christopher Dale Flannery, lawyer and socialite Chris Murphy and businessman Max Moore-Wilton In 1995 Tony Byrne was a resident in The Connaught when his model daughter Caroline Byrne was found dead at the bottom of the notorious 'The Gap'. The mistress of the late Richard Pratt, Shari-Lea Hitchcock, was also a resident of The Connaught. Current socialites Robert Hannan, Steven Horner, Ryan John and Mustafa are residents.

Crime

In 2010 The Connaught was the scene of the high-profile murder of an elderly resident allegedly by his 92-year-old wife, who at the time was the oldest women in Australian to be trialled for murder.