Building histories
This is the collection of building histories written and maintained by the East Melbourne Historical Society.
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East Melbourne, Albert Street 033
According to the Notice of Intent to Build it was 'a house of two rooms and attics, capable of conversion to two houses.'
Section 27, on part of which this house stood, was largely given over to churches: The Free Presbyterians, the Primitive Methodists and the Methodist New Connexion, but on 16 October 1868 the rest of the land was sold at the Crown Land Sales. All the lots were bought by Isaacs and Moss, who resold them over the following year. Lot 1 was bought by W.H.
East Melbourne, Albert Street 045
Simple single fronted, single storey cottage with iron lacework verandah
45 Albert Street was built for Richard Buchan in 1870 by builder, Robert Spencer. The previous year Richard had married Catherine Martin. Both husband and wife came from Perth, Scotland. Their two daughters, Annie and Lily, were born at the house. The only clue to Mr Buchan’s occupation is a short ad in the Argus on 24 April 1886. LAD, steady, attend small shop, 10s. week, wanted.
East Melbourne, Albert Street 070, Strathroy
East Melbourne, Albert Street 088
East Melbourne, Albert Street 092, Coniston
East Melbourne, Albert Street 097, Tunbridge Manor
A three storey block of interwar flats. The facade is symmetrical. The two top, outer windows are of unusual shape, the sides being angled inwards from about half way up. The central entry with window above leads the eye upward to a stepped parapet, giving a sense of verticality to an otherwise horizontal scheme.
A weatherboard villa was advertised for purchase and removal in 1919 after which the land remained vacant until 1934 when work commenced on the construction of Tunbridge Manor.
East Melbourne, Albert Street 102, Ruaru
East Melbourne, Albert Street 108
East Melbourne, Albert Street 109, Burnell
Two storey house with a tower, verandah and balcony with central portico, all decorated with arches of Moorish influence.
The house at 109 Albert Street appears to have been completed c.1877 when it first appears in the Rate Books (Albert Ward) as a brick house of 12 rooms. However there had been a lengthy gestation. The land on which it stood (Lot 16, Section 11) was bought at the first Crown Land Sales on 18 November 1852 for £200 by Luke Chambers, a builder.
East Melbourne, Albert Street 112
East Melbourne, Albert Street 118
East Melbourne, Albert Street 128, 130
East Melbourne, Albert Street 132, 134
East Melbourne, Albert Street 19, 23, Hatton Court
Two apartment blocks in the Moderne style
These two blocks of apartments were designed by architect Leslie J W Reed for sisters Hylda and Sophie Grattan. They were the daughters of William Grattan, a grazier who died in 1917. Their mother, Kathleen died in 1935.
East Melbourne, Albert Street 246, Sherwood
East Melbourne, Albert Street 268, Woollahra
East Melbourne, Albert Street 332, 334
East Melbourne, Albert Street 340, 342
East Melbourne, Albert Street 366
The house is built to the footpath, unusual for its time and in the East Melbourne area. It is a single fronted two storey house of red brick with cement mouldings, now painted. A crenelated parapet hides a gabled roof and a rough cast cement frieze runs below the cornice.
The house at 366 Albert Street East Melbourne was built in 1909 for the Rev Llewelyn David Bevan (1842-1918). It was built on the land which had once been the garden of the neighbouring house, No 364, which by this time Bevan owned.
East Melbourne, Albert Street 392
One of an unusual terrace of 16 houses which is built around a corner site, with some of the houses in Albert Street and others in Lansdowne Street.
To come.
East Melbourne, Albert Street 412, Mentmore
East Melbourne, Albert Street 472, 476
A pair of houses of classical design with a covered carriageway between.
This pair of houses, together known as Fairmount, were built in 1874 for James Garton, livery stables proprietor, by Robert Huckson to the design of architect George Browne.
East Melbourne, Berry Street 040, Cotswold
East Melbourne, Burchett Lane 015
- 1 comment
- 1322 reads
East Melbourne, Clarendon Street 017, St Hilda's
East Melbourne, Clarendon Street 023, Holcombe
Large two storey house of rendered brick
23 Clarendon Street, known as Holcombe, was built for William Henry Hull in 1855 to the design of John Gill. Gill advertised for tenders in December 1854.
East Melbourne, Clarendon Street 036, Mosspennoch
- 2 comments
- 13049 reads
East Melbourne, Clarendon Street 060, Gnaroo
East Melbourne, Clarendon Street 068, 070, Vizard House
East Melbourne, Clarendon Street 136, 138, 140, 142, 144, 146, Fitzroy Terrace
East Melbourne, Clarendon Street 150, Clarendon House
East Melbourne, Clarendon Street 162, Belmont
East Melbourne, Clarendon Street 180, Stanford House
A photo of c.1934 shows a large symmetrical house. The central section has a steep roof with attic windows, and is flanked by Italianate pavillions, each with a bay window.
