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The buttermilk walls of Webbers Farmhouse, along the Royston Road... at Taunton Deane in Somerset.

Maison jetable (facilement démontable en réalité) du début du XXe siècle, elle et ses consœurs voisines sont pourtant devenu de véritable témoin de l'installation de maison dans les glacis. Pour autant, elles sont toutes très mal entretenus. La ville semble toujours hésitée sur leur avenir et ne font pas les travaux nécessaire pour un renouveau pour un siècle supplémentaire. Et puis si vient l'envie de les détruire, et bien vu le laisser aller, ce sera facile à justifier. Gagnant dans tous les cas. Heureusement certains habitants pour de la résistance (voir premier article)

 

Sources : Journal local sur la résistance (FR) && Archi-wiki (FR)

Separate directions, part II

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Oslo, Norway.

  

“Rupertswood” in Sunbury on the outskirts of Melbourne is one of Australia's most important mansions, both historically and architecturally. Built as a residence for Sir William John Clarke (1831 – 1897), the first Australian born Baronet, in 1874 – 1876 it became a power seat in the great English tradition. The property covered an area of 31,000 acres. Today the estate has been greatly reduced due to subdivision to a more modest 1,100 acres.

 

Designed by local architect George L. Browne, "Rupertswood" is a 50 room bluestone mansion built for Sir William John Clarke by contractors George Sumner & Co. Designed in the Victorian Italianate style, the two storey mansion is surmounted by a 100 foot tower with a Mansard roof and widow's walk. The foundation stone for “Rupertswood” was laid on 29 August 1874 with some 1000 people in attendance. The house was completed in 1876. The grand entrance is paved with Victorian tessellated tiles and the house is flanked by splendid wide and shady verandahs on three sides. The ballroom was added in late 1881 or 1882. Interior decorations were carried out by Schemmel and Shilton. There are six magnificent stained glass panels made by Urie and Fergeson in 1874-76, considered some of the finest examples in the world. The elaborate mansion with its large estate demonstrates the important status of Clarke whose prominence as a colonist was recognised in 1882 by his appointment as a baronet.

 

William Sangster designed the gardens at “Rupertswood” originally covering an area of 99 acres, and once boasted tennis courts, croquet lawns and an underground fernery. “Rupertswood” also had its own private railway station where hundreds of guests to grand balls would arrive from Spencer Street. Balls, hunt meets and weekend house parties were frequent. Anyone of note, in Victorian and Edwardian society, was entertained by Sir John and Lady Eliza Clarke. Many historical figures visited “Rupertswood” during its history, including the then Duke and Duchess of York, (later to become King George V and Queen Mary), Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba and several Governors of Victoria. The estate also had its own half battery of horse artillery when Sir William John Clarke formed a small permanent force in 1885.

 

“Rupertswood” holds a place in the great sporting rivalry between Australia and England, as it was on a field at “Rupertswood” that the “Ashes” were created. On Christmas Eve of 1882, after a congenial lunch, Sir William Clarke suggested a social game between the English Cricket team and a local side, made up largely of “Rupertswood” staff. By all accounts, it was an enjoyable game with no one really keeping score, however, it was generally agreed that the English won. Pat Lyons, a worker at “Rupertswood”, clearly remembered the afternoon many years later. It was his understanding that Lady Clarke, at dinner that evening, had presented Ivo Bligh with a pottery urn. It was purported to contain the ashes of a burnt bail. This was a light hearted gesture to commemorate England's win at “Rupertswood”.

 

By 1922, “Rupertswood” had passed from the Clarke family into the possession of Hugh Victor McKay (1865 – 1926), a self-made millionaire, industrialist and inventor of “Sunshine Harvester”. His dream of owning “Rupertswood” had been realised, if however, a little short lived. He died at “Rupertswood” only four years after acquiring it. A short time later one of Australia's greatest pastoralist, Queenslander William Naughton acquired the property. One year later he sold the mansion and 1,100 acres to the Roman Catholic Salesian Order. The mansion then became a school for under privileged boys.

 

Today “Rupertswood” is open to the public. The mansion has undergone extensive restoration, with the help of interior designer and Victorian architecture specialist Jacqui Robertson, reinstating elaborate Victorian colour and decorative schemes, and operating as a boutique hotel.

 

Built in the 1880s, "Park Lodge" is a very grand asymmetrical Victorian mansion situated in the finest section of the inner northern Melbourne suburb of Moonee Ponds.

 

Built of polychromatic bricks, "Park Lodge" has a wonderful verandah and balcony adorned with elegant cast iron lacework. The roof is made of slate tiles with metal capping. The brown and yellow bricks are constructed in a profusion of geometric designs, which even make the wall treatment a great feature. Even the chimney is built of polychromatic bricks. Perhaps its most outstanding features are the distinctive French inspired Second Empire mansard roofed central tower which bears "Park Lodge's" name in a cartouche over the upper floor windows. This feature makes the property stand out for miles around.

 

Sadly, the original grounds of "Park Lodge" have been lost in the years since it was built, no doubt a victim to the Melbourne property bust of the 1890s. The widening of the road onto which it faces has also encroached upon its boundaries as has the widened railway line. Nevertheless, the current owners have made the most of the space they do have, planting a formal Victorian style garden in keeping with the house's age. It features a range of topiaries and small hedges. The whole garden is enclosed by an ornate wrought iron fence.

 

Moonee Ponds, like its neighbouring boroughs of Ascot Vale and Essendon, was etablished in the late 1880s and early 1890s. However, unlike its neighbours, it was an area of affluence and therefore only had middle-class, upper middle-class and some very wealthy citizens. Built in the most affluent area of Moonee Ponds, this mansion would have suited a large, wealthy Victorian family of some importance and would have required a small retinue of servants to maintain. Today it is still mantained as a private residence.

Built in the 1880s, "Park Lodge" is a very grand asymmetrical Victorian mansion situated in the finest section of the inner northern Melbourne suburb of Moonee Ponds.

 

Built of polychromatic bricks, "Park Lodge" has a wonderful verandah and balcony adorned with elegant cast iron lacework. The roof is made of slate tiles with metal capping. The brown and yellow bricks are constructed in a profusion of geometric designs, which even make the wall treatment a great feature. Even the chimney is built of polychromatic bricks. Perhaps its most outstanding features are the distinctive French inspired Second Empire mansard roofed central tower which bears "Park Lodge's" name in a cartouche over the upper floor windows. This feature makes the property stand out for miles around.

 

Sadly, the original grounds of "Park Lodge" have been lost in the years since it was built, no doubt a victim to the Melbourne property bust of the 1890s. The widening of the road onto which it faces has also encroached upon its boundaries as has the widened railway line. Nevertheless, the current owners have made the most of the space they do have, planting a formal Victorian style garden in keeping with the house's age. It features a range of topiaries and small hedges. The whole garden is enclosed by an ornate wrought iron fence.

 

Moonee Ponds, like its neighbouring boroughs of Ascot Vale and Essendon, was etablished in the late 1880s and early 1890s. However, unlike its neighbours, it was an area of affluence and therefore only had middle-class, upper middle-class and some very wealthy citizens. Built in the most affluent area of Moonee Ponds, this mansion would have suited a large, wealthy Victorian family of some importance and would have required a small retinue of servants to maintain. Today it is still mantained as a private residence.

"Cumnock" is a grand Victorian Italianate mansion designed by Melbourne architect Charles Webb (1821 - 1898), located on The Avenue in the Melbourne suburb of Parkville.

 

"Cumnock" is a splendid exmple of the fine domestic architecture available to those who were either wealthy by birth, or had made it rich during the boom period of Victoria's Gold Rush, when Melbourne was the weathiest city in the world.

 

Completed in 1889 for George Howat, the 26 room, 6 bedroom mansion remained with his family until it was purchased by Ridley College (a theological school) in 1919 after his death. It remained in the hands of the college, and was well maintained with beautiful gardens about it. Then in June 2007, Ridley College sold it to developers Drapac.

 

At the time of photographing, the gardens of "Cumnock" were in a sad state of affairs as workmen commenced subdividing the interior to make several prestige townhouses.

 

As a tall block of modern apartments which are not at all in keeping with the mansion are being constructed behind "Cumnock" as part of the subdivision and development of the estate, I thought it best to photograph it in its current state, before a tower of glass and balconies blocks out the blue sky behind this Grande Dame of Marvellous Melbourne!

 

Charles Webb also designed Melbourne's Grand Hotel (now known as the Windsor Hotel), the Royal Arcade in Bourke Street, "Charsfield" on St Kilda Road, "Mandeville Hall" in Toorak and the Melbourne Church of England Grammar School amongst other buildings.

Built in the 1880s, "Park Lodge" is a very grand asymmetrical Victorian mansion situated in the finest section of the inner northern Melbourne suburb of Moonee Ponds.

 

Built of polychromatic bricks, "Park Lodge" has a wonderful verandah and balcony adorned with elegant cast iron lacework. The roof is made of slate tiles with metal capping. The brown and yellow bricks are constructed in a profusion of geometric designs, which even make the wall treatment a great feature. Even the chimney is built of polychromatic bricks. Perhaps its most outstanding features are the distinctive French inspired Second Empire mansard roofed central tower which bears "Park Lodge's" name in a cartouche over the upper floor windows. This feature makes the property stand out for miles around.

 

Sadly, the original grounds of "Park Lodge" have been lost in the years since it was built, no doubt a victim to the Melbourne property bust of the 1890s. The widening of the road onto which it faces has also encroached upon its boundaries as has the widened railway line. Nevertheless, the current owners have made the most of the space they do have, planting a formal Victorian style garden in keeping with the house's age. It features a range of topiaries and small hedges. The whole garden is enclosed by an ornate wrought iron fence.

 

Moonee Ponds, like its neighbouring boroughs of Ascot Vale and Essendon, was etablished in the late 1880s and early 1890s. However, unlike its neighbours, it was an area of affluence and therefore only had middle-class, upper middle-class and some very wealthy citizens. Built in the most affluent area of Moonee Ponds, this mansion would have suited a large, wealthy Victorian family of some importance and would have required a small retinue of servants to maintain. Today it is still mantained as a private residence.

Built in the 1880s, "Park Lodge" is a very grand asymmetrical Victorian mansion situated in the finest section of the inner northern Melbourne suburb of Moonee Ponds.

 

Built of polychromatic bricks, "Park Lodge" has a wonderful verandah and balcony adorned with elegant cast iron lacework. The roof is made of slate tiles with metal capping. The brown and yellow bricks are constructed in a profusion of geometric designs, which even make the wall treatment a great feature. Even the chimney is built of polychromatic bricks. Perhaps its most outstanding features are the distinctive French inspired Second Empire mansard roofed central tower which bears "Park Lodge's" name in a cartouche over the upper floor windows. This feature makes the property stand out for miles around.

 

Sadly, the original grounds of "Park Lodge" have been lost in the years since it was built, no doubt a victim to the Melbourne property bust of the 1890s. The widening of the road onto which it faces has also encroached upon its boundaries as has the widened railway line. Nevertheless, the current owners have made the most of the space they do have, planting a formal Victorian style garden in keeping with the house's age. It features a range of topiaries and small hedges. The whole garden is enclosed by an ornate wrought iron fence.

 

Moonee Ponds, like its neighbouring boroughs of Ascot Vale and Essendon, was etablished in the late 1880s and early 1890s. However, unlike its neighbours, it was an area of affluence and therefore only had middle-class, upper middle-class and some very wealthy citizens. Built in the most affluent area of Moonee Ponds, this mansion would have suited a large, wealthy Victorian family of some importance and would have required a small retinue of servants to maintain. Today it is still mantained as a private residence.

Built in the 1880s, "Park Lodge" is a very grand asymmetrical Victorian mansion situated in the finest section of the inner northern Melbourne suburb of Moonee Ponds.

 

Built of polychromatic bricks, "Park Lodge" has a wonderful verandah and balcony adorned with elegant cast iron lacework. The roof is made of slate tiles with metal capping. The brown and yellow bricks are constructed in a profusion of geometric designs, which even make the wall treatment a great feature. Even the chimney is built of polychromatic bricks. Perhaps its most outstanding features are the distinctive French inspired Second Empire mansard roofed central tower which bears "Park Lodge's" name in a cartouche over the upper floor windows. This feature makes the property stand out for miles around.

 

Sadly, the original grounds of "Park Lodge" have been lost in the years since it was built, no doubt a victim to the Melbourne property bust of the 1890s. The widening of the road onto which it faces has also encroached upon its boundaries as has the widened railway line. Nevertheless, the current owners have made the most of the space they do have, planting a formal Victorian style garden in keeping with the house's age. It features a range of topiaries and small hedges. The whole garden is enclosed by an ornate wrought iron fence.

 

Moonee Ponds, like its neighbouring boroughs of Ascot Vale and Essendon, was etablished in the late 1880s and early 1890s. However, unlike its neighbours, it was an area of affluence and therefore only had middle-class, upper middle-class and some very wealthy citizens. Built in the most affluent area of Moonee Ponds, this mansion would have suited a large, wealthy Victorian family of some importance and would have required a small retinue of servants to maintain. Today it is still mantained as a private residence.

"Cumnock" is a grand Victorian Italianate mansion designed by Melbourne architect Charles Webb (1821 - 1898), located on The Avenue in the Melbourne suburb of Parkville.

 

"Cumnock" is a splendid exmple of the fine domestic architecture available to those who were either wealthy by birth, or had made it rich during the boom period of Victoria's Gold Rush, when Melbourne was the weathiest city in the world.

 

Completed in 1889 for George Howat, the 26 room, 6 bedroom mansion remained with his family until it was purchased by Ridley College (a theological school) in 1919 after his death. It remained in the hands of the college, and was well maintained with beautiful gardens about it. Then in June 2007, Ridley College sold it to developers Drapac.

 

At the time of photographing, the gardens of "Cumnock" were in a sad state of affairs as workmen commenced subdividing the interior to make several prestige townhouses.

 

As a tall block of modern apartments which are not at all in keeping with the mansion are being constructed behind "Cumnock" as part of the subdivision and development of the estate, I thought it best to photograph it in its current state, before a tower of glass and balconies blocks out the blue sky behind this Grande Dame of Marvellous Melbourne!

 

Charles Webb also designed Melbourne's Grand Hotel (now known as the Windsor Hotel), the Royal Arcade in Bourke Street, "Charsfield" on St Kilda Road, "Mandeville Hall" in Toorak and the Melbourne Church of England Grammar School amongst other buildings.

