The house was built in 1909 for Elizabeth Davies, the widow of John Alexander Davies, flour miller of Bridge Road Flour Mills, Richmond, possibly the heritage listed building on the corner of Type Street. John had died in 1902.

There is an interesting back story to the life of Elizabeth Davies. She was the daughter of a Tasmanian carpenter, Alexander Brunton, who on coming to Melbourne in 1839, bought a block of land on the corner of Elizabeth and Collins Streets and started to build a shop and dwelling on the site. However he died only a year later, before work was completed which then became the task of his executors.

It was the first brick building to be erected in Melbourne after the first land sales. When the building was finished it was let to M. Cashmore, draper, and became a well-known landmark in Melbourne under his name. In 1876 Barnet Hyman Altson, tobacconist, took over the lease of the building and it became known as Altson’s Corner.

When Alexander Brunton died he left all his estate to his three-year old daughter, and her future children if any, his wife having pre-deceased him. Little Elizabeth, who was still in Tasmania, was brought across to Melbourne in 1842.

An old account dated 21 January 1843 shows that £2/2/- was paid to Miss Ainslie for schooling. This Miss Ainslie had no connection to Mrs Ainslie, whose school was in East Melbourne from about 1861 and went on to become Ormiston Girls School. Mrs Ainslie and her family did not arrive in Melbourne until 1852.

Soon after Elizabeth was shipped off to Scotland, presumably to live with her grand-parents. It is unclear when she returned to Melbourne, but she was definitely living here and married by 1873 when her husband made his will.

In 1903, just a year after John Alexander Davies’ death Altson, presumably acting as agent for Elizabeth, had the building demolished and built the six storey building which currently stands on the site, using Nahum Barnet as architect and Clements Langford as builder. The new building was named Brunton Chambers, but continued to be known popularly as Altson’s Corner.

On her death in 1911 Elizabeth left the major part of her estate including Altson’s Corner to Barnet Hyman Altson, her old friend. However the will was contested by her father’s siblings, her uncles and aunts. They claimed, successfully, that since Elizabeth had not had children that she in fact had only a life interest in the property and that it was not hers to dispose of, and that it should be divided between them.

So the property was put up for auction and after fierce bidding was bought by Altson. This was a man who had been bankrupted in 1896 over a disastrous land deal. He continued to own it until 1940.

Elizabeth when building her home in East Melbourne chose to use the same builder who had built Brunton Chambers, Clements Langford, described in his obituary (1930) as ‘one of the leading master builders of Australia’. He had served his apprenticeship with David Mitchell, father of Dame Nellie Melba, before starting up his own practice some years later. The Comedy Theatre and Myer Emporium are two of his better known constructions still standing.

When Elizabeth’s executors sold the house in 1919 the advertisement in The Argus made a point of his connection to the house: ‘This Is a particularly well appointed house, built in 1909 by Clements Langford, which fact assures to the purchaser its stability and finish, and it is fitted with every modern convenience.’ The ad continued on to list the various rooms which included a drawing room, dining room, breakfast room, 4 bedrooms, the main bedroom having direct access to the bathroom (sewered), kitchen, scullery and maid’s bathroom (sewered).

Elizabeth named her house ‘Sheerith’. This is a Hebrew word for ‘rest’, ‘remnant’, ‘residue’ or ‘remainder’. Perhaps she was referring to her block of land as being one of the last available building sites in East Melbourne. Curiously ‘Sheerith’ which was not part of the court case involving Brunton Chambers was also bought by Altson. He owned it for only a few years before selling to Rabbi Solomon Westel who in turn sold it in 1930.