As is well known Jolimont was once the home of lieutenant-governor Charles Joseph Latrobe, purchased by him in 1839.  When he returned to England in 1854 he left his friend, Dr James Palmer, in charge of subdividing and selling his land.  Palmer kept for himself the central part of the property, which became known as Jolimont Square.  On it he built five large, two-storey, timber, prefabricated houses, three down the eastern side of the square and two down the other.  
In 1870 a sixth house, of brick, was squeezed into the north-west corner.  It looks particularly uncomfortable on its site, standing high above the street and visually disconnected from it.  It was known as Mornington-house and was given an address in Wellington Parade South, or Jolimont Parade as it was then, despite it still being part of Jolimont Square. 
In 1885 Mrs Tabitha Ball bought Mornington-house, along with the rest of the square, and moved in with her children.  She was the widow of Charles Ball, a much older man who she had married in 1862.  Her sister, Eliza, had married Charles Ball’s nephew, William Henry Welch, the same month. The two families founded the Flinders Street department store, Ball and Welch.
In 1902 Tabitha made the decision to upgrade.  She advised the Melbourne City Council that she would make additions to the timber house which then stood in the north-east corner of Jolimont Square. It is unlikely there was any internal connection between the two buildings, but there simply was not room enough to build a free-standing house that would have satisfied her needs.  This new house was known as Redcourt. She moved in with those of her family still at home, and Mornington-house was leased.  Meanwhile, William Welch had died in 1896 and once Redcourt was built Eliza moved in with her sister.  
Tabitha died in 1919 but her children remained at Redcourt for a few more years, before selling Jolimont Square to the Deaf and Dumb Society in 1924.