The house is believed to be the first built in East Melbourne after the first Crown land sales of 1852 opened the suburb up to the public. It was built for Henry Cooke and was described in the 1854 Rate Books as a wooden house of 12 rooms plus a kitchen and stables, etc.
East Melbourne, Clarendon Street 206, Valetta House
A stucco-faced dwelling in a restrained version of the Regency style, remarkable for Palladian massing with two axes of symmetry and corner pavilions.
The house was erected by R. Jones for John Gray in 1856.The first we know about John Gray is his marriage to Eliza (nee Abrahams) the widow of William Pyke in 1853. Their first child was born at Myross, Saltwater River, now Maribyrnong River. (There is now a Myross Avenue in Ascot Vale).
East Melbourne, Clarendon Street 208, 210, 212, Clarendon Terrace
East Melbourne, Clarendon Street 220, Victoria House
The building is a modern derivation of the Tudor style. It possesses an arcaded corbel table at the parapet, tall grouped chimney stacks on a common shaft, two symmetrically placed oriel windows; and grouped windows, utilising the pointed arch. The side elevations are gabled, with deep central recesses atop, allowing expression of the two chimney shafts.
Philip Hudson, A.R.V.I.A, Stalbbridge Chambers, 443 Chancery lane, Melbourne also designed the Shrine of Remembrance, St. Kilda Road, called tenders for residential flats cf. Notice of Intent to build which says three storey brick dwelling. In 1915 the flats were described simply as, 'four, five roomed, private - bathroom, kitchen, self-contained'.
East Melbourne, Clarendon Street 226, Rathmore
The house is double storey, asymmetrically planned and constructed of red brick. At ground floor level a single wide arch screens the verandah from the street. It is rendered with rough cast cement which merges with the balustrade of the balcony above. The roof over the balcony appears as a gable decorated with vertical timbers. It partially conceals the roof behind.
The house at 226 Clarendon Street was designed by H W & F B Tompkins in 1911 for Margaret Ethel Leslie (nee Stephenson) and built by W H Bullows.
East Melbourne, Clarendon Street 228, 230, Clarendon Flats
This two-storey building was designed as a block of six self-contained flats. It is constructed of red brick and forms an important part of the red brick group of 226, 224, 222 and 220 Clarendon Street.
On 9 Aug 1912 The Herald ran a short article stating that,
East Melbourne, Darling Street 002, 004, 006, 008, 010
East Melbourne, Darling Street 012, 014, The Old Police Station
Not known
Initially described in the Rate Books as six rooms, the following year the description changes to five rooms, pantry, bath and shed, and by 1875 it has become seven rooms. Fielding lived in the house until 1883 when he sold to Robert Richardson who added another room. From this time it was leased to the police and was the local police station.
East Melbourne, Darling Street 024
East Melbourne, Darling Street 028, The Workshop
East Melbourne, Darling Street 032
East Melbourne, George Street 032, Bradoc House
A block of eighteen flats. Built of brick with a Tudor-Byzantine exterior, with Spanish influence. Decorative brickwork and painted incised render. Art deco interiors
From construction in the 1930s until late 1989 privately owned rental investment residential flats. Nine one bedroom flats; three two bedroom flats; six bed-sitters. Also tower, at that time for communal use. Whole property of eighteen apartments auctioned individually in late 1989, as a company share property - Arbe Questa Nominees. The tower is now privately owned as part of Apt. 18.
East Melbourne, George Street 037, Kingscourt
Two blocks of 1930's style flats with strong horizontal and vertical accentuation to the facade. They are interesting for their site planning and inward looking outlook to an extensive central garden. The principal building materials are cream brick with tapestry brick, brown brick and render panels. Windows are steel and timber. Notable features include unpainted decorative brickwork. No.
Index to Building Permit Applications dated 25 Oct 1940. First page of Application dated 18 Nov 1940. Letter from Building Surveyor to owners dated 19 Nov 1944 saying 'buildings not yet completed in accordance with specifications approved by this office in as much as fire hoses and chemical extinguishers have not been installed.
East Melbourne, George Street 040, 042
East Melbourne, George Street 046
East Melbourne, George Street 048, 050
The houses at 48-50 George Street comprise a pair of semi-detached, nineteenth century, Italianate single-storey residences with basements. The facade is rendered with a moulded cornice and plain parapet extending across both houses. Wing walls have curved parapets and decorative pressed cement corbels. Only the house at No. 48 retains a verandah.
This pair of houses was built in 1861 by and for William Crawford of Melbourne. Nothing further can identify this particular William Crawford with any certainty. The houses, in the Burchett Index of Intents to Build (19 Feb 1861), were described as two 4 room cottages of stone and brick. Crawford named them Bremen Cottages. They were tenanted during Crawford’s ownership.
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