1937 - 1946: In 1937 Mrs BRAZIER sold "Dulce Domum" to the Misses Mina & Freda DAWSON. Freda appears to have died in the early 1940s and, in 1946, Mina DAWSON sold the property to John Curtis. The name o fthe cottage was changed to "Devon" ca 1941 or 1942.
The Misses DAWSON were associated with a number of guesthouses in Katoomba including "Kurrara", 17 Coomonderrry Street; "Sandringham", 67 Lurline Street; and "Devon", 7 Merriwa Street. They appear to have transferred the latter's name to 102 Lurline Street.
1947 John Low's official report ends as he only has records for this period.
1952 - 1997 The property was bought by a property developer in 1952 - sadly it remainly vacant apart from furniture he stored there, until 1997. Local children were fascinated by the house, myths abounded. The property suffered some fire damage in these years and was neglected so that by the time its present owners purchased it, the property was just able to be rescued.
The following is and extract from a report sent to the current owners. Thanks to John Low, the author, who is the Local Studies Librarian at Springwood Library.
1913 - 1922: In February 1911 Miss Helen RUHE purchased the unimproved part of Lot 6 and, in March 1911, applied to build a weatherboard cottage estimated to cost 300 pounds. Later in 1911 she also applied to make some "additions" to the value of 75 pounds. Miss RUHE owned the property, known from 1917 as "Dulce Domum", throughout this period. The property seems to have operated as a guest house at least from 1917.
1923 - 1936: Helen RUHE appears to have died in the early 1920s and, in late 1923 or early 1924, the ownership of "Dulce Domum" passed to Edith QUINCY and then to Mrs Sophie BRAZIER who remained the owner for the rest of this period.
