Grand two storey residence with collonades to ground and first floors. Fine balustraded parapet with central pediment and cartouche. Fine incised render detailing and string courses at springing of window arches. Etched glass to verandah return on both floors. High cast iron palisade fence on bluestone plinth.
The house was built for David Blair, a timber merchant. He frequently visited Borneo and Sumatra and was instrumental in importing many exotic timbers.
According to Mary P. Shaw "Italian workmen were imported to attend to the interior decoration of the house. Many of the ceilings were hand painted, designs including something which was of particular interest to the occupant of that room for example a dog or a canary. There are beautifully tiled floors and a stained glass fan light over the front door."
In 1900 Elizabeth Glover, an English trained nurse, leased the property and commissioned the architectural firm of Purchas & Shields to convert it to a private hospital. The Sands & McDougall Directories are proof that the hospital was known from the beginning as Mena House Private Hospital, and not, as is often recorded, named by returned nurses who had worked at Mena House, Cairo, during World War I.
It specialized in obstetrics and gynaecology under the supervision of the pre-eminent specialist in the field, Dr. J.W. Dunbar Hooper. An early birth recorded at the hospital was that of Thomas Peter Manifold in 1901.
In 1930 the hospital was bought by The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In 1987 it changed hands again when it was purchased by businessman, Mr. Nick Column. He upgraded the hospital and changed its name to Cliveden Hill Private Hospital.
In 2000 the hospital came under the ownership of a public company, Independent Practitioners Network, and since 2007 it has been owned and operated by Owen Furguson Health.
1878-1900: David Blair and wife Lydia, and family of ten children. David was a timber merchant 1900-1901: Elizabeth Glover, nurse. After only one year Elizabeth left Mena House and established a new hospital, St. Ives in Vale Street, which she owned and operated for many years.
Shaw, Mary P., The Shaws of Tullyvallin, Melbourne, 1976
Cyclopedia of Victoria, Vol. 3, "St. Ives".
City of Melbourne Rate Books
Sands and McDougall P.O. Directories
"History of Cliveden Hill Private Hospital", leaflet produced by the hospital
Melbourne Mansions Database: http://fmpro.abp.unimelb.edu.au
Australian Heritage Database: http://www.environment.gov.au
Photo in State Library of Victoria La Trobe Picture Collection (wrongly attributed to Powlett Street), Accession No. H2009.152/60