J.R. Church owned the quarter acre block next to the New Boundary Hotel in Hotham Street. In 1862 he built a wooden house on the eastern half of the block. This was later known as No. 12. It has now been demolished and the land developed as an extension to the hotel. In 1865 work was completed on a second house on the western side of the land, leaving vacant land between the two houses. This second house is No. 18. Church lived at No. 12 until c.1890 when he sold it and the vacant land to Mme. Susannah Schuhkrafft. She built No. 16 on the vacant land at that time. No. 18 had always been a rental property and was sold separately to the existing tenant, Mrs. Gardner, snr, a widow. David Gardner, her son, is listed as the occupier. In 1894, on the death of Mrs. Gardner, the house was valued at £450. Jabez Richard Church was one of her executors.