A two storey, verandahed and parapeted mansion symmetrically composed around an imposing side lighted doorway. The two ground level bay windows are reflected by triple windows at the first floor all with moulded architraves, and set behind an elaborate cast iron verandah supported by fluted column couplets, carefully placed with the parapet pediment above, to provide a full arch entrance portal flanked by two basket arched bays. The iron work for the whole property including the basalt based posts, fence, and gate is a high quality design and finely executed.[i-Heritage database]
This house was designed by Crouch and Wilson and built by John O’Dea for Lawrence Benjamin, a clothier with premises in the ‘Beehive’ building at the corner of Bourke and Elizabeth Streets, opposite the General Post Office. He notified the Council of his intention to build on 6 April 1881 but on 4 February 1882 the house was advertised for sale on account of the owner going overseas. Benjamin never lived in it but did get as far as giving it a name: Rosenau.
The next person to appear as owner or ratepayer in the Rate Books was S Benjamin. Presumably Samuel Benjamin, Lawrence’s brother. The tenant at the time was Gustav Beckx, the consul-general for Belgium.
In 1887 the house was advertised To Let with enquiries to be directed to Mr Marks. Bernard Marks was Lawrence Benjamin’s son-in-law, so the house appears still to have been held within the family, and a check of the Rate Books shows, in fact, that Lawrence Benjamin was once again listed as the owner.
By 1890 Dr James Agnew was owner. Sir James Wilson Agnew (1815-1901) was a medical practitioner and politician. He was born in Ireland. He studied medicine in London, graduating MRCS in 1838, followed by an MD from Glasgow University in 1839. He emigrated to Sydney initially but was in Tasmania by 1841 where he practised for many years, holding several government positions. He retired from medicine in 1877 when he was first elected to the Legislative Council. He was premier and chief secretary of Tasmania from March 1886 to March 1887 but retired from politics when his government was defeated. He was a member of the Royal Society of Tasmania and wrote several papers. In 1888 he arranged for a shipment of 400,000 salmon ova to be brought to Tasmania to stock its rivers and lakes. He was appointed KCMG in 1895.
The house in Victoria Parade was purely an investment and was managed by Mary Baily as a boarding house. It accommodated up to 25 people. By 1898 it was known as Marlborough House. According to Agnew’s Inventory of Assets included in his Victorian probate papers the house was let at £14 per month.
The house remained in Agnew’s estate until 1909 when it was bought by the Misses Hulda and Amalie Eberhard who renamed it Hohenzollern and continued to run it as a boarding house. By October 1914 and under the cloud of WW1, it was renamed Australia. Two years later it was Ellendale. In December 1916 it was advertised as ‘Ardee, 433 Victoria parade (city end), newly Opened as Unfurnished Residential FLATS.’
In 1917 the Eberhards sold the property to the Catholic Women’s Club Hostel, an institution founded by Mrs. Marion Miller Knowles. It closed in 1931. The Eye and Ear Hospital acquired Ardee in 1949 for nurses’ quarters
1881-1890: Lawrence Benjamin, clothier (own)
1882-1887: Gustave Beckx, consul-general for Belgium (occ)
1890-1901: Sir James Wilson Agnew, medical practitioner, politician (own)
1890c-1909c: Mary Baily, boarding house keeper (occ)
1901-1909: Estate of Sir James Wilson Agnew
1909-1917: Misses Hulda and Amalie Eberhard, boarding house keepers (owns)
1917-1931: Catholic Women's Club
1949 - : Eye and Ear Hospital
The Argus, 4 Feb 1882, p.14 Punch, 15 Jul 1909, p.30 City of Melbourne Rate Books, Gipps Ward