Section 27, on part of which this house stood, was largely given over to churches: The Free Presbyterians, the Primitive Methodists and the Methodist New Connexion, but on 16 October 1868 the rest of the land was sold at the Crown Land Sales. All the lots were bought by Isaacs and Moss, who resold them over the following year. Lot 1 was bought by W.H.

The Argus, on 28 February 1908, reported:

The 1870 Rate Books list John Kelly as the owner, and describe the house as having '6 rooms bathroom 2 kitchens servants room and shed'. Thereafter it is listed simply as 8 rooms. In 1873 William Sydney Gibbons appears for the first time as the owner. He lived there with his family until his death in 1917. Gibbons was an analyst, and for many years, the government analyst.

Number 37 was built for William Kelly in 1860 on land 40ft. x 70ft. According to the Rate Books it had three rooms. In 1867 William Kelly registered a notice of intention to build extensions and alterations to the house. It then became five rooms. The land size was reduced to 20ft x 70ft coinciding with the appearance of a similar five roomed house on the excised vacant block (No. 39).