Two four roomed houses were built by William McLean to separately accommodate his father, Peter McLean, and father-in-law, Andrew Arnot. The houses were built on, what was at the time, low-lying floodway land, prior to the construction of the Collingwood railway line in 1901. When the railway cutting was excavated under Wellington Parade and Hoddle Street, this low-lying section of George Street was built up with the excavation material(1).

Looking at the houses on the opposite side of the street, especially No. 49, it is unlikely that the level changed dramatically. The bulk of the fill was probably dumped on the vacant land next door to Nos. 40 and 42 as the buildings now there have their entrances at street level.

McLean was a partner in McLean Bros. & Rigg, a large and prosperous firm of ironmongers and general merchants with a major store in Elizabeth Street, a warehouse in Collins Place, an iron yard in Bourke Street and offices in London and New York. The company had branches throughout Victoria and Western Australia . In Victoria the company eventually merged with McEwan's in 1903, but continued to operate in Western Australia until the 1970s when it was sold to Metro Industries. William McLean was the general manager from 1887 to 1900. He died in 1905.

In 1886 William McLean built the mansion on the corner of Vale Street and Wellington Parade South which later became St. Ives, an Anglican Church hospital. In 1887 he was elected president of the YMCA and was a leading member of the Collins Street Baptist Church and the Victorian Baptist Fund. He was also chairman of the board of the Federal Bank.