It was actually darker than this iPhone night shot makes it appear, although it was only 1 1/2 hours after sundown. The actual moon is above, outside the frame, but I couldn't bring the light in this down any darker without losing too many details. What drew me to take this shot int he first place was the moonlight on the slate tile roof. I was also amazed that so many stars were visible, which isn't usual. Bayside, Queens, NYC -- January 23, 2021

Downward view of a cobbled street in Dinan, Brittany, France with medieval houses either side

Built in 1884 in the fashionable Fawkner Park district in what is the modern day Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, "Goodrest" is a large boom-style Italianate two-storey brick mansion designed by Walter Buckhurst for his parents William Parton Buckhurst and Anne Jane Faram. Walter was their eldest son.

 

The two-storey brick mansion standing proudly on Toorak Road West overlooking Fawkner Park from behind century old willow trees and Canary Island date palms has the typical Italianate massing with projecting canted bay wing, tower and two storey cast iron verandah. The tower is capped by a mansard dome. The facade is picked out in primrose yellow and white paintwork, highlighting its elaborate decoration. It is a fine example of the boom-style Italianate mansion popular amid wealthy pastoralists, developers and self-made Melbournian families eager to show off their wealth in the booming economic periods of 1880s and 1890s before the property crash of the late 1890s. The typical composition of the building with its central entranceway and L-shaped verandah is enhanced by the elaborate plaster work decoration and the splendid mansard dome on the tower. The stylised first floor cornice and window mouldings and the ground floor verandah with coupled columns and balustraded plinth are notable features of "Goodrest".

 

Originally, "Goodrest" was a typical large Victorian family home to the wealthy Buckhursts: William and Anne, their six children and a large retinue of indoor and outdoor servants. William was a developer and wool broker from Emerald Hill. The family were prominent members of Christ Church South Yarra, located only a short brougham ride or stroll from "Goodrest" on the corner of Toorak and Punt Roads. The Buckhursts were also important members of Melbourne's social elite and many a fine party was held at "Goodrest" which glittered like an ornately lit layer cake. However, by the time of the Second World War, the mansion's fortunes had changed. Crippled by taxes after the Great War and then hit by the Great Depression of 1929, the gilded age of the Buckhurts had long gone, so during hostilities, "Goodrest" served as the Far Eastern Liaison Office. With the restoration of peace in 1945, the property was no longer required by the War Office and it reverted to private ownership. However times had changed dramatically, as had the lives and fortunes of Melbournians. No-one wanted, nor could many afford, a crumbing Victorian edifice like "Goodrest" as their private home, and in the ensuing years it became the Avon Private Hotel. Situated on what was left of the originally large property, it was hedged in by an encroaching number of flats, and "Goodrest's" grand rooms were converted into smaller, more serviceable spaces. Whilst Coadjutor in the 1960s, Archbishop Justin Daniel Simonds was instrumental in strengthening the Catholic Education Department. After his death in 1967, the church purchased "Goodrest" to run conferences for Catholic teachers, restoring the rooms to their former grand proportions. "Goodrest" was renamed "Simonds Hall" in his honour. In 1971 "Simonds Hall" (formerly "Goodrest") was classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) as being of state significance as an outstanding feature of the South Yarra and Fawkner Park precincts as they once were. The mansion is today owned by Christ Church Grammar School, which sits alongside the church in which the Buckhursts used to worship. The small parcel of land upon which "Goodrest" stands, once neatly separated into paths and flowerbeds, is now a dusty carpark. Only the Canary Island palms and weeping willows remain. In 2016, the school put forth a suggestion to build an underground carpark and re-landscape and terrace the gardens to their former elegance. However the proposal was rejected because of the traffic difficulties it posed, its obstruction of this beautiful building from Toorak Road, and the possible structural damage it posed to "Goodrest". The matter continues to be a matter of discussion.

 

William Parton Buckhurst was born in Rochester, Kent in 1831, the son of John Buckhurst, a farmer. He was educated at local schools. At the age of seventeen he sailed to America and traveled through Canada before settling in Illinois where he was apprenticed to a miller. William became the manager of a flour mill in the Mississippi valley, before he caught ‘California fever’ in 1852. He sailed to Australia in 1857 where he landed in Melbourne. William purchased land in Napier Street, Emerald Hill and built four small cottages that proved to be very profitable when he sold them. He commenced business as an auctioneer and estate agent in the early 1860s. William married Anne Faram in 1860, and they had eight children, born between 1862 and 1872. He built elegant Rochester Terrace, a row of eight roomed terrace houses in St Vincent Place South in fashionable Albert Park between 1869 and 1871. After he returned from a ten month trip to India, the Middle East and Europe, William published "An Australian Abroad". Subsequently he took active steps from 1871 to have the Albert Park lagoon made into a permanent lake, the bowling green and croquet lawn in St Vincent Gardens in 1873, and in 1874 he proposed a canal from the Yarra River to the bay. In 1900 he married his second wife Agnes McCall. His original home was "Kent Villa", named for his native county, and later, "Windarra" in St Vincents Place Albert Park, and finally "Goodrest", Toorak Road, South Yarra, where he died in 1906.

 

Walter Buckhurst was born in Emerald Hill in 1863 to William Parton Buckhurst and his wife Anne Jane Faram. He became a very successful architect, not only designing "Goodrest", but many others. He owned sixty five mansion and villa sites facing the Botanic Gardens and Fawkner Park. He married Ada Jessie Gardiner. He died at his South Yarra home in 1897.

  

Built in 1884 in the fashionable Fawkner Park district in what is the modern day Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, "Goodrest" is a large boom-style Italianate two-storey brick mansion designed by Walter Buckhurst for his parents William Parton Buckhurst and Anne Jane Faram. Walter was their eldest son.

 

The two-storey brick mansion standing proudly on Toorak Road West overlooking Fawkner Park from behind century old willow trees and Canary Island date palms has the typical Italianate massing with projecting canted bay wing, tower and two storey cast iron verandah. The tower is capped by a mansard dome. The facade is picked out in primrose yellow and white paintwork, highlighting its elaborate decoration. It is a fine example of the boom-style Italianate mansion popular amid wealthy pastoralists, developers and self-made Melbournian families eager to show off their wealth in the booming economic periods of 1880s and 1890s before the property crash of the late 1890s. The typical composition of the building with its central entranceway and L-shaped verandah is enhanced by the elaborate plaster work decoration and the splendid mansard dome on the tower. The stylised first floor cornice and window mouldings and the ground floor verandah with coupled columns and balustraded plinth are notable features of "Goodrest".

 

Originally, "Goodrest" was a typical large Victorian family home to the wealthy Buckhursts: William and Anne, their six children and a large retinue of indoor and outdoor servants. William was a developer and wool broker from Emerald Hill. The family were prominent members of Christ Church South Yarra, located only a short brougham ride or stroll from "Goodrest" on the corner of Toorak and Punt Roads. The Buckhursts were also important members of Melbourne's social elite and many a fine party was held at "Goodrest" which glittered like an ornately lit layer cake. However, by the time of the Second World War, the mansion's fortunes had changed. Crippled by taxes after the Great War and then hit by the Great Depression of 1929, the gilded age of the Buckhurts had long gone, so during hostilities, "Goodrest" served as the Far Eastern Liaison Office. With the restoration of peace in 1945, the property was no longer required by the War Office and it reverted to private ownership. However times had changed dramatically, as had the lives and fortunes of Melbournians. No-one wanted, nor could many afford, a crumbing Victorian edifice like "Goodrest" as their private home, and in the ensuing years it became the Avon Private Hotel. Situated on what was left of the originally large property, it was hedged in by an encroaching number of flats, and "Goodrest's" grand rooms were converted into smaller, more serviceable spaces. Whilst Coadjutor in the 1960s, Archbishop Justin Daniel Simonds was instrumental in strengthening the Catholic Education Department. After his death in 1967, the church purchased "Goodrest" to run conferences for Catholic teachers, restoring the rooms to their former grand proportions. "Goodrest" was renamed "Simonds Hall" in his honour. In 1971 "Simonds Hall" (formerly "Goodrest") was classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) as being of state significance as an outstanding feature of the South Yarra and Fawkner Park precincts as they once were. The mansion is today owned by Christ Church Grammar School, which sits alongside the church in which the Buckhursts used to worship. The small parcel of land upon which "Goodrest" stands, once neatly separated into paths and flowerbeds, is now a dusty carpark. Only the Canary Island palms and weeping willows remain. In 2016, the school put forth a suggestion to build an underground carpark and re-landscape and terrace the gardens to their former elegance. However the proposal was rejected because of the traffic difficulties it posed, its obstruction of this beautiful building from Toorak Road, and the possible structural damage it posed to "Goodrest". The matter continues to be a matter of discussion.

 

William Parton Buckhurst was born in Rochester, Kent in 1831, the son of John Buckhurst, a farmer. He was educated at local schools. At the age of seventeen he sailed to America and traveled through Canada before settling in Illinois where he was apprenticed to a miller. William became the manager of a flour mill in the Mississippi valley, before he caught ‘California fever’ in 1852. He sailed to Australia in 1857 where he landed in Melbourne. William purchased land in Napier Street, Emerald Hill and built four small cottages that proved to be very profitable when he sold them. He commenced business as an auctioneer and estate agent in the early 1860s. William married Anne Faram in 1860, and they had eight children, born between 1862 and 1872. He built elegant Rochester Terrace, a row of eight roomed terrace houses in St Vincent Place South in fashionable Albert Park between 1869 and 1871. After he returned from a ten month trip to India, the Middle East and Europe, William published "An Australian Abroad". Subsequently he took active steps from 1871 to have the Albert Park lagoon made into a permanent lake, the bowling green and croquet lawn in St Vincent Gardens in 1873, and in 1874 he proposed a canal from the Yarra River to the bay. In 1900 he married his second wife Agnes McCall. His original home was "Kent Villa", named for his native county, and later, "Windarra" in St Vincents Place Albert Park, and finally "Goodrest", Toorak Road, South Yarra, where he died in 1906.

 

Walter Buckhurst was born in Emerald Hill in 1863 to William Parton Buckhurst and his wife Anne Jane Faram. He became a very successful architect, not only designing "Goodrest", but many others. He owned sixty five mansion and villa sites facing the Botanic Gardens and Fawkner Park. He married Ada Jessie Gardiner. He died at his South Yarra home in 1897.

  

Passion Peach

 

Copyright © 2012 Tomitheos Photography - All Rights Reserved

Honfleur is a charming town in Normandy, France. With more than 1000 years of history, it's worth visiting if you love the ocean and medieval architecture. From the twelfth century onwards, it became an important crossing point for goods transiting via the sea to England.

"J. Atkins, Carpenter, Joiner, and Wheelwright

Repairs to House Property Neatly Executed"

 

Someplace in England?

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From a glass negative found by John Mack

in storage at the Heritage Place Museum,

Lyn, Ontario

 

Location

and photographer unknown

----------

Steve (Visual Photons) described a similar shop:

 

A late old friend born 1910 worked in his father's workshop as a wheelwright and doing joinery. The work shop was eco friendly, it had no electricity all the tools were human powered, including a large circular saw turned by rotating a belt-connected flywheel. In those days a lot of the joinery was for windows and doors, connections with the local priest providing a trade making coffins.

----------

John Mack emailed:

I have been looking at your Flickr posting of "J.Atkins, Carpenter etc"

 

First thing that caught my eye as I was studying the photo was the condition of the shed attached to the house on the right. It looks like it might be ready to fall down, not a very good advertisement for his carpentry skills.

 

The other thing is the "garden" in the front yard. Is it possible that this photo is later than 1900's. Could it be after 1914 when WW1 started and they have planted a Victory Garden in their front yard ?

 

It's amazing just how clear these old glass plate negatives are, sometimes the focus is better than today's cameras.

----------

Ian (Fulvue) writes:

 

Looking at their clothes fashions I would guess this is even pre Great War. In those days folk grew their own vegetables for financial reasons, especially in rural areas like this. Manicured lawns and gardens were for a wealthier community.

---------

Bob (Bobec 47) writes:

 

I agree with Ian, this does look turn of the century with dress and hair style.

A little piece of still life. The yellowing leaf presented itself to me this morning covered in dew in the garden. I placed it on a piece of old roof slate along with a couple more leaves fallen from the same plant and got the tripod ready

Built in 1884 in the fashionable Fawkner Park district in what is the modern day Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, "Goodrest" is a large boom-style Italianate two-storey brick mansion designed by Walter Buckhurst for his parents William Parton Buckhurst and Anne Jane Faram. Walter was their eldest son.

 

The two-storey brick mansion standing proudly on Toorak Road West overlooking Fawkner Park from behind century old willow trees and Canary Island date palms has the typical Italianate massing with projecting canted bay wing, tower and two storey cast iron verandah. The tower is capped by a mansard dome. The facade is picked out in primrose yellow and white paintwork, highlighting its elaborate decoration. It is a fine example of the boom-style Italianate mansion popular amid wealthy pastoralists, developers and self-made Melbournian families eager to show off their wealth in the booming economic periods of 1880s and 1890s before the property crash of the late 1890s. The typical composition of the building with its central entranceway and L-shaped verandah is enhanced by the elaborate plaster work decoration and the splendid mansard dome on the tower. The stylised first floor cornice and window mouldings and the ground floor verandah with coupled columns and balustraded plinth are notable features of "Goodrest".

