The Sydney suburb of Strathfield became a popular residential suburb in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The building of Strathfield station, and its expansion into a major suburban, intercity and interstate station, with direct services to Sydney Central, Melbourne and Canberra, helped to make the suburb one of the most accessible in Sydney by rail. It was also close to major road and water transport routes.

Members of Sydney's business elite, such as the family of William Arnott and David Jones, built various large homes in Strathfield. In the 1890s, the neighbourhood bound by Homebush Rd, the Boulevard, Carrington St and Hunter St. became known as the Golden Mile. Albert Road Strathfield was considered to be one of the most prestigious streets of Sydney, a virtual ‘millionaire’s row’.

After federation, Strathfield continued to be favoured by business and political leaders, with prime ministers Earle Page, George Reid and Frank Forde all having lived in the suburb, and Billy Hughes lived in the part of Strathfield which is now Homebush South. Page chose to live in Strathfield because of its direct rail services to Melbourne, then the seat of federal parliament, and his electorate on the north coast of New South Wales.

Some of the large homes built in this period were purchased by private schools, and the unusually large number of private and public schools in the one suburb further increased residential demand.