109 and 111 Hotham Street replaced a cottage built for the same owner, Henry Bridger, in 1854.

According to Brenda Niall Mary Grant Bruce lived at No. 111 for a short time,
'It was probably late in 1898 - her accounts of her departure [from her parents home in Traralgon] vary - when Minnie Bruce left home for Melbourne. ... during her first year at least she was able to board with her former teacher, Miss Beausire, who opened a school in Hotham Street, East Melbourne, in 1899.'

The Sands & McDougall PO directories list Miss Estelle Beausire at this address 1900-1902.

Janette Bomford describes the beginnings of the Bethesda, and hence the Epworth, Hospital taking place at 111 Hotham Street:

'Mrs Commissioner Marie McKie, the wife of the Territorial Commander of the Salvation Army in Melbourne, was a trained nurse, originally from Germany. She read in a newspaper of the plight of an employed man who could not afford medical care in a private hospital but was ineligible for a public hospital. She understood the need for nurses to visit such patients and provide care in their homes. In November 1902 she advertised for nurses and the Samaritan Nurses' Home at 111 Hotham Street, East Melbourne, opened in 1903. At first it was staffed with three cadets with nursing training. The work grew and soon a 'bicycle brigade' of ten nursing officers made a daily round of visits on their bicycles. When seriously ill patients could not obtain admittance to a public hospital, the nurses brought them to the nurses' home. Two rooms were converted to patient wards and as the numbers grew, the nurses moved to a cottage known as the 'Bywash'. There were 80 patients in the first year.'