St Leonards, New South Wales

St Leonards was named after English statesman Viscount Sydney of St Leonards. Originally, St Leonards applied to the whole area from the present suburb of North Sydney to Gore Hill. The township of St Leonards in 1883 is now North Sydney.

The Royal North Shore Hospital in St Leonards was opened in 1885. Sir Henry Parkes laid the foundation stone of the hospital on 18 June 1887. It moved to the present site on 10 June 1903.

St Leonards railway station is the oldest railway station on the North Shore railway line opening in 1890.

Gore Hill Cemetery was established on the Pacific Highway in 1868 and was the main burial site for the area until its closure in 1975. It is still maintained as a heritage site by the Department of Local Government and Lands, Willoughby Municipal Council and the Heritage Council of New South Wales.

After World War II, St Leonards, which had been a largely residential and industrial area, began to change. In the 1950s and 1960s, the suburb increased its urbanization and population growth, as the Greater Sydney area expanded.

From the 1960s to the 1980s, St Leonards saw a growing demand for housing, particularly from professionals and families seeking proximity to the city. This led to the construction of high-rise apartment buildings, which reshaped the suburb’s skyline. The advent of new commercial and retail developments also gave the area a more suburban feel.

North Shore Private Hospital in St Leonards opened in 1998.

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, St Leonards underwent a process of gentrification, as older homes were replaced by modern apartments and office buildings. The area became more desirable to young professionals due to its proximity to the Central Business District (CBD) and the integration of mixed-use developments.

The 2010s saw St Leonards continue to evolve with major mixed-use projects, transforming the suburb's character. High-rise apartments, commercial spaces, and retail areas became more common, contributing to its suburban feel.

Heritage listings

St Leonards has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

Pacific Highway: Gore Hill Cemetery

Population

In the 2021 Census, there were 7,212 people in St Leonards. 36.7% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were China (without SARs and Taiwan) 9.6%, India 5.5%, Hong Kong 4.9%, Japan 4.4%, and England 3.3%. 47.5% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 11.8%, Cantonese 7.9%, Japanese 4.9%, Hindi 2.6% and Korean 2.4%. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 49.1% and Catholic 14.9%.

Commercial area

St Leonards has a commercial centre that complements the role of Chatswood, Lane Cove and North Sydney as one of the centres for business on the North Shore of Sydney. Until the 2010s, St Leonards contained one of Sydney's suburban skyscraper clusters, with major offices for large companies including CIMIC Group, IBM, Lenovo, Manchester Unity, Oporto, Savvytel, Toyota Australia, 2UE, 3 and Channel 31. Fox Sports studios are located at the Gore Hill end.

The Forum

The Forum is built over the railway station and comprises three commercial office buildings, two residential towers containing 782 apartments, an independent mini-supermarket, and 34 food and retail shops.

Forum Tower (118m/38 stories) was the suburb's first high-rise apartment building complex completed in August 1999 and Forum West 3 three years later. Both buildings boast a concierge, pool, spa, gym and private & public car parking facilities each. Winten Property Group was responsible for the construction of both Forum buildings.

The Plaza also contains offices for Cisco, Verizon Business, Getty Images among other companies.

Transport

St Leonards railway station is on the North Shore railway line of the Sydney Trains network. The Pacific Highway is the major road through the suburb. Bus services through St Leonards are operated by Busways, CDC NSW, Keolis Downer Northern Beaches, Transdev John Holland and Transit Systems.

Health

A major landuse in the suburb is the Royal North Shore Hospital which is the largest hospitals in Sydney.

Schools and churches

A campus of the University of Technology, Sydney
The campus of Northern Sydney TAFE
Northside Community Church
Royal North Shore Hospital Chapel

Sport and recreation

St Leonards has developed into somewhat of a home for rugby union with the former headquarters of the Australian Rugby Union located at St Leonards (2007-2018), from neighbouring North Sydney. The Northern Suburbs Rugby Club has its clubhouse in St Leonards, featuring the Cabana Bar and Lounge. It also has a popular Rock Climbing Facility for the climbing community.

Gore Hill Oval, located on the grounds of Royal North Shore Hospital, is a synthetic field for AFL & cricket, ½ basketball court, handball courts, perimeter walking track, 2 exercise equipment stations and a playground. It is also the home ground of Australian rules football club, North Shore Bombers.

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "St Leonards (NSW) (suburb and locality)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
The Book of Sydney Suburbs, Compiled by Frances Pollen, Angus & Robertson, 1990, ISBN 0-207-14495-8, p.237
De-industrialisation of St Leonards Australian Railway History issue 858 April 2009 pages 115-125
"Gore Hill Memorial Cemetery". New South Wales State Heritage Register. Department of Planning & Environment. H01491. Retrieved 18 May 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC BY 4.0 licence.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "St Leonards (NSW) (State Suburb)". 2021 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 6 November 2023. Material was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Forum, St Leonards - Winten Property Group
St Leonards station Transport for NSW
Chaplains 'pressured' over Royal North Shore crosses, Mosman Daily 28 April 2009.
"Gore Hill Oval".

External links

Willoughby City Council
St Leonards - community profile

v t e Suburbs and localities of the Municipality of Lane Cove, Lower North Shore, Sydney
Suburbs	Greenwich Lane Cove Lane Cove North Lane Cove West Linley Point Longueville Northwood Riverview St Leonards
Localities	Blaxlands Corner Gore Hill Osborne Park Tambourine Bay
List of Sydney suburbs

v t e Suburbs of City of Willoughby, North Shore, Sydney
Artarmon Castlecrag Castle Cove Chatswood Chatswood West Gore Hill Middle Cove Naremburn Northbridge Roseville St Leonards Willoughby
List of Sydney suburbs

v t e Suburbs of the North Sydney Local Government Area, North Shore, Sydney
Cammeray Cremorne Cremorne Point Crows Nest Kirribilli Kurraba Point Lavender Bay McMahons Point Milsons Point Neutral Bay North Sydney St Leonards Waverton Wollstonecraft
List of Sydney suburbs

33°49′34″S 151°11′25″E / 33.82613°S 151.19041°E / -33.82613; 151.19041

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