East Melbourne, Powlett Street 138, The Opera House
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A two storey house with a basement level in addition. It has an unusual verandah and balcony which have given rise to it being known as The Opera House. The City of Melbourne Heritage site says, "The balcony is of an unknown date but is believed to be later than 1868. It is in the form of an opera box, curved at each end and is carried by two slender cast iron columns with Corinthian capitals and delicate cast iron brackets. The frieze is formed by a timber trellis and the balustrade is from intricate, decorative cast iron panels. At ground level beneath the balcony the floor is covered with tessellated tiles in a typical late Victorian pattern. The ground floor balustrade has curved ends similarly composed to the first storey but the iron is in a simpler, more abstract pattern." It is unique in Melbourne.
George Alfred Badger was an architect and built the house for himself. His other architectural work includes grandstands and booths at Flemington, Caulfield, Geelong and Kilmore race tracks and work for the Public Works Department at Parliament House. He never lived in the house and sold it in 1878. When Badger offered it for sale the house was described as containing "well-proportioned dining and drawing rooms, kitchen, servants' room, pantry, storeroom, bath, and on first floor spacious landing and three bedrooms."
The next owner was Mrs. Catherine Russell. She was living there in 1880, but the house was again tenanted by 1885.
By 1890 Mrs. Olivia Gertrude Keenan had become the owner and occupier. She also owned St. Helen's (now Magnolia Court) in Powlett Street, where her daughter, Olivia Gertrude Byrne, and family lived. On her death in 1901 she left her own house, which she called Kamarooka, to her other daughter, Maud Elizabeth Worch, who still owned it in 1905. St. Helen's went to Olivia.
Prior to 1890 the house's street number was 42.
1869-1878: George Alfred Badger, owner
1869-1878: Mrs. Jane Goodhind, widow, and her children were tenants. Daughter Emily Goodhind was involved in the sort of scandal that was common in an age when many households had staff. A Mr. Fisher, a surgeon, sued his wife for divorce on the grounds of her adultery with the groom. She counterclaimed on account of his intimacy with the children's governess, Emily Goodhind.
c.1879-c.1885: Mrs. Catherine Russell, owner
c.1890-1901: Mrs. Olivia Gertrude Keenan, widow
1901-1905+: Mrs. Maud Elizabeth Worch, wife of Theodore Worch, and daughter of Mrs. Keenan.
City of Melbourne, i-Heritage Database:
https://ex.melbourne.vic.gov.au/info.cfm?top=81&pa=2030&pg=1966 (Viewed 25 Apr 2010)
Melbourne Mansions Database, http://fmpro.abp.unimelb.edu.au/fmi/iwp/cgi?-db=mmdb&-loadframes. No. 1301. (Viewed 25 Apr 2010)
City of Melbourne Rate Books, La Trobe Ward, 1869, No. 1258 (earliest entry)
Burchett Index, City of Melbourne Notices of Intent to Build, 11 Jul 1868, Reg.
No. 2705.
Argus,6 June 1873, 1, col.5; 7 Nov 1877, p.2; 15 July 1901, p.1, Deaths; 4 March 1905, p. 17, col. 2. (online): http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/home
Will of Olivia Gertrude Keenan, 80/689. PROV: VPRS 7591, POOO2, 324. (online): http://proarchives.imagineering.com.au/Index_search.asp?searchid=54
Photo in State Library of Victoria La Trobe Picture Collection, Accession No. H2009.152/68; H95.200/861.
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