East Melbourne, Gipps Street 128, 130, 132, Nepean Terrace

East Melbourne

  • 128 Gipps Street
  • 130 Gipps Street

Building names

Surnames

Date built: 
1863
Architect: 
Crouch and Wilson
Builder: 
Joseph Dean
First owner: 
Henry Dyer, lime and cement merchant
Description: 
A terrace of three two storey houses in Regency style. The brick facade is unpainted and there is a timber verandah.
History: 
This regency style terrace, with its distinctive timber verandah, was built in 1863 for Henry Dyer, lime and cement merchant, as an investment. Dyer lived with his family around the corner at 121 Powlett Street. Among tenants living in the terrace was Mme. Berthe Mouchette, an artist who ran life classes for female students in her studio behind 128 in the early 1880s. In 1885 she bought Oberwyl in St. Kilda, a leading girl's school which later moved to the country and was re-named Clyde. She ran Oberwyl until 1894. No. 132 was home briefly to Frederick Baker, now better known as Federici, the ghost of the Princess Theatre. He was living there in 1888 when he died so spectacularly during a performance of Faust. In the role of Mephistopheles he was singing the final solo while descending through a trapdoor in the floor when he collapsed. The terrace was one of the first buildings to be placed on the register of the Historic Buildings, but during the 1970s the Mercy Hospital was in expansion mode and had the whole block down to Powlett Street eyed off for eventual purchase, demolition and redevelopment. It purchased 132 and applied to have it removed from the register. This was refused. The hospital had just finished a planning battle over the site next door which had resulted in their plans for a fourteen storey nurses home being reduced to a low level, landscaped car park, and Crathre on the other side of the terrace was the subject of another planning dispute. The hospital accepted that the climate had changed and that any future plans for expansion would be keenly fought and unlikely to succeed.
Owners and occupiers: 
Owners: 1863-1869: Henry Dyer, lime and cement merchant. He died 1869. 1869-1902: Mary Brown, widow of Henry Dyer. She married Gavin Brown, stockbroker. 1902-1904: Children of Henry Dyer. 1904-1926: Frank Gold, proprietor of Anchor Nailworks, Bridge Road, Richmond. 1926-1949: Frank Gold executors 1949-1960+: Caron and Vera Joyce Kent. Vera was a medical practitioner and used No. 132 as her rooms from 1953, while living at No. 130. Occupiers: No. 128 (Previously 3 Nepean Terrace): 1866: Muir 1867: Vacant 1870: Vacant 1875: Mrs. Brock 1880: Mrs. Simeon 1881-1882: Mme. Berthe Mouchette, artist. She built a studio behind the property where she taught life classes. In 1885 she bought Oberwyl, a leading ladies' school in St. Kilda, and ran it until 1894. She founded the Alliance Francaise in 1890. Her sister, Mlle. M. Leon, who took French classes at the house, lived with her. 1888-90: Edmund T. Higgins, medical practitioner. 1895: Miss Kate Rooke 1900: Alexander K Stewart 1905-10: Constance Lord 1915-20: Eileen Rogers 1925: B...a[?] Turner 1930: Vacant 1931-1945: Violet Shiels 1950: [multiple] 1960: Vacant No. 130 (Previously 2 Nepean Terrace): 1866: Fraser 1867: Malleson 1870: McPherson 1875: Angus Mackay 1880: John Morse 1888: U.G. Nicholas 1890: John K. Robertson 1895: Miss Eliza May 1900: Augustus Mansford 1905-1910: Constance Lord 1915-1920: Eileen Rogers 1925: Myra Rogers 1930-1940: Teresa Higgins 1945: [?] 1950-1960+: Caron and Vera Joyce Kent among others No. 132 (Previously 1 Nepean Terrace): 1866-1867: John Dickson 1870: S. Evans 1875: Mrs. Raleigh 1880: Alexander Black 1888: Herbert Fleming, actor and manager. He performed all over the world; Frederick Baker, known professionally as Federici, singer. On 3 March 1888, playing in Faust in the role of Mephistopheles at the Princess Theatre, he died as he sang the final solo while descending via a trapdoor through the stage floor. His ghost is supposed to haunt the Princess Theatre. 1890 A. McHarg 1895: C.W. Beddome 1900-1905: William Clark Steel 1910: William Growsmith [?] 1915: Anne Gold 1920-1925: Alice May Wright 1930: Thomas March [?] 1935: Alexander Kerr 1940-1945: Gladys Negland/Hyland [?] 1950: [multiple] 1953-1960+: Vera Joyce Kent, medical rooms
Sources: 
Burchett, Winston, East Melbourne 1837-1977 people place problems. Craftsman Press, 1978 City of Melbourne, Burchett Index, No. 388, 14 Sept 1863
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