 

Originally, "Goodrest" was a typical large Victorian family home to the wealthy Buckhursts: William and Anne, their six children and a large retinue of indoor and outdoor servants. William was a developer and wool broker from Emerald Hill. The family were prominent members of Christ Church South Yarra, located only a short brougham ride or stroll from "Goodrest" on the corner of Toorak and Punt Roads. The Buckhursts were also important members of Melbourne's social elite and many a fine party was held at "Goodrest" which glittered like an ornately lit layer cake. However, by the time of the Second World War, the mansion's fortunes had changed. Crippled by taxes after the Great War and then hit by the Great Depression of 1929, the gilded age of the Buckhurts had long gone, so during hostilities, "Goodrest" served as the Far Eastern Liaison Office. With the restoration of peace in 1945, the property was no longer required by the War Office and it reverted to private ownership. However times had changed dramatically, as had the lives and fortunes of Melbournians. No-one wanted, nor could many afford, a crumbing Victorian edifice like "Goodrest" as their private home, and in the ensuing years it became the Avon Private Hotel. Situated on what was left of the originally large property, it was hedged in by an encroaching number of flats, and "Goodrest's" grand rooms were converted into smaller, more serviceable spaces. Whilst Coadjutor in the 1960s, Archbishop Justin Daniel Simonds was instrumental in strengthening the Catholic Education Department. After his death in 1967, the church purchased "Goodrest" to run conferences for Catholic teachers, restoring the rooms to their former grand proportions. "Goodrest" was renamed "Simonds Hall" in his honour. In 1971 "Simonds Hall" (formerly "Goodrest") was classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) as being of state significance as an outstanding feature of the South Yarra and Fawkner Park precincts as they once were. The mansion is today owned by Christ Church Grammar School, which sits alongside the church in which the Buckhursts used to worship. The small parcel of land upon which "Goodrest" stands, once neatly separated into paths and flowerbeds, is now a dusty carpark. Only the Canary Island palms and weeping willows remain. In 2016, the school put forth a suggestion to build an underground carpark and re-landscape and terrace the gardens to their former elegance. However the proposal was rejected because of the traffic difficulties it posed, its obstruction of this beautiful building from Toorak Road, and the possible structural damage it posed to "Goodrest". The matter continues to be a matter of discussion.

 

William Parton Buckhurst was born in Rochester, Kent in 1831, the son of John Buckhurst, a farmer. He was educated at local schools. At the age of seventeen he sailed to America and traveled through Canada before settling in Illinois where he was apprenticed to a miller. William became the manager of a flour mill in the Mississippi valley, before he caught ‘California fever’ in 1852. He sailed to Australia in 1857 where he landed in Melbourne. William purchased land in Napier Street, Emerald Hill and built four small cottages that proved to be very profitable when he sold them. He commenced business as an auctioneer and estate agent in the early 1860s. William married Anne Faram in 1860, and they had eight children, born between 1862 and 1872. He built elegant Rochester Terrace, a row of eight roomed terrace houses in St Vincent Place South in fashionable Albert Park between 1869 and 1871. After he returned from a ten month trip to India, the Middle East and Europe, William published "An Australian Abroad". Subsequently he took active steps from 1871 to have the Albert Park lagoon made into a permanent lake, the bowling green and croquet lawn in St Vincent Gardens in 1873, and in 1874 he proposed a canal from the Yarra River to the bay. In 1900 he married his second wife Agnes McCall. His original home was "Kent Villa", named for his native county, and later, "Windarra" in St Vincents Place Albert Park, and finally "Goodrest", Toorak Road, South Yarra, where he died in 1906.

 

Walter Buckhurst was born in Emerald Hill in 1863 to William Parton Buckhurst and his wife Anne Jane Faram. He became a very successful architect, not only designing "Goodrest", but many others. He owned sixty five mansion and villa sites facing the Botanic Gardens and Fawkner Park. He married Ada Jessie Gardiner. He died at his South Yarra home in 1897.

  

Talara was built for Dilmond Howes the first Surveyor of the Belfast District Roads Board. Belfast was the name that preceded the government town of Port Fairy.

 

Port Fairy/Belfast.

Like nearby Portland Port Fairy was settled by whites before New South Wales created a settlement district in that region near the SA border. Sealers and whalers had visited this bay from the early 1800s with voyages from Van Diemen’s Land or from America. Captain Wishart of the whaling ship called the Fairy named the bay Port Fairy in 1828 after he had sheltered here during a raging storm. Temporary whaling and sealing camps were set up here from around 1830, including camps by the Mills brothers of Launceston who began as sealers and then progressed to being whalers. The bay is situated at the mouth of the Moyne River adjacent to Griffiths Island, now a sanctuary for Shearwater or Muttonbirds or Puffinus tenuirostiris as they are officially known. John Griffiths had established a whaling station on the island in 1835. Permanent white settlement began at Port Fairy from 1843 when James Atkinson had a Special Survey undertaken by the NSW government. At £1 per acre he purchased 5,120 acres. Further inland near Koroit and Tower Hill William Rutledge also purchased 5,120 acres through a Special Survey. A condition of the Special Survey was the establishment of a town and encouragement of settlers. Atkinson, who was born in Ireland, named his town Belfast to attract poor Irish settlers. William Rutledge of Koroit was also an Irishman and he sponsored Irish immigrants to lease his lands. Rutledge established a wool and trading company in Port Fairy with his business partners. Atkinson also leased land to Irish immigrants to grow potatoes as they had back in Ireland.

 

Once Portland became an official settlement area of NSW in 1840 similar conditions had to apply to the Port Fairy district. Governor Gipps in Sydney declared the Portland Bay District open for pastoral leases in 1839 and Commissioner LaTrobe was put in charge of the Portland and Port Phillip Bay districts as pastoralists flooded in to take up lands. But it took three more years before Port Fairy became official with Atkinson’s Special Survey in 1843. Atkinson’s town was Belfast but the government port and jetty here was known as Port Fairy from around 1843. In fact the town of Belfast was only changed to Port Fairy by Act of Parliament in 1887. Once Atkinson purchased his land he leased some sections to Charles Mills of Launceston who became the first permanent white farmer and he also leased all town blocks in Belfast. It was not until 1887 that the Atkinson estate allowed the leased town blocks to be sold as freehold. Atkinson was not liked by the townspeople and it is for that reason that they petitioned the government to eradicate his town name of Belfast in 1887! (Despite the leasehold on all town blocks the town grew very quickly and by 1857 it had a population of 2,190.)

 

Charles Mills took up around 400 acres for £52 a year rent along the lagoon near the mouth of the Moyne River which he called Picanini Ponds. This occurred in 1844. He soon changed the name of his property to Woodbine. His fine two-storey residence called Woodbine was erected in 1847 once he had obtained a 31-year lease of the farm from Atkinson. He subleased some of his land to his brother-in-law, a ticket of leave man from Van Diemen’s Land, named James Glare. Charles Mill’s brother John Mills lived in Belfast at 40 Gipps Street. He captained whaling and later trading ships along the coast. Whaling finished in Port Fairy in 1848 the last year that a whale was caught near the town. Atkinson also leased the rest of his rural land to tenant farmers who only obtained freehold from the late 1870s onwards. But there was plenty more fertile land near Port Fairy. In 1852 the new Victorian government (Victoria was created as a new colony in 1851) resumed pastoral leases around Port Fairy and subdivided and sold 8,000 acres mainly in 100 or 200-acre farms. Most of those who took up the land were dairy farmers, wheat farmers or potato growers. The town of Belfast continued to grow and today it has over 50 heritage-listed buildings with many dating from the 1840s and 1850s. Although Atkinson only gave leasehold in Belfast he donated land for the Anglican and Catholic churches, the first school at the rear of the Anglican Church, the library and the meeting hall.

 

Buildings to look for in Port Fairy:

•Walk begins if you choose at 44 James St. Site of former Wesleyan Methodist Church (1855) in a distinctive Greek/Georgian style melange. Next door is the wooden parsonage 1899. The bluestone Sunday School was built 1870 and also used as a town school. This land donated by James Atkinson from his special survey.

•Walk back to the next intersection on the corner James/Bank Streets where you will see the Caledonian Inn (1844)- oldest licensed hotel in Victoria but now a motel; continue down Bank Street towards the sea.

•At the next corner of your left is Barkley St. Walk down here if you want and see the Anglican Church with its fine encircling stonewall. It opened 1856 replacing an earlier wattle and daub church built 1847.

•Next you will see the former Council Chambers with the clock in the pediment. Once also used as a Post Office. Almost next door is the Star of the West Hotel (1856) built for a black West Indian.

•Then turn right into Sackville St. Immediately on your left are the classical style old Lecture Hall (1889) and the Library (former Mechanics Institute 1865.) There are many fine buildings in this the main shopping strip.

•At the intersection with Cox St. are three old fine looking bank style buildings on each corner. The bank on the right in bluestone was the Australasian Bank erected in 1857, one of the earliest banks in Port Fairy. Seacombe House (1847) was built as the Stag Hotel. On the nearest corner is the former Post Office, 1881.

• Then turn left into Cox St and beyond the first street on your left is a former bank built in 1870. Now the Municipal offices. Next door is Emoh Cottage 1840, added to 1885, the former home of William Rutledge the owner of the Koroit Special Survey. The façade is grand but narrow. It is now a Youth Hostel.

•Continue towards the sea and turn right in Gipps St. First on your left is Captain John Mills’s cottage from 1850s at the rear of the later home from 1880s. Whilst here walk down to the waterfront to enjoy the Moyne River wharfs. Almost on the next corner is the Court House in bluestone from 1860.

•Now turn right into Campbell St but glance left and on the other corner is the former Merrijig Inn (1841), once the social and political centre of early Belfast.

•At the second street on your right up Campbell is Sackville St. Turn into Sackville St. and on your right is Motts Cottage built 1845, 1860 and 1890. Once home to two early sailors. The single storey front part is clearly the 1845 cottage. The two-storey part added to the rear was erected in 1860.

•On the next corner of Sackville/Cox Streets the walk ends. If you want to see the grand Presbyterian Church and manse go to 29-33 Albert St.( the main highway). It was built in 1854 to replace the 1843 Scots church. Romantic Talara (1855) is on Princes Highway which we saw earlier and the Catholic Church (1859).

 

Built in 1884 in the fashionable Fawkner Park district in what is the modern day Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, "Goodrest" is a large boom-style Italianate two-storey brick mansion designed by Walter Buckhurst for his parents William Parton Buckhurst and Anne Jane Faram. Walter was their eldest son.

 

The two-storey brick mansion standing proudly on Toorak Road West overlooking Fawkner Park from behind century old willow trees and Canary Island date palms has the typical Italianate massing with projecting canted bay wing, tower and two storey cast iron verandah. The tower is capped by a mansard dome. The facade is picked out in primrose yellow and white paintwork, highlighting its elaborate decoration. It is a fine example of the boom-style Italianate mansion popular amid wealthy pastoralists, developers and self-made Melbournian families eager to show off their wealth in the booming economic periods of 1880s and 1890s before the property crash of the late 1890s. The typical composition of the building with its central entranceway and L-shaped verandah is enhanced by the elaborate plaster work decoration and the splendid mansard dome on the tower. The stylised first floor cornice and window mouldings and the ground floor verandah with coupled columns and balustraded plinth are notable features of "Goodrest".

 

Originally, "Goodrest" was a typical large Victorian family home to the wealthy Buckhursts: William and Anne, their six children and a large retinue of indoor and outdoor servants. William was a developer and wool broker from Emerald Hill. The family were prominent members of Christ Church South Yarra, located only a short brougham ride or stroll from "Goodrest" on the corner of Toorak and Punt Roads. The Buckhursts were also important members of Melbourne's social elite and many a fine party was held at "Goodrest" which glittered like an ornately lit layer cake. However, by the time of the Second World War, the mansion's fortunes had changed. Crippled by taxes after the Great War and then hit by the Great Depression of 1929, the gilded age of the Buckhurts had long gone, so during hostilities, "Goodrest" served as the Far Eastern Liaison Office. With the restoration of peace in 1945, the property was no longer required by the War Office and it reverted to private ownership. However times had changed dramatically, as had the lives and fortunes of Melbournians. No-one wanted, nor could many afford, a crumbing Victorian edifice like "Goodrest" as their private home, and in the ensuing years it became the Avon Private Hotel. Situated on what was left of the originally large property, it was hedged in by an encroaching number of flats, and "Goodrest's" grand rooms were converted into smaller, more serviceable spaces. Whilst Coadjutor in the 1960s, Archbishop Justin Daniel Simonds was instrumental in strengthening the Catholic Education Department. After his death in 1967, the church purchased "Goodrest" to run conferences for Catholic teachers, restoring the rooms to their former grand proportions. "Goodrest" was renamed "Simonds Hall" in his honour. In 1971 "Simonds Hall" (formerly "Goodrest") was classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) as being of state significance as an outstanding feature of the South Yarra and Fawkner Park precincts as they once were. The mansion is today owned by Christ Church Grammar School, which sits alongside the church in which the Buckhursts used to worship. The small parcel of land upon which "Goodrest" stands, once neatly separated into paths and flowerbeds, is now a dusty carpark. Only the Canary Island palms and weeping willows remain. In 2016, the school put forth a suggestion to build an underground carpark and re-landscape and terrace the gardens to their former elegance. However the proposal was rejected because of the traffic difficulties it posed, its obstruction of this beautiful building from Toorak Road, and the possible structural damage it posed to "Goodrest". The matter continues to be a matter of discussion.

 

William Parton Buckhurst was born in Rochester, Kent in 1831, the son of John Buckhurst, a farmer. He was educated at local schools. At the age of seventeen he sailed to America and traveled through Canada before settling in Illinois where he was apprenticed to a miller. William became the manager of a flour mill in the Mississippi valley, before he caught ‘California fever’ in 1852. He sailed to Australia in 1857 where he landed in Melbourne. William purchased land in Napier Street, Emerald Hill and built four small cottages that proved to be very profitable when he sold them. He commenced business as an auctioneer and estate agent in the early 1860s. William married Anne Faram in 1860, and they had eight children, born between 1862 and 1872. He built elegant Rochester Terrace, a row of eight roomed terrace houses in St Vincent Place South in fashionable Albert Park between 1869 and 1871. After he returned from a ten month trip to India, the Middle East and Europe, William published "An Australian Abroad". Subsequently he took active steps from 1871 to have the Albert Park lagoon made into a permanent lake, the bowling green and croquet lawn in St Vincent Gardens in 1873, and in 1874 he proposed a canal from the Yarra River to the bay. In 1900 he married his second wife Agnes McCall. His original home was "Kent Villa", named for his native county, and later, "Windarra" in St Vincents Place Albert Park, and finally "Goodrest", Toorak Road, South Yarra, where he died in 1906.

 

Walter Buckhurst was born in Emerald Hill in 1863 to William Parton Buckhurst and his wife Anne Jane Faram. He became a very successful architect, not only designing "Goodrest", but many others. He owned sixty five mansion and villa sites facing the Botanic Gardens and Fawkner Park. He married Ada Jessie Gardiner. He died at his South Yarra home in 1897.

  

Built in 1884 in the fashionable Fawkner Park district in what is the modern day Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, "Goodrest" is a large boom-style Italianate two-storey brick mansion designed by Walter Buckhurst for his parents William Parton Buckhurst and Anne Jane Faram. Walter was their eldest son.

 

The two-storey brick mansion standing proudly on Toorak Road West overlooking Fawkner Park from behind century old willow trees and Canary Island date palms has the typical Italianate massing with projecting canted bay wing, tower and two storey cast iron verandah. The tower is capped by a mansard dome. The facade is picked out in primrose yellow and white paintwork, highlighting its elaborate decoration. It is a fine example of the boom-style Italianate mansion popular amid wealthy pastoralists, developers and self-made Melbournian families eager to show off their wealth in the booming economic periods of 1880s and 1890s before the property crash of the late 1890s. The typical composition of the building with its central entranceway and L-shaped verandah is enhanced by the elaborate plaster work decoration and the splendid mansard dome on the tower. The stylised first floor cornice and window mouldings and the ground floor verandah with coupled columns and balustraded plinth are notable features of "Goodrest".

 

Originally, "Goodrest" was a typical large Victorian family home to the wealthy Buckhursts: William and Anne, their six children and a large retinue of indoor and outdoor servants. William was a developer and wool broker from Emerald Hill. The family were prominent members of Christ Church South Yarra, located only a short brougham ride or stroll from "Goodrest" on the corner of Toorak and Punt Roads. The Buckhursts were also important members of Melbourne's social elite and many a fine party was held at "Goodrest" which glittered like an ornately lit layer cake. However, by the time of the Second World War, the mansion's fortunes had changed. Crippled by taxes after the Great War and then hit by the Great Depression of 1929, the gilded age of the Buckhurts had long gone, so during hostilities, "Goodrest" served as the Far Eastern Liaison Office. With the restoration of peace in 1945, the property was no longer required by the War Office and it reverted to private ownership. However times had changed dramatically, as had the lives and fortunes of Melbournians. No-one wanted, nor could many afford, a crumbing Victorian edifice like "Goodrest" as their private home, and in the ensuing years it became the Avon Private Hotel. Situated on what was left of the originally large property, it was hedged in by an encroaching number of flats, and "Goodrest's" grand rooms were converted into smaller, more serviceable spaces. Whilst Coadjutor in the 1960s, Archbishop Justin Daniel Simonds was instrumental in strengthening the Catholic Education Department. After his death in 1967, the church purchased "Goodrest" to run conferences for Catholic teachers, restoring the rooms to their former grand proportions. "Goodrest" was renamed "Simonds Hall" in his honour. In 1971 "Simonds Hall" (formerly "Goodrest") was classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) as being of state significance as an outstanding feature of the South Yarra and Fawkner Park precincts as they once were. The mansion is today owned by Christ Church Grammar School, which sits alongside the church in which the Buckhursts used to worship. The small parcel of land upon which "Goodrest" stands, once neatly separated into paths and flowerbeds, is now a dusty carpark. Only the Canary Island palms and weeping willows remain. In 2016, the school put forth a suggestion to build an underground carpark and re-landscape and terrace the gardens to their former elegance. However the proposal was rejected because of the traffic difficulties it posed, its obstruction of this beautiful building from Toorak Road, and the possible structural damage it posed to "Goodrest". The matter continues to be a matter of discussion.

 

William Parton Buckhurst was born in Rochester, Kent in 1831, the son of John Buckhurst, a farmer. He was educated at local schools. At the age of seventeen he sailed to America and traveled through Canada before settling in Illinois where he was apprenticed to a miller. William became the manager of a flour mill in the Mississippi valley, before he caught ‘California fever’ in 1852. He sailed to Australia in 1857 where he landed in Melbourne. William purchased land in Napier Street, Emerald Hill and built four small cottages that proved to be very profitable when he sold them. He commenced business as an auctioneer and estate agent in the early 1860s. William married Anne Faram in 1860, and they had eight children, born between 1862 and 1872. He built elegant Rochester Terrace, a row of eight roomed terrace houses in St Vincent Place South in fashionable Albert Park between 1869 and 1871. After he returned from a ten month trip to India, the Middle East and Europe, William published "An Australian Abroad". Subsequently he took active steps from 1871 to have the Albert Park lagoon made into a permanent lake, the bowling green and croquet lawn in St Vincent Gardens in 1873, and in 1874 he proposed a canal from the Yarra River to the bay. In 1900 he married his second wife Agnes McCall. His original home was "Kent Villa", named for his native county, and later, "Windarra" in St Vincents Place Albert Park, and finally "Goodrest", Toorak Road, South Yarra, where he died in 1906.

 

Walter Buckhurst was born in Emerald Hill in 1863 to William Parton Buckhurst and his wife Anne Jane Faram. He became a very successful architect, not only designing "Goodrest", but many others. He owned sixty five mansion and villa sites facing the Botanic Gardens and Fawkner Park. He married Ada Jessie Gardiner. He died at his South Yarra home in 1897.

  

Built in 1884 in the fashionable Fawkner Park district in what is the modern day Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, "Goodrest" is a large boom-style Italianate two-storey brick mansion designed by Walter Buckhurst for his parents William Parton Buckhurst and Anne Jane Faram. Walter was their eldest son.

 

The two-storey brick mansion standing proudly on Toorak Road West overlooking Fawkner Park from behind century old willow trees and Canary Island date palms has the typical Italianate massing with projecting canted bay wing, tower and two storey cast iron verandah. The tower is capped by a mansard dome. The facade is picked out in primrose yellow and white paintwork, highlighting its elaborate decoration. It is a fine example of the boom-style Italianate mansion popular amid wealthy pastoralists, developers and self-made Melbournian families eager to show off their wealth in the booming economic periods of 1880s and 1890s before the property crash of the late 1890s. The typical composition of the building with its central entranceway and L-shaped verandah is enhanced by the elaborate plaster work decoration and the splendid mansard dome on the tower. The stylised first floor cornice and window mouldings and the ground floor verandah with coupled columns and balustraded plinth are notable features of "Goodrest".

 

Originally, "Goodrest" was a typical large Victorian family home to the wealthy Buckhursts: William and Anne, their six children and a large retinue of indoor and outdoor servants. William was a developer and wool broker from Emerald Hill. The family were prominent members of Christ Church South Yarra, located only a short brougham ride or stroll from "Goodrest" on the corner of Toorak and Punt Roads. The Buckhursts were also important members of Melbourne's social elite and many a fine party was held at "Goodrest" which glittered like an ornately lit layer cake. However, by the time of the Second World War, the mansion's fortunes had changed. Crippled by taxes after the Great War and then hit by the Great Depression of 1929, the gilded age of the Buckhurts had long gone, so during hostilities, "Goodrest" served as the Far Eastern Liaison Office. With the restoration of peace in 1945, the property was no longer required by the War Office and it reverted to private ownership. However times had changed dramatically, as had the lives and fortunes of Melbournians. No-one wanted, nor could many afford, a crumbing Victorian edifice like "Goodrest" as their private home, and in the ensuing years it became the Avon Private Hotel. Situated on what was left of the originally large property, it was hedged in by an encroaching number of flats, and "Goodrest's" grand rooms were converted into smaller, more serviceable spaces. Whilst Coadjutor in the 1960s, Archbishop Justin Daniel Simonds was instrumental in strengthening the Catholic Education Department. After his death in 1967, the church purchased "Goodrest" to run conferences for Catholic teachers, restoring the rooms to their former grand proportions. "Goodrest" was renamed "Simonds Hall" in his honour. In 1971 "Simonds Hall" (formerly "Goodrest") was classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) as being of state significance as an outstanding feature of the South Yarra and Fawkner Park precincts as they once were. The mansion is today owned by Christ Church Grammar School, which sits alongside the church in which the Buckhursts used to worship. The small parcel of land upon which "Goodrest" stands, once neatly separated into paths and flowerbeds, is now a dusty carpark. Only the Canary Island palms and weeping willows remain. In 2016, the school put forth a suggestion to build an underground carpark and re-landscape and terrace the gardens to their former elegance. However the proposal was rejected because of the traffic difficulties it posed, its obstruction of this beautiful building from Toorak Road, and the possible structural damage it posed to "Goodrest". The matter continues to be a matter of discussion.

 

William Parton Buckhurst was born in Rochester, Kent in 1831, the son of John Buckhurst, a farmer. He was educated at local schools. At the age of seventeen he sailed to America and traveled through Canada before settling in Illinois where he was apprenticed to a miller. William became the manager of a flour mill in the Mississippi valley, before he caught ‘California fever’ in 1852. He sailed to Australia in 1857 where he landed in Melbourne. William purchased land in Napier Street, Emerald Hill and built four small cottages that proved to be very profitable when he sold them. He commenced business as an auctioneer and estate agent in the early 1860s. William married Anne Faram in 1860, and they had eight children, born between 1862 and 1872. He built elegant Rochester Terrace, a row of eight roomed terrace houses in St Vincent Place South in fashionable Albert Park between 1869 and 1871. After he returned from a ten month trip to India, the Middle East and Europe, William published "An Australian Abroad". Subsequently he took active steps from 1871 to have the Albert Park lagoon made into a permanent lake, the bowling green and croquet lawn in St Vincent Gardens in 1873, and in 1874 he proposed a canal from the Yarra River to the bay. In 1900 he married his second wife Agnes McCall. His original home was "Kent Villa", named for his native county, and later, "Windarra" in St Vincents Place Albert Park, and finally "Goodrest", Toorak Road, South Yarra, where he died in 1906.

 

Walter Buckhurst was born in Emerald Hill in 1863 to William Parton Buckhurst and his wife Anne Jane Faram. He became a very successful architect, not only designing "Goodrest", but many others. He owned sixty five mansion and villa sites facing the Botanic Gardens and Fawkner Park. He married Ada Jessie Gardiner. He died at his South Yarra home in 1897.

  

Partially obscured by a magnificent pink magnolia in full bloom, this smart Reformist (Arts and Crafts) style villa may be found in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy.

 

Built between Federation (1901) and the Great War (1914), the shingled elongated mansard awning above the bay window and the choice of red brick to build the villa from are very Arts and Crafts inspired, and are typical of the Arts and Crafts Movement in Australia. However, it is the angular vestibule window of stained glass with a projecting window frame with an angular support that matches those of the bay window that is perhaps this villa's most striking architectural feature.

 

Arts and Crafts houses challenged the formality of the mid and high Victorian styles that preceded it, and were often designed with uniquely angular floor plans. This is a fine example with the entrance at the side of the house, rather than at the front as Victorian homes had.

Built in 1884 in the fashionable Fawkner Park district in what is the modern day Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, "Goodrest" is a large boom-style Italianate two-storey brick mansion designed by Walter Buckhurst for his parents William Parton Buckhurst and Anne Jane Faram. Walter was their eldest son.

 

The two-storey brick mansion standing proudly on Toorak Road West overlooking Fawkner Park from behind century old willow trees and Canary Island date palms has the typical Italianate massing with projecting canted bay wing, tower and two storey cast iron verandah. The tower is capped by a mansard dome. The facade is picked out in primrose yellow and white paintwork, highlighting its elaborate decoration. It is a fine example of the boom-style Italianate mansion popular amid wealthy pastoralists, developers and self-made Melbournian families eager to show off their wealth in the booming economic periods of 1880s and 1890s before the property crash of the late 1890s. The typical composition of the building with its central entranceway and L-shaped verandah is enhanced by the elaborate plaster work decoration and the splendid mansard dome on the tower. The stylised first floor cornice and window mouldings and the ground floor verandah with coupled columns and balustraded plinth are notable features of "Goodrest".

 

Originally, "Goodrest" was a typical large Victorian family home to the wealthy Buckhursts: William and Anne, their six children and a large retinue of indoor and outdoor servants. William was a developer and wool broker from Emerald Hill. The family were prominent members of Christ Church South Yarra, located only a short brougham ride or stroll from "Goodrest" on the corner of Toorak and Punt Roads. The Buckhursts were also important members of Melbourne's social elite and many a fine party was held at "Goodrest" which glittered like an ornately lit layer cake. However, by the time of the Second World War, the mansion's fortunes had changed. Crippled by taxes after the Great War and then hit by the Great Depression of 1929, the gilded age of the Buckhurts had long gone, so during hostilities, "Goodrest" served as the Far Eastern Liaison Office. With the restoration of peace in 1945, the property was no longer required by the War Office and it reverted to private ownership. However times had changed dramatically, as had the lives and fortunes of Melbournians. No-one wanted, nor could many afford, a crumbing Victorian edifice like "Goodrest" as their private home, and in the ensuing years it became the Avon Private Hotel. Situated on what was left of the originally large property, it was hedged in by an encroaching number of flats, and "Goodrest's" grand rooms were converted into smaller, more serviceable spaces. Whilst Coadjutor in the 1960s, Archbishop Justin Daniel Simonds was instrumental in strengthening the Catholic Education Department. After his death in 1967, the church purchased "Goodrest" to run conferences for Catholic teachers, restoring the rooms to their former grand proportions. "Goodrest" was renamed "Simonds Hall" in his honour. In 1971 "Simonds Hall" (formerly "Goodrest") was classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) as being of state significance as an outstanding feature of the South Yarra and Fawkner Park precincts as they once were. The mansion is today owned by Christ Church Grammar School, which sits alongside the church in which the Buckhursts used to worship. The small parcel of land upon which "Goodrest" stands, once neatly separated into paths and flowerbeds, is now a dusty carpark. Only the Canary Island palms and weeping willows remain. In 2016, the school put forth a suggestion to build an underground carpark and re-landscape and terrace the gardens to their former elegance. However the proposal was rejected because of the traffic difficulties it posed, its obstruction of this beautiful building from Toorak Road, and the possible structural damage it posed to "Goodrest". The matter continues to be a matter of discussion.

 

William Parton Buckhurst was born in Rochester, Kent in 1831, the son of John Buckhurst, a farmer. He was educated at local schools. At the age of seventeen he sailed to America and traveled through Canada before settling in Illinois where he was apprenticed to a miller. William became the manager of a flour mill in the Mississippi valley, before he caught ‘California fever’ in 1852. He sailed to Australia in 1857 where he landed in Melbourne. William purchased land in Napier Street, Emerald Hill and built four small cottages that proved to be very profitable when he sold them. He commenced business as an auctioneer and estate agent in the early 1860s. William married Anne Faram in 1860, and they had eight children, born between 1862 and 1872. He built elegant Rochester Terrace, a row of eight roomed terrace houses in St Vincent Place South in fashionable Albert Park between 1869 and 1871. After he returned from a ten month trip to India, the Middle East and Europe, William published "An Australian Abroad". Subsequently he took active steps from 1871 to have the Albert Park lagoon made into a permanent lake, the bowling green and croquet lawn in St Vincent Gardens in 1873, and in 1874 he proposed a canal from the Yarra River to the bay. In 1900 he married his second wife Agnes McCall. His original home was "Kent Villa", named for his native county, and later, "Windarra" in St Vincents Place Albert Park, and finally "Goodrest", Toorak Road, South Yarra, where he died in 1906.

 

Walter Buckhurst was born in Emerald Hill in 1863 to William Parton Buckhurst and his wife Anne Jane Faram. He became a very successful architect, not only designing "Goodrest", but many others. He owned sixty five mansion and villa sites facing the Botanic Gardens and Fawkner Park. He married Ada Jessie Gardiner. He died at his South Yarra home in 1897.

  

Built in 1884 in the fashionable Fawkner Park district in what is the modern day Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, "Goodrest" is a large boom-style Italianate two-storey brick mansion designed by Walter Buckhurst for his parents William Parton Buckhurst and Anne Jane Faram. Walter was their eldest son.

 

The two-storey brick mansion standing proudly on Toorak Road West overlooking Fawkner Park from behind century old willow trees and Canary Island date palms has the typical Italianate massing with projecting canted bay wing, tower and two storey cast iron verandah. The tower is capped by a mansard dome. The facade is picked out in primrose yellow and white paintwork, highlighting its elaborate decoration. It is a fine example of the boom-style Italianate mansion popular amid wealthy pastoralists, developers and self-made Melbournian families eager to show off their wealth in the booming economic periods of 1880s and 1890s before the property crash of the late 1890s. The typical composition of the building with its central entranceway and L-shaped verandah is enhanced by the elaborate plaster work decoration and the splendid mansard dome on the tower. The stylised first floor cornice and window mouldings and the ground floor verandah with coupled columns and balustraded plinth are notable features of "Goodrest".

 

Originally, "Goodrest" was a typical large Victorian family home to the wealthy Buckhursts: William and Anne, their six children and a large retinue of indoor and outdoor servants. William was a developer and wool broker from Emerald Hill. The family were prominent members of Christ Church South Yarra, located only a short brougham ride or stroll from "Goodrest" on the corner of Toorak and Punt Roads. The Buckhursts were also important members of Melbourne's social elite and many a fine party was held at "Goodrest" which glittered like an ornately lit layer cake. However, by the time of the Second World War, the mansion's fortunes had changed. Crippled by taxes after the Great War and then hit by the Great Depression of 1929, the gilded age of the Buckhurts had long gone, so during hostilities, "Goodrest" served as the Far Eastern Liaison Office. With the restoration of peace in 1945, the property was no longer required by the War Office and it reverted to private ownership. However times had changed dramatically, as had the lives and fortunes of Melbournians. No-one wanted, nor could many afford, a crumbing Victorian edifice like "Goodrest" as their private home, and in the ensuing years it became the Avon Private Hotel. Situated on what was left of the originally large property, it was hedged in by an encroaching number of flats, and "Goodrest's" grand rooms were converted into smaller, more serviceable spaces. Whilst Coadjutor in the 1960s, Archbishop Justin Daniel Simonds was instrumental in strengthening the Catholic Education Department. After his death in 1967, the church purchased "Goodrest" to run conferences for Catholic teachers, restoring the rooms to their former grand proportions. "Goodrest" was renamed "Simonds Hall" in his honour. In 1971 "Simonds Hall" (formerly "Goodrest") was classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) as being of state significance as an outstanding feature of the South Yarra and Fawkner Park precincts as they once were. The mansion is today owned by Christ Church Grammar School, which sits alongside the church in which the Buckhursts used to worship. The small parcel of land upon which "Goodrest" stands, once neatly separated into paths and flowerbeds, is now a dusty carpark. Only the Canary Island palms and weeping willows remain. In 2016, the school put forth a suggestion to build an underground carpark and re-landscape and terrace the gardens to their former elegance. However the proposal was rejected because of the traffic difficulties it posed, its obstruction of this beautiful building from Toorak Road, and the possible structural damage it posed to "Goodrest". The matter continues to be a matter of discussion.

 

William Parton Buckhurst was born in Rochester, Kent in 1831, the son of John Buckhurst, a farmer. He was educated at local schools. At the age of seventeen he sailed to America and traveled through Canada before settling in Illinois where he was apprenticed to a miller. William became the manager of a flour mill in the Mississippi valley, before he caught ‘California fever’ in 1852. He sailed to Australia in 1857 where he landed in Melbourne. William purchased land in Napier Street, Emerald Hill and built four small cottages that proved to be very profitable when he sold them. He commenced business as an auctioneer and estate agent in the early 1860s. William married Anne Faram in 1860, and they had eight children, born between 1862 and 1872. He built elegant Rochester Terrace, a row of eight roomed terrace houses in St Vincent Place South in fashionable Albert Park between 1869 and 1871. After he returned from a ten month trip to India, the Middle East and Europe, William published "An Australian Abroad". Subsequently he took active steps from 1871 to have the Albert Park lagoon made into a permanent lake, the bowling green and croquet lawn in St Vincent Gardens in 1873, and in 1874 he proposed a canal from the Yarra River to the bay. In 1900 he married his second wife Agnes McCall. His original home was "Kent Villa", named for his native county, and later, "Windarra" in St Vincents Place Albert Park, and finally "Goodrest", Toorak Road, South Yarra, where he died in 1906.

 

Walter Buckhurst was born in Emerald Hill in 1863 to William Parton Buckhurst and his wife Anne Jane Faram. He became a very successful architect, not only designing "Goodrest", but many others. He owned sixty five mansion and villa sites facing the Botanic Gardens and Fawkner Park. He married Ada Jessie Gardiner. He died at his South Yarra home in 1897.

  

"Rupertswood" in Sunbury on the outskirts of Melbourne is one of Australia's most important mansions, both historically and architecturally. Built as a residence for Sir William John Clarke (1831 – 1897), the first Australian born Baronet, in 1874 – 1876 it became a power seat in the great English tradition. The property covered an area of 31,000 acres. Today the estate has been greatly reduced due to subdivision to a more modest 1,100 acres.

 

At the entrance to the estate stands “The Lodge”, a gatekeeper’s house built in the Italianate style to match the “Rupertswood” mansion. Built in 1875, it served as the gatehouse to “Rupertswood” until the death of William John Clarke. Constructed of bluestone bricks with sandstone detailing and slate roofs, it is one of the largest and most ornate gatehouses to any property in Australia. Today it serves as a café for visiting tourists and to the passing traffic on Macedon Street.

 

William Sangster designed the gardens at "Rupertswood" originally covering an area of 99 acres, and once boasted tennis courts, croquet lawns and an underground fernery. "Rupertswood" also had its own private railway station were guests to grand balls would arrive from Spencer Street. Balls, hunt meets and weekend house parties were frequent. Anyone of note, in Victorian and Edwardian society, was entertained by Sir John and Lady Eliza Clarke. Many historical figures visited "Rupertswood" during its history, including the then Duke and Duchess of York, (later to become King George V and Queen Mary), Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba and several Governors of Victoria.

 

"Rupertswood" holds a place in the great sporting rivalry between Australia and England, as it was on a field at "Rupertswood" that the "Ashes" were created. On Christmas Eve of 1882, after a congenial lunch, Sir William Clarke suggested a social game between the English Cricket team and a local side, made up largely of “Rupertswood” staff. By all accounts, it was an enjoyable game with no one really keeping score, however, it was generally agreed that the English won. Pat Lyons, a worker at "Rupertswood", clearly remembered the afternoon many years later. It was his understanding that Lady Clarke, at dinner that evening, had presented Ivo Bligh with a pottery urn. It was purported to contain the ashes of a burnt bail. This was a light hearted gesture to commemorate England's win at "Rupertswood".

 

By 1922, "Rupertswood" had passed from the Clarke family into the possession of Hugh Victor McKay (1865 – 1926), a self-made millionaire, industrialist and inventor of "Sunshine Harvester". His dream of owning "Rupertswood" had been realised, if however, a little short lived. He died at "Rupertswood" only four years after acquiring it. A short time later one of Australia's greatest pastoralist, Queenslander William Naughton acquired the property. One year later he sold the mansion and 1,100 acres to the Roman Catholic Salesian Order. The mansion then became a school for under privileged boys.

 

Today “Rupertswood” is open to the public. The mansion has undergone extensive restoration, with the help of interior designer and Victorian architecture specialist Jacqui Robertson, reinstating elaborate Victorian colour and decorative schemes, and operating as a boutique hotel.

 

Built in 1884 in the fashionable Fawkner Park district in what is the modern day Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, "Goodrest" is a large boom-style Italianate two-storey brick mansion designed by Walter Buckhurst for his parents William Parton Buckhurst and Anne Jane Faram. Walter was their eldest son.

 

The two-storey brick mansion standing proudly on Toorak Road West overlooking Fawkner Park from behind century old willow trees and Canary Island date palms has the typical Italianate massing with projecting canted bay wing, tower and two storey cast iron verandah. The tower is capped by a mansard dome. The facade is picked out in primrose yellow and white paintwork, highlighting its elaborate decoration. It is a fine example of the boom-style Italianate mansion popular amid wealthy pastoralists, developers and self-made Melbournian families eager to show off their wealth in the booming economic periods of 1880s and 1890s before the property crash of the late 1890s. The typical composition of the building with its central entranceway and L-shaped verandah is enhanced by the elaborate plaster work decoration and the splendid mansard dome on the tower. The stylised first floor cornice and window mouldings and the ground floor verandah with coupled columns and balustraded plinth are notable features of "Goodrest".

 

Originally, "Goodrest" was a typical large Victorian family home to the wealthy Buckhursts: William and Anne, their six children and a large retinue of indoor and outdoor servants. William was a developer and wool broker from Emerald Hill. The family were prominent members of Christ Church South Yarra, located only a short brougham ride or stroll from "Goodrest" on the corner of Toorak and Punt Roads. The Buckhursts were also important members of Melbourne's social elite and many a fine party was held at "Goodrest" which glittered like an ornately lit layer cake. However, by the time of the Second World War, the mansion's fortunes had changed. Crippled by taxes after the Great War and then hit by the Great Depression of 1929, the gilded age of the Buckhurts had long gone, so during hostilities, "Goodrest" served as the Far Eastern Liaison Office. With the restoration of peace in 1945, the property was no longer required by the War Office and it reverted to private ownership. However times had changed dramatically, as had the lives and fortunes of Melbournians. No-one wanted, nor could many afford, a crumbing Victorian edifice like "Goodrest" as their private home, and in the ensuing years it became the Avon Private Hotel. Situated on what was left of the originally large property, it was hedged in by an encroaching number of flats, and "Goodrest's" grand rooms were converted into smaller, more serviceable spaces. Whilst Coadjutor in the 1960s, Archbishop Justin Daniel Simonds was instrumental in strengthening the Catholic Education Department. After his death in 1967, the church purchased "Goodrest" to run conferences for Catholic teachers, restoring the rooms to their former grand proportions. "Goodrest" was renamed "Simonds Hall" in his honour. In 1971 "Simonds Hall" (formerly "Goodrest") was classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) as being of state significance as an outstanding feature of the South Yarra and Fawkner Park precincts as they once were. The mansion is today owned by Christ Church Grammar School, which sits alongside the church in which the Buckhursts used to worship. The small parcel of land upon which "Goodrest" stands, once neatly separated into paths and flowerbeds, is now a dusty carpark. Only the Canary Island palms and weeping willows remain. In 2016, the school put forth a suggestion to build an underground carpark and re-landscape and terrace the gardens to their former elegance. However the proposal was rejected because of the traffic difficulties it posed, its obstruction of this beautiful building from Toorak Road, and the possible structural damage it posed to "Goodrest". The matter continues to be a matter of discussion.

 

William Parton Buckhurst was born in Rochester, Kent in 1831, the son of John Buckhurst, a farmer. He was educated at local schools. At the age of seventeen he sailed to America and traveled through Canada before settling in Illinois where he was apprenticed to a miller. William became the manager of a flour mill in the Mississippi valley, before he caught ‘California fever’ in 1852. He sailed to Australia in 1857 where he landed in Melbourne. William purchased land in Napier Street, Emerald Hill and built four small cottages that proved to be very profitable when he sold them. He commenced business as an auctioneer and estate agent in the early 1860s. William married Anne Faram in 1860, and they had eight children, born between 1862 and 1872. He built elegant Rochester Terrace, a row of eight roomed terrace houses in St Vincent Place South in fashionable Albert Park between 1869 and 1871. After he returned from a ten month trip to India, the Middle East and Europe, William published "An Australian Abroad". Subsequently he took active steps from 1871 to have the Albert Park lagoon made into a permanent lake, the bowling green and croquet lawn in St Vincent Gardens in 1873, and in 1874 he proposed a canal from the Yarra River to the bay. In 1900 he married his second wife Agnes McCall. His original home was "Kent Villa", named for his native county, and later, "Windarra" in St Vincents Place Albert Park, and finally "Goodrest", Toorak Road, South Yarra, where he died in 1906.

 

Walter Buckhurst was born in Emerald Hill in 1863 to William Parton Buckhurst and his wife Anne Jane Faram. He became a very successful architect, not only designing "Goodrest", but many others. He owned sixty five mansion and villa sites facing the Botanic Gardens and Fawkner Park. He married Ada Jessie Gardiner. He died at his South Yarra home in 1897.

  

Built in 1884 in the fashionable Fawkner Park district in what is the modern day Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, "Goodrest" is a large boom-style Italianate two-storey brick mansion designed by Walter Buckhurst for his parents William Parton Buckhurst and Anne Jane Faram. Walter was their eldest son.

 

The two-storey brick mansion standing proudly on Toorak Road West overlooking Fawkner Park from behind century old willow trees and Canary Island date palms has the typical Italianate massing with projecting canted bay wing, tower and two storey cast iron verandah. The tower is capped by a mansard dome. The facade is picked out in primrose yellow and white paintwork, highlighting its elaborate decoration. It is a fine example of the boom-style Italianate mansion popular amid wealthy pastoralists, developers and self-made Melbournian families eager to show off their wealth in the booming economic periods of 1880s and 1890s before the property crash of the late 1890s. The typical composition of the building with its central entranceway and L-shaped verandah is enhanced by the elaborate plaster work decoration and the splendid mansard dome on the tower. The stylised first floor cornice and window mouldings and the ground floor verandah with coupled columns and balustraded plinth are notable features of "Goodrest".

 

Originally, "Goodrest" was a typical large Victorian family home to the wealthy Buckhursts: William and Anne, their six children and a large retinue of indoor and outdoor servants. William was a developer and wool broker from Emerald Hill. The family were prominent members of Christ Church South Yarra, located only a short brougham ride or stroll from "Goodrest" on the corner of Toorak and Punt Roads. The Buckhursts were also important members of Melbourne's social elite and many a fine party was held at "Goodrest" which glittered like an ornately lit layer cake. However, by the time of the Second World War, the mansion's fortunes had changed. Crippled by taxes after the Great War and then hit by the Great Depression of 1929, the gilded age of the Buckhurts had long gone, so during hostilities, "Goodrest" served as the Far Eastern Liaison Office. With the restoration of peace in 1945, the property was no longer required by the War Office and it reverted to private ownership. However times had changed dramatically, as had the lives and fortunes of Melbournians. No-one wanted, nor could many afford, a crumbing Victorian edifice like "Goodrest" as their private home, and in the ensuing years it became the Avon Private Hotel. Situated on what was left of the originally large property, it was hedged in by an encroaching number of flats, and "Goodrest's" grand rooms were converted into smaller, more serviceable spaces. Whilst Coadjutor in the 1960s, Archbishop Justin Daniel Simonds was instrumental in strengthening the Catholic Education Department. After his death in 1967, the church purchased "Goodrest" to run conferences for Catholic teachers, restoring the rooms to their former grand proportions. "Goodrest" was renamed "Simonds Hall" in his honour. In 1971 "Simonds Hall" (formerly "Goodrest") was classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) as being of state significance as an outstanding feature of the South Yarra and Fawkner Park precincts as they once were. The mansion is today owned by Christ Church Grammar School, which sits alongside the church in which the Buckhursts used to worship. The small parcel of land upon which "Goodrest" stands, once neatly separated into paths and flowerbeds, is now a dusty carpark. Only the Canary Island palms and weeping willows remain. In 2016, the school put forth a suggestion to build an underground carpark and re-landscape and terrace the gardens to their former elegance. However the proposal was rejected because of the traffic difficulties it posed, its obstruction of this beautiful building from Toorak Road, and the possible structural damage it posed to "Goodrest". The matter continues to be a matter of discussion.

 

William Parton Buckhurst was born in Rochester, Kent in 1831, the son of John Buckhurst, a farmer. He was educated at local schools. At the age of seventeen he sailed to America and traveled through Canada before settling in Illinois where he was apprenticed to a miller. William became the manager of a flour mill in the Mississippi valley, before he caught ‘California fever’ in 1852. He sailed to Australia in 1857 where he landed in Melbourne. William purchased land in Napier Street, Emerald Hill and built four small cottages that proved to be very profitable when he sold them. He commenced business as an auctioneer and estate agent in the early 1860s. William married Anne Faram in 1860, and they had eight children, born between 1862 and 1872. He built elegant Rochester Terrace, a row of eight roomed terrace houses in St Vincent Place South in fashionable Albert Park between 1869 and 1871. After he returned from a ten month trip to India, the Middle East and Europe, William published "An Australian Abroad". Subsequently he took active steps from 1871 to have the Albert Park lagoon made into a permanent lake, the bowling green and croquet lawn in St Vincent Gardens in 1873, and in 1874 he proposed a canal from the Yarra River to the bay. In 1900 he married his second wife Agnes McCall. His original home was "Kent Villa", named for his native county, and later, "Windarra" in St Vincents Place Albert Park, and finally "Goodrest", Toorak Road, South Yarra, where he died in 1906.

 

Walter Buckhurst was born in Emerald Hill in 1863 to William Parton Buckhurst and his wife Anne Jane Faram. He became a very successful architect, not only designing "Goodrest", but many others. He owned sixty five mansion and villa sites facing the Botanic Gardens and Fawkner Park. He married Ada Jessie Gardiner. He died at his South Yarra home in 1897.

  

Built in 1884 in the fashionable Fawkner Park district in what is the modern day Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, "Goodrest" is a large boom-style Italianate two-storey brick mansion designed by Walter Buckhurst for his parents William Parton Buckhurst and Anne Jane Faram. Walter was their eldest son.

 

The two-storey brick mansion standing proudly on Toorak Road West overlooking Fawkner Park from behind century old willow trees and Canary Island date palms has the typical Italianate massing with projecting canted bay wing, tower and two storey cast iron verandah. The tower is capped by a mansard dome. The facade is picked out in primrose yellow and white paintwork, highlighting its elaborate decoration. It is a fine example of the boom-style Italianate mansion popular amid wealthy pastoralists, developers and self-made Melbournian families eager to show off their wealth in the booming economic periods of 1880s and 1890s before the property crash of the late 1890s. The typical composition of the building with its central entranceway and L-shaped verandah is enhanced by the elaborate plaster work decoration and the splendid mansard dome on the tower. The stylised first floor cornice and window mouldings and the ground floor verandah with coupled columns and balustraded plinth are notable features of "Goodrest".

 

Originally, "Goodrest" was a typical large Victorian family home to the wealthy Buckhursts: William and Anne, their six children and a large retinue of indoor and outdoor servants. William was a developer and wool broker from Emerald Hill. The family were prominent members of Christ Church South Yarra, located only a short brougham ride or stroll from "Goodrest" on the corner of Toorak and Punt Roads. The Buckhursts were also important members of Melbourne's social elite and many a fine party was held at "Goodrest" which glittered like an ornately lit layer cake. However, by the time of the Second World War, the mansion's fortunes had changed. Crippled by taxes after the Great War and then hit by the Great Depression of 1929, the gilded age of the Buckhurts had long gone, so during hostilities, "Goodrest" served as the Far Eastern Liaison Office. With the restoration of peace in 1945, the property was no longer required by the War Office and it reverted to private ownership. However times had changed dramatically, as had the lives and fortunes of Melbournians. No-one wanted, nor could many afford, a crumbing Victorian edifice like "Goodrest" as their private home, and in the ensuing years it became the Avon Private Hotel. Situated on what was left of the originally large property, it was hedged in by an encroaching number of flats, and "Goodrest's" grand rooms were converted into smaller, more serviceable spaces. Whilst Coadjutor in the 1960s, Archbishop Justin Daniel Simonds was instrumental in strengthening the Catholic Education Department. After his death in 1967, the church purchased "Goodrest" to run conferences for Catholic teachers, restoring the rooms to their former grand proportions. "Goodrest" was renamed "Simonds Hall" in his honour. In 1971 "Simonds Hall" (formerly "Goodrest") was classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) as being of state significance as an outstanding feature of the South Yarra and Fawkner Park precincts as they once were. The mansion is today owned by Christ Church Grammar School, which sits alongside the church in which the Buckhursts used to worship. The small parcel of land upon which "Goodrest" stands, once neatly separated into paths and flowerbeds, is now a dusty carpark. Only the Canary Island palms and weeping willows remain. In 2016, the school put forth a suggestion to build an underground carpark and re-landscape and terrace the gardens to their former elegance. However the proposal was rejected because of the traffic difficulties it posed, its obstruction of this beautiful building from Toorak Road, and the possible structural damage it posed to "Goodrest". The matter continues to be a matter of discussion.

 

William Parton Buckhurst was born in Rochester, Kent in 1831, the son of John Buckhurst, a farmer. He was educated at local schools. At the age of seventeen he sailed to America and traveled through Canada before settling in Illinois where he was apprenticed to a miller. William became the manager of a flour mill in the Mississippi valley, before he caught ‘California fever’ in 1852. He sailed to Australia in 1857 where he landed in Melbourne. William purchased land in Napier Street, Emerald Hill and built four small cottages that proved to be very profitable when he sold them. He commenced business as an auctioneer and estate agent in the early 1860s. William married Anne Faram in 1860, and they had eight children, born between 1862 and 1872. He built elegant Rochester Terrace, a row of eight roomed terrace houses in St Vincent Place South in fashionable Albert Park between 1869 and 1871. After he returned from a ten month trip to India, the Middle East and Europe, William published "An Australian Abroad". Subsequently he took active steps from 1871 to have the Albert Park lagoon made into a permanent lake, the bowling green and croquet lawn in St Vincent Gardens in 1873, and in 1874 he proposed a canal from the Yarra River to the bay. In 1900 he married his second wife Agnes McCall. His original home was "Kent Villa", named for his native county, and later, "Windarra" in St Vincents Place Albert Park, and finally "Goodrest", Toorak Road, South Yarra, where he died in 1906.

 

Walter Buckhurst was born in Emerald Hill in 1863 to William Parton Buckhurst and his wife Anne Jane Faram. He became a very successful architect, not only designing "Goodrest", but many others. He owned sixty five mansion and villa sites facing the Botanic Gardens and Fawkner Park. He married Ada Jessie Gardiner. He died at his South Yarra home in 1897.

  

"Rupertswood" in Sunbury on the outskirts of Melbourne is one of Australia's most important mansions, both historically and architecturally. Built as a residence for Sir William John Clarke (1831 – 1897), the first Australian born Baronet, in 1874 – 1876 it became a power seat in the great English tradition. The property covered an area of 31,000 acres. Today the estate has been greatly reduced due to subdivision to a more modest 1,100 acres.

 

At the entrance to the estate stands “The Lodge”, a gatekeeper’s house built in the Italianate style to match the “Rupertswood” mansion. Built in 1875, it served as the gatehouse to “Rupertswood” until the death of William John Clarke. Constructed of bluestone bricks with sandstone detailing and slate roofs, it is one of the largest and most ornate gatehouses to any property in Australia. Today it serves as a café for visiting tourists and to the passing traffic on Macedon Street.

 

William Sangster designed the gardens at "Rupertswood" originally covering an area of 99 acres, and once boasted tennis courts, croquet lawns and an underground fernery. "Rupertswood" also had its own private railway station were guests to grand balls would arrive from Spencer Street. Balls, hunt meets and weekend house parties were frequent. Anyone of note, in Victorian and Edwardian society, was entertained by Sir John and Lady Eliza Clarke. Many historical figures visited "Rupertswood" during its history, including the then Duke and Duchess of York, (later to become King George V and Queen Mary), Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba and several Governors of Victoria.

 

"Rupertswood" holds a place in the great sporting rivalry between Australia and England, as it was on a field at "Rupertswood" that the "Ashes" were created. On Christmas Eve of 1882, after a congenial lunch, Sir William Clarke suggested a social game between the English Cricket team and a local side, made up largely of “Rupertswood” staff. By all accounts, it was an enjoyable game with no one really keeping score, however, it was generally agreed that the English won. Pat Lyons, a worker at "Rupertswood", clearly remembered the afternoon many years later. It was his understanding that Lady Clarke, at dinner that evening, had presented Ivo Bligh with a pottery urn. It was purported to contain the ashes of a burnt bail. This was a light hearted gesture to commemorate England's win at "Rupertswood".

 

By 1922, "Rupertswood" had passed from the Clarke family into the possession of Hugh Victor McKay (1865 – 1926), a self-made millionaire, industrialist and inventor of "Sunshine Harvester". His dream of owning "Rupertswood" had been realised, if however, a little short lived. He died at "Rupertswood" only four years after acquiring it. A short time later one of Australia's greatest pastoralist, Queenslander William Naughton acquired the property. One year later he sold the mansion and 1,100 acres to the Roman Catholic Salesian Order. The mansion then became a school for under privileged boys.

 

Today “Rupertswood” is open to the public. The mansion has undergone extensive restoration, with the help of interior designer and Victorian architecture specialist Jacqui Robertson, reinstating elaborate Victorian colour and decorative schemes, and operating as a boutique hotel.

 

Built in 1884 in the fashionable Fawkner Park district in what is the modern day Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, "Goodrest" is a large boom-style Italianate two-storey brick mansion designed by Walter Buckhurst for his parents William Parton Buckhurst and Anne Jane Faram. Walter was their eldest son.

 

The two-storey brick mansion standing proudly on Toorak Road West overlooking Fawkner Park from behind century old willow trees and Canary Island date palms has the typical Italianate massing with projecting canted bay wing, tower and two storey cast iron verandah. The tower is capped by a mansard dome. The facade is picked out in primrose yellow and white paintwork, highlighting its elaborate decoration. It is a fine example of the boom-style Italianate mansion popular amid wealthy pastoralists, developers and self-made Melbournian families eager to show off their wealth in the booming economic periods of 1880s and 1890s before the property crash of the late 1890s. The typical composition of the building with its central entranceway and L-shaped verandah is enhanced by the elaborate plaster work decoration and the splendid mansard dome on the tower. The stylised first floor cornice and window mouldings and the ground floor verandah with coupled columns and balustraded plinth are notable features of "Goodrest".

 

Originally, "Goodrest" was a typical large Victorian family home to the wealthy Buckhursts: William and Anne, their six children and a large retinue of indoor and outdoor servants. William was a developer and wool broker from Emerald Hill. The family were prominent members of Christ Church South Yarra, located only a short brougham ride or stroll from "Goodrest" on the corner of Toorak and Punt Roads. The Buckhursts were also important members of Melbourne's social elite and many a fine party was held at "Goodrest" which glittered like an ornately lit layer cake. However, by the time of the Second World War, the mansion's fortunes had changed. Crippled by taxes after the Great War and then hit by the Great Depression of 1929, the gilded age of the Buckhurts had long gone, so during hostilities, "Goodrest" served as the Far Eastern Liaison Office. With the restoration of peace in 1945, the property was no longer required by the War Office and it reverted to private ownership. However times had changed dramatically, as had the lives and fortunes of Melbournians. No-one wanted, nor could many afford, a crumbing Victorian edifice like "Goodrest" as their private home, and in the ensuing years it became the Avon Private Hotel. Situated on what was left of the originally large property, it was hedged in by an encroaching number of flats, and "Goodrest's" grand rooms were converted into smaller, more serviceable spaces. Whilst Coadjutor in the 1960s, Archbishop Justin Daniel Simonds was instrumental in strengthening the Catholic Education Department. After his death in 1967, the church purchased "Goodrest" to run conferences for Catholic teachers, restoring the rooms to their former grand proportions. "Goodrest" was renamed "Simonds Hall" in his honour. In 1971 "Simonds Hall" (formerly "Goodrest") was classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) as being of state significance as an outstanding feature of the South Yarra and Fawkner Park precincts as they once were. The mansion is today owned by Christ Church Grammar School, which sits alongside the church in which the Buckhursts used to worship. The small parcel of land upon which "Goodrest" stands, once neatly separated into paths and flowerbeds, is now a dusty carpark. Only the Canary Island palms and weeping willows remain. In 2016, the school put forth a suggestion to build an underground carpark and re-landscape and terrace the gardens to their former elegance. However the proposal was rejected because of the traffic difficulties it posed, its obstruction of this beautiful building from Toorak Road, and the possible structural damage it posed to "Goodrest". The matter continues to be a matter of discussion.

 

William Parton Buckhurst was born in Rochester, Kent in 1831, the son of John Buckhurst, a farmer. He was educated at local schools. At the age of seventeen he sailed to America and traveled through Canada before settling in Illinois where he was apprenticed to a miller. William became the manager of a flour mill in the Mississippi valley, before he caught ‘California fever’ in 1852. He sailed to Australia in 1857 where he landed in Melbourne. William purchased land in Napier Street, Emerald Hill and built four small cottages that proved to be very profitable when he sold them. He commenced business as an auctioneer and estate agent in the early 1860s. William married Anne Faram in 1860, and they had eight children, born between 1862 and 1872. He built elegant Rochester Terrace, a row of eight roomed terrace houses in St Vincent Place South in fashionable Albert Park between 1869 and 1871. After he returned from a ten month trip to India, the Middle East and Europe, William published "An Australian Abroad". Subsequently he took active steps from 1871 to have the Albert Park lagoon made into a permanent lake, the bowling green and croquet lawn in St Vincent Gardens in 1873, and in 1874 he proposed a canal from the Yarra River to the bay. In 1900 he married his second wife Agnes McCall. His original home was "Kent Villa", named for his native county, and later, "Windarra" in St Vincents Place Albert Park, and finally "Goodrest", Toorak Road, South Yarra, where he died in 1906.

 

Walter Buckhurst was born in Emerald Hill in 1863 to William Parton Buckhurst and his wife Anne Jane Faram. He became a very successful architect, not only designing "Goodrest", but many others. He owned sixty five mansion and villa sites facing the Botanic Gardens and Fawkner Park. He married Ada Jessie Gardiner. He died at his South Yarra home in 1897.

  

garden/tuin/jardin

 

The planting areas are bordered with slate tiles and the paths are made of broken black limestone and laid out in Antwerp feet (28.68 cm). The choice of plants includes a selection of old species, based on historical information, supplemented with orangery plants. Today the garden is being restored once more.

Website of the Rubenshuis: www.rubenshuis.be/en

The story of Rubens and his house, starts here: www.flickr.com/photos/38700906@N02/51081491587/in/datepos...

 

De plantvakken worden afgeboord met leisteenplaatjes en de paden worden uitgevoerd in zwarte kalksteenslag en uitgezet oin Antwerpse voet ( 28,68 cm. ). De plantkeuze omvat een selectie oude soorten, gebaseerd op historische informatie, aangevuld met orangerieplanten. Heden wordt de tuin weerom gerestaureerd.

Website van het Rubenshuis: www.rubenshuis.be/nl

Het verhaal over Rubens en zijn huis, begint hier: www.flickr.com/photos/38700906@N02/51081491587/in/datepos...

 

Les zones de plantation sont bordées de plaques d'ardoise et les chemins sont réalisés en concassée de calcaire noir et tracés en pieds anversois (28,68 cm.). Le choix des plantes consiste en une sélection d'espèces anciennes, basée sur des informations historiques, complétée par des plantes d'orangerie. Aujourd'hui, le jardin est de nouveau en restauration.

Site web du Rubenshuis: www.rubenshuis.be/fr

L'histoire sur Rubens et sa maison, commençe ici: www.flickr.com/photos/38700906@N02/51081491587/in/datepos...

Built in 1884 in the fashionable Fawkner Park district in what is the modern day Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, "Goodrest" is a large boom-style Italianate two-storey brick mansion designed by Walter Buckhurst for his parents William Parton Buckhurst and Anne Jane Faram. Walter was their eldest son.

 

The two-storey brick mansion standing proudly on Toorak Road West overlooking Fawkner Park from behind century old willow trees and Canary Island date palms has the typical Italianate massing with projecting canted bay wing, tower and two storey cast iron verandah. The tower is capped by a mansard dome. The facade is picked out in primrose yellow and white paintwork, highlighting its elaborate decoration. It is a fine example of the boom-style Italianate mansion popular amid wealthy pastoralists, developers and self-made Melbournian families eager to show off their wealth in the booming economic periods of 1880s and 1890s before the property crash of the late 1890s. The typical composition of the building with its central entranceway and L-shaped verandah is enhanced by the elaborate plaster work decoration and the splendid mansard dome on the tower. The stylised first floor cornice and window mouldings and the ground floor verandah with coupled columns and balustraded plinth are notable features of "Goodrest".

 

Originally, "Goodrest" was a typical large Victorian family home to the wealthy Buckhursts: William and Anne, their six children and a large retinue of indoor and outdoor servants. William was a developer and wool broker from Emerald Hill. The family were prominent members of Christ Church South Yarra, located only a short brougham ride or stroll from "Goodrest" on the corner of Toorak and Punt Roads. The Buckhursts were also important members of Melbourne's social elite and many a fine party was held at "Goodrest" which glittered like an ornately lit layer cake. However, by the time of the Second World War, the mansion's fortunes had changed. Crippled by taxes after the Great War and then hit by the Great Depression of 1929, the gilded age of the Buckhurts had long gone, so during hostilities, "Goodrest" served as the Far Eastern Liaison Office. With the restoration of peace in 1945, the property was no longer required by the War Office and it reverted to private ownership. However times had changed dramatically, as had the lives and fortunes of Melbournians. No-one wanted, nor could many afford, a crumbing Victorian edifice like "Goodrest" as their private home, and in the ensuing years it became the Avon Private Hotel. Situated on what was left of the originally large property, it was hedged in by an encroaching number of flats, and "Goodrest's" grand rooms were converted into smaller, more serviceable spaces. Whilst Coadjutor in the 1960s, Archbishop Justin Daniel Simonds was instrumental in strengthening the Catholic Education Department. After his death in 1967, the church purchased "Goodrest" to run conferences for Catholic teachers, restoring the rooms to their former grand proportions. "Goodrest" was renamed "Simonds Hall" in his honour. In 1971 "Simonds Hall" (formerly "Goodrest") was classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) as being of state significance as an outstanding feature of the South Yarra and Fawkner Park precincts as they once were. The mansion is today owned by Christ Church Grammar School, which sits alongside the church in which the Buckhursts used to worship. The small parcel of land upon which "Goodrest" stands, once neatly separated into paths and flowerbeds, is now a dusty carpark. Only the Canary Island palms and weeping willows remain. In 2016, the school put forth a suggestion to build an underground carpark and re-landscape and terrace the gardens to their former elegance. However the proposal was rejected because of the traffic difficulties it posed, its obstruction of this beautiful building from Toorak Road, and the possible structural damage it posed to "Goodrest". The matter continues to be a matter of discussion.

 

William Parton Buckhurst was born in Rochester, Kent in 1831, the son of John Buckhurst, a farmer. He was educated at local schools. At the age of seventeen he sailed to America and traveled through Canada before settling in Illinois where he was apprenticed to a miller. William became the manager of a flour mill in the Mississippi valley, before he caught ‘California fever’ in 1852. He sailed to Australia in 1857 where he landed in Melbourne. William purchased land in Napier Street, Emerald Hill and built four small cottages that proved to be very profitable when he sold them. He commenced business as an auctioneer and estate agent in the early 1860s. William married Anne Faram in 1860, and they had eight children, born between 1862 and 1872. He built elegant Rochester Terrace, a row of eight roomed terrace houses in St Vincent Place South in fashionable Albert Park between 1869 and 1871. After he returned from a ten month trip to India, the Middle East and Europe, William published "An Australian Abroad". Subsequently he took active steps from 1871 to have the Albert Park lagoon made into a permanent lake, the bowling green and croquet lawn in St Vincent Gardens in 1873, and in 1874 he proposed a canal from the Yarra River to the bay. In 1900 he married his second wife Agnes McCall. His original home was "Kent Villa", named for his native county, and later, "Windarra" in St Vincents Place Albert Park, and finally "Goodrest", Toorak Road, South Yarra, where he died in 1906.

 

Walter Buckhurst was born in Emerald Hill in 1863 to William Parton Buckhurst and his wife Anne Jane Faram. He became a very successful architect, not only designing "Goodrest", but many others. He owned sixty five mansion and villa sites facing the Botanic Gardens and Fawkner Park. He married Ada Jessie Gardiner. He died at his South Yarra home in 1897.

  

Built in 1884 in the fashionable Fawkner Park district in what is the modern day Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, "Goodrest" is a large boom-style Italianate two-storey brick mansion designed by Walter Buckhurst for his parents William Parton Buckhurst and Anne Jane Faram. Walter was their eldest son.

 

The two-storey brick mansion standing proudly on Toorak Road West overlooking Fawkner Park from behind century old willow trees and Canary Island date palms has the typical Italianate massing with projecting canted bay wing, tower and two storey cast iron verandah. The tower is capped by a mansard dome. The facade is picked out in primrose yellow and white paintwork, highlighting its elaborate decoration. It is a fine example of the boom-style Italianate mansion popular amid wealthy pastoralists, developers and self-made Melbournian families eager to show off their wealth in the booming economic periods of 1880s and 1890s before the property crash of the late 1890s. The typical composition of the building with its central entranceway and L-shaped verandah is enhanced by the elaborate plaster work decoration and the splendid mansard dome on the tower. The stylised first floor cornice and window mouldings and the ground floor verandah with coupled columns and balustraded plinth are notable features of "Goodrest".

 

Originally, "Goodrest" was a typical large Victorian family home to the wealthy Buckhursts: William and Anne, their six children and a large retinue of indoor and outdoor servants. William was a developer and wool broker from Emerald Hill. The family were prominent members of Christ Church South Yarra, located only a short brougham ride or stroll from "Goodrest" on the corner of Toorak and Punt Roads. The Buckhursts were also important members of Melbourne's social elite and many a fine party was held at "Goodrest" which glittered like an ornately lit layer cake. However, by the time of the Second World War, the mansion's fortunes had changed. Crippled by taxes after the Great War and then hit by the Great Depression of 1929, the gilded age of the Buckhurts had long gone, so during hostilities, "Goodrest" served as the Far Eastern Liaison Office. With the restoration of peace in 1945, the property was no longer required by the War Office and it reverted to private ownership. However times had changed dramatically, as had the lives and fortunes of Melbournians. No-one wanted, nor could many afford, a crumbing Victorian edifice like "Goodrest" as their private home, and in the ensuing years it became the Avon Private Hotel. Situated on what was left of the originally large property, it was hedged in by an encroaching number of flats, and "Goodrest's" grand rooms were converted into smaller, more serviceable spaces. Whilst Coadjutor in the 1960s, Archbishop Justin Daniel Simonds was instrumental in strengthening the Catholic Education Department. After his death in 1967, the church purchased "Goodrest" to run conferences for Catholic teachers, restoring the rooms to their former grand proportions. "Goodrest" was renamed "Simonds Hall" in his honour. In 1971 "Simonds Hall" (formerly "Goodrest") was classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) as being of state significance as an outstanding feature of the South Yarra and Fawkner Park precincts as they once were. The mansion is today owned by Christ Church Grammar School, which sits alongside the church in which the Buckhursts used to worship. The small parcel of land upon which "Goodrest" stands, once neatly separated into paths and flowerbeds, is now a dusty carpark. Only the Canary Island palms and weeping willows remain. In 2016, the school put forth a suggestion to build an underground carpark and re-landscape and terrace the gardens to their former elegance. However the proposal was rejected because of the traffic difficulties it posed, its obstruction of this beautiful building from Toorak Road, and the possible structural damage it posed to "Goodrest". The matter continues to be a matter of discussion.

 

William Parton Buckhurst was born in Rochester, Kent in 1831, the son of John Buckhurst, a farmer. He was educated at local schools. At the age of seventeen he sailed to America and traveled through Canada before settling in Illinois where he was apprenticed to a miller. William became the manager of a flour mill in the Mississippi valley, before he caught ‘California fever’ in 1852. He sailed to Australia in 1857 where he landed in Melbourne. William purchased land in Napier Street, Emerald Hill and built four small cottages that proved to be very profitable when he sold them. He commenced business as an auctioneer and estate agent in the early 1860s. William married Anne Faram in 1860, and they had eight children, born between 1862 and 1872. He built elegant Rochester Terrace, a row of eight roomed terrace houses in St Vincent Place South in fashionable Albert Park between 1869 and 1871. After he returned from a ten month trip to India, the Middle East and Europe, William published "An Australian Abroad". Subsequently he took active steps from 1871 to have the Albert Park lagoon made into a permanent lake, the bowling green and croquet lawn in St Vincent Gardens in 1873, and in 1874 he proposed a canal from the Yarra River to the bay. In 1900 he married his second wife Agnes McCall. His original home was "Kent Villa", named for his native county, and later, "Windarra" in St Vincents Place Albert Park, and finally "Goodrest", Toorak Road, South Yarra, where he died in 1906.

 

Walter Buckhurst was born in Emerald Hill in 1863 to William Parton Buckhurst and his wife Anne Jane Faram. He became a very successful architect, not only designing "Goodrest", but many others. He owned sixty five mansion and villa sites facing the Botanic Gardens and Fawkner Park. He married Ada Jessie Gardiner. He died at his South Yarra home in 1897.

  

Built in 1884 in the fashionable Fawkner Park district in what is the modern day Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, "Goodrest" is a large boom-style Italianate two-storey brick mansion designed by Walter Buckhurst for his parents William Parton Buckhurst and Anne Jane Faram. Walter was their eldest son.

 

The two-storey brick mansion standing proudly on Toorak Road West overlooking Fawkner Park from behind century old willow trees and Canary Island date palms has the typical Italianate massing with projecting canted bay wing, tower and two storey cast iron verandah. The tower is capped by a mansard dome. The facade is picked out in primrose yellow and white paintwork, highlighting its elaborate decoration. It is a fine example of the boom-style Italianate mansion popular amid wealthy pastoralists, developers and self-made Melbournian families eager to show off their wealth in the booming economic periods of 1880s and 1890s before the property crash of the late 1890s. The typical composition of the building with its central entranceway and L-shaped verandah is enhanced by the elaborate plaster work decoration and the splendid mansard dome on the tower. The stylised first floor cornice and window mouldings and the ground floor verandah with coupled columns and balustraded plinth are notable features of "Goodrest".

 

Originally, "Goodrest" was a typical large Victorian family home to the wealthy Buckhursts: William and Anne, their six children and a large retinue of indoor and outdoor servants. William was a developer and wool broker from Emerald Hill. The family were prominent members of Christ Church South Yarra, located only a short brougham ride or stroll from "Goodrest" on the corner of Toorak and Punt Roads. The Buckhursts were also important members of Melbourne's social elite and many a fine party was held at "Goodrest" which glittered like an ornately lit layer cake. However, by the time of the Second World War, the mansion's fortunes had changed. Crippled by taxes after the Great War and then hit by the Great Depression of 1929, the gilded age of the Buckhurts had long gone, so during hostilities, "Goodrest" served as the Far Eastern Liaison Office. With the restoration of peace in 1945, the property was no longer required by the War Office and it reverted to private ownership. However times had changed dramatically, as had the lives and fortunes of Melbournians. No-one wanted, nor could many afford, a crumbing Victorian edifice like "Goodrest" as their private home, and in the ensuing years it became the Avon Private Hotel. Situated on what was left of the originally large property, it was hedged in by an encroaching number of flats, and "Goodrest's" grand rooms were converted into smaller, more serviceable spaces. Whilst Coadjutor in the 1960s, Archbishop Justin Daniel Simonds was instrumental in strengthening the Catholic Education Department. After his death in 1967, the church purchased "Goodrest" to run conferences for Catholic teachers, restoring the rooms to their former grand proportions. "Goodrest" was renamed "Simonds Hall" in his honour. In 1971 "Simonds Hall" (formerly "Goodrest") was classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) as being of state significance as an outstanding feature of the South Yarra and Fawkner Park precincts as they once were. The mansion is today owned by Christ Church Grammar School, which sits alongside the church in which the Buckhursts used to worship. The small parcel of land upon which "Goodrest" stands, once neatly separated into paths and flowerbeds, is now a dusty carpark. Only the Canary Island palms and weeping willows remain. In 2016, the school put forth a suggestion to build an underground carpark and re-landscape and terrace the gardens to their former elegance. However the proposal was rejected because of the traffic difficulties it posed, its obstruction of this beautiful building from Toorak Road, and the possible structural damage it posed to "Goodrest". The matter continues to be a matter of discussion.

 

William Parton Buckhurst was born in Rochester, Kent in 1831, the son of John Buckhurst, a farmer. He was educated at local schools. At the age of seventeen he sailed to America and traveled through Canada before settling in Illinois where he was apprenticed to a miller. William became the manager of a flour mill in the Mississippi valley, before he caught ‘California fever’ in 1852. He sailed to Australia in 1857 where he landed in Melbourne. William purchased land in Napier Street, Emerald Hill and built four small cottages that proved to be very profitable when he sold them. He commenced business as an auctioneer and estate agent in the early 1860s. William married Anne Faram in 1860, and they had eight children, born between 1862 and 1872. He built elegant Rochester Terrace, a row of eight roomed terrace houses in St Vincent Place South in fashionable Albert Park between 1869 and 1871. After he returned from a ten month trip to India, the Middle East and Europe, William published "An Australian Abroad". Subsequently he took active steps from 1871 to have the Albert Park lagoon made into a permanent lake, the bowling green and croquet lawn in St Vincent Gardens in 1873, and in 1874 he proposed a canal from the Yarra River to the bay. In 1900 he married his second wife Agnes McCall. His original home was "Kent Villa", named for his native county, and later, "Windarra" in St Vincents Place Albert Park, and finally "Goodrest", Toorak Road, South Yarra, where he died in 1906.

 

Walter Buckhurst was born in Emerald Hill in 1863 to William Parton Buckhurst and his wife Anne Jane Faram. He became a very successful architect, not only designing "Goodrest", but many others. He owned sixty five mansion and villa sites facing the Botanic Gardens and Fawkner Park. He married Ada Jessie Gardiner. He died at his South Yarra home in 1897.

  

"Chastelton" is an immaculately restored two storey Victorian Italianate mansion nestled away in a quiet beech tree lined street in the exclusive Melbourne suburb of Toorak.

 

Symmetrical in design with large bay windows either side of a colonnade entranceway with a patterned entablature, "Chastelton" has a wonderful tower which provides impressive views of the surrounding suburbs, the Yarra River and the Melbourne city skyline. "Chastelton" sits amid lush grounds of manicured lawns surrounded by European species of plants and many well established trees. The entrance is approached by way of a semi-circular gravel driveway.

 

"Chastelton" is a boom period mansion and was completed in the late 1880s.

Partially obscured by a magnificent pink magnolia in full bloom, this smart Reformist (Arts and Crafts) style villa may be found in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy.

 

Built between Federation (1901) and the Great War (1914), the shingled elongated mansard awning above the bay window and the choice of red brick to build the villa from are very Arts and Crafts inspired, and are typical of the Arts and Crafts Movement in Australia. However, it is the angular vestibule window of stained glass with a projecting window frame with an angular support that matches those of the bay window that is perhaps this villa's most striking architectural feature.

 

Arts and Crafts houses challenged the formality of the mid and high Victorian styles that preceded it, and were often designed with uniquely angular floor plans. This is a fine example with the entrance at the side of the house, rather than at the front as Victorian homes had.

Early C19 terraced house of 1 bay and 3 storeys plus attic. The arch of the entrance can just be seen to right at No. 125. A canopied verandah on cast-iron columns contributes to a graceful, but narrow, facade. Grade II listed. Hampstead, London Borough of Camden.

 

(CC BY-SA - credit: Images George Rex.)

Built in 1884 in the fashionable Fawkner Park district in what is the modern day Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, "Goodrest" is a large boom-style Italianate two-storey brick mansion designed by Walter Buckhurst for his parents William Parton Buckhurst and Anne Jane Faram. Walter was their eldest son.

 

The two-storey brick mansion standing proudly on Toorak Road West overlooking Fawkner Park from behind century old willow trees and Canary Island date palms has the typical Italianate massing with projecting canted bay wing, tower and two storey cast iron verandah. The tower is capped by a mansard dome. The facade is picked out in primrose yellow and white paintwork, highlighting its elaborate decoration. It is a fine example of the boom-style Italianate mansion popular amid wealthy pastoralists, developers and self-made Melbournian families eager to show off their wealth in the booming economic periods of 1880s and 1890s before the property crash of the late 1890s. The typical composition of the building with its central entranceway and L-shaped verandah is enhanced by the elaborate plaster work decoration and the splendid mansard dome on the tower. The stylised first floor cornice and window mouldings and the ground floor verandah with coupled columns and balustraded plinth are notable features of "Goodrest".

 

Originally, "Goodrest" was a typical large Victorian family home to the wealthy Buckhursts: William and Anne, their six children and a large retinue of indoor and outdoor servants. William was a developer and wool broker from Emerald Hill. The family were prominent members of Christ Church South Yarra, located only a short brougham ride or stroll from "Goodrest" on the corner of Toorak and Punt Roads. The Buckhursts were also important members of Melbourne's social elite and many a fine party was held at "Goodrest" which glittered like an ornately lit layer cake. However, by the time of the Second World War, the mansion's fortunes had changed. Crippled by taxes after the Great War and then hit by the Great Depression of 1929, the gilded age of the Buckhurts had long gone, so during hostilities, "Goodrest" served as the Far Eastern Liaison Office. With the restoration of peace in 1945, the property was no longer required by the War Office and it reverted to private ownership. However times had changed dramatically, as had the lives and fortunes of Melbournians. No-one wanted, nor could many afford, a crumbing Victorian edifice like "Goodrest" as their private home, and in the ensuing years it became the Avon Private Hotel. Situated on what was left of the originally large property, it was hedged in by an encroaching number of flats, and "Goodrest's" grand rooms were converted into smaller, more serviceable spaces. Whilst Coadjutor in the 1960s, Archbishop Justin Daniel Simonds was instrumental in strengthening the Catholic Education Department. After his death in 1967, the church purchased "Goodrest" to run conferences for Catholic teachers, restoring the rooms to their former grand proportions. "Goodrest" was renamed "Simonds Hall" in his honour. In 1971 "Simonds Hall" (formerly "Goodrest") was classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) as being of state significance as an outstanding feature of the South Yarra and Fawkner Park precincts as they once were. The mansion is today owned by Christ Church Grammar School, which sits alongside the church in which the Buckhursts used to worship. The small parcel of land upon which "Goodrest" stands, once neatly separated into paths and flowerbeds, is now a dusty carpark. Only the Canary Island palms and weeping willows remain. In 2016, the school put forth a suggestion to build an underground carpark and re-landscape and terrace the gardens to their former elegance. However the proposal was rejected because of the traffic difficulties it posed, its obstruction of this beautiful building from Toorak Road, and the possible structural damage it posed to "Goodrest". The matter continues to be a matter of discussion.

 

William Parton Buckhurst was born in Rochester, Kent in 1831, the son of John Buckhurst, a farmer. He was educated at local schools. At the age of seventeen he sailed to America and traveled through Canada before settling in Illinois where he was apprenticed to a miller. William became the manager of a flour mill in the Mississippi valley, before he caught ‘California fever’ in 1852. He sailed to Australia in 1857 where he landed in Melbourne. William purchased land in Napier Street, Emerald Hill and built four small cottages that proved to be very profitable when he sold them. He commenced business as an auctioneer and estate agent in the early 1860s. William married Anne Faram in 1860, and they had eight children, born between 1862 and 1872. He built elegant Rochester Terrace, a row of eight roomed terrace houses in St Vincent Place South in fashionable Albert Park between 1869 and 1871. After he returned from a ten month trip to India, the Middle East and Europe, William published "An Australian Abroad". Subsequently he took active steps from 1871 to have the Albert Park lagoon made into a permanent lake, the bowling green and croquet lawn in St Vincent Gardens in 1873, and in 1874 he proposed a canal from the Yarra River to the bay. In 1900 he married his second wife Agnes McCall. His original home was "Kent Villa", named for his native county, and later, "Windarra" in St Vincents Place Albert Park, and finally "Goodrest", Toorak Road, South Yarra, where he died in 1906.

 

Walter Buckhurst was born in Emerald Hill in 1863 to William Parton Buckhurst and his wife Anne Jane Faram. He became a very successful architect, not only designing "Goodrest", but many others. He owned sixty five mansion and villa sites facing the Botanic Gardens and Fawkner Park. He married Ada Jessie Gardiner. He died at his South Yarra home in 1897.

  

Built in 1884 in the fashionable Fawkner Park district in what is the modern day Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, "Goodrest" is a large boom-style Italianate two-storey brick mansion designed by Walter Buckhurst for his parents William Parton Buckhurst and Anne Jane Faram. Walter was their eldest son.

 

The two-storey brick mansion standing proudly on Toorak Road West overlooking Fawkner Park from behind century old willow trees and Canary Island date palms has the typical Italianate massing with projecting canted bay wing, tower and two storey cast iron verandah. The tower is capped by a mansard dome. The facade is picked out in primrose yellow and white paintwork, highlighting its elaborate decoration. It is a fine example of the boom-style Italianate mansion popular amid wealthy pastoralists, developers and self-made Melbournian families eager to show off their wealth in the booming economic periods of 1880s and 1890s before the property crash of the late 1890s. The typical composition of the building with its central entranceway and L-shaped verandah is enhanced by the elaborate plaster work decoration and the splendid mansard dome on the tower. The stylised first floor cornice and window mouldings and the ground floor verandah with coupled columns and balustraded plinth are notable features of "Goodrest".

 

Originally, "Goodrest" was a typical large Victorian family home to the wealthy Buckhursts: William and Anne, their six children and a large retinue of indoor and outdoor servants. William was a developer and wool broker from Emerald Hill. The family were prominent members of Christ Church South Yarra, located only a short brougham ride or stroll from "Goodrest" on the corner of Toorak and Punt Roads. The Buckhursts were also important members of Melbourne's social elite and many a fine party was held at "Goodrest" which glittered like an ornately lit layer cake. However, by the time of the Second World War, the mansion's fortunes had changed. Crippled by taxes after the Great War and then hit by the Great Depression of 1929, the gilded age of the Buckhurts had long gone, so during hostilities, "Goodrest" served as the Far Eastern Liaison Office. With the restoration of peace in 1945, the property was no longer required by the War Office and it reverted to private ownership. However times had changed dramatically, as had the lives and fortunes of Melbournians. No-one wanted, nor could many afford, a crumbing Victorian edifice like "Goodrest" as their private home, and in the ensuing years it became the Avon Private Hotel. Situated on what was left of the originally large property, it was hedged in by an encroaching number of flats, and "Goodrest's" grand rooms were converted into smaller, more serviceable spaces. Whilst Coadjutor in the 1960s, Archbishop Justin Daniel Simonds was instrumental in strengthening the Catholic Education Department. After his death in 1967, the church purchased "Goodrest" to run conferences for Catholic teachers, restoring the rooms to their former grand proportions. "Goodrest" was renamed "Simonds Hall" in his honour. In 1971 "Simonds Hall" (formerly "Goodrest") was classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) as being of state significance as an outstanding feature of the South Yarra and Fawkner Park precincts as they once were. The mansion is today owned by Christ Church Grammar School, which sits alongside the church in which the Buckhursts used to worship. The small parcel of land upon which "Goodrest" stands, once neatly separated into paths and flowerbeds, is now a dusty carpark. Only the Canary Island palms and weeping willows remain. In 2016, the school put forth a suggestion to build an underground carpark and re-landscape and terrace the gardens to their former elegance. However the proposal was rejected because of the traffic difficulties it posed, its obstruction of this beautiful building from Toorak Road, and the possible structural damage it posed to "Goodrest". The matter continues to be a matter of discussion.

 

William Parton Buckhurst was born in Rochester, Kent in 1831, the son of John Buckhurst, a farmer. He was educated at local schools. At the age of seventeen he sailed to America and traveled through Canada before settling in Illinois where he was apprenticed to a miller. William became the manager of a flour mill in the Mississippi valley