East Melbourne, Simpson Street 095, 097, Carlton House

Around 1913 Miss Euphemia Paton bought a pair of 1850s cottages and rented them out until 1922 when she had her managing agent, W. B. Simpson and Son of North Melbourne, invite tenders for the ‘Purchase, Removal, brick and Wood Buildings, slate roofs’. Tenders closed three days later. Messrs. George & Murphy’s offer of £40 was accepted. The site was to be cleared within 14 days, including all sewerage pipes.

According to the plans and building application file held by the Public Records Office of Victoria W.B. Simpson was also the architect. What this probably means is that the real estate firm contracted the builder, R.G. Baptie of 101 Alfred Crescent, North Fitzroy and then had nothing more to do with it, until resuming as managing agents. Who drew up the plans remains a mystery – they were unsigned. The floor plan is predictably linear, basically two pairs of cottages stacked on top of each other, with two bedrooms one behind the other, followed by a dining-room with kitchen and bathroom beyond. Edwardian features were evident in the gas fire-place (with mantel, tiles and kerb) being placed across the corner of the dining-room, and the opening leading from the dining-room to the service area was trimmed with a decorative timber fretwork fringe. The interiors were painted throughout in white kalsomine. There was a servery between the kitchen and dining room. The kitchen was fitted with kauri bench tops and drainage rackes 3ft long with two tiers for plates, and cup hooks. White tiled recess for the gas stove. Picture rails in bedroom and dining room at door height.

Miss Paton was the daughter of a N.S.W. grazier but at the time the development was taking place she lived with her elderly uncle and aunt in Bouverie Street, Carlton, providing inspiration for the name she gave the property: Carlton House. Her uncle was a cabinet maker and her aunt ran a grocery shop where Euphemia worked. A few years later, after their deaths, she moved to Hawthorn and became a dressmaker. She retained ownership of the property until her death in 1950 when it passed to a family member, Walter John Paton, who owned it well into the 1970s.