W.A. Crowle
Australian businessman and philanthropist
William Alfred Leopold Crowle (known as W.A. Crowle, 12 December 1880 – 6 December 1948) was an Australian businessman and philanthropist. He was known for his job as an importer, as well as his contributions to architecture and charitable endeavours. His signature phrase was "Once Upon a Time", which he used as the name for one of his residences at Kurraba Point and a halfway house for troubled young men in Ryde.
Early years
Born in Albury, New South Wales, Crowle worked as an electrician in Tasmania and a bicycle mechanic in Adelaide before becoming a car importer in Sydney. He then travelled to the United States to learn electrical engineering and worked under Thomas Edison. As an importer, Crowle introduced Australia to the Wurlitzer organ, Frigidaire refrigerators, and Citroen cars.
Wyldefel
Original mansion
In 1923, Crowle moved into the Wyldefel mansion at 10 Wylde Street, Potts Point, originally built in 1887. The property featured an extensive art collection obtained by Crowle during his international travels. The bathroom alone cost £3,000 to develop and was considered "one of the most beautiful in Australia", featuring coloured windows from Belgium, a marble fountain and light fittings manufactured in Paris, and an aquarium built into the walls, open to outside light. Crowle and his family lived there around six months of the year, spending the rest of their time travelling overseas.
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This entry incorporates text from “W.A. Crowle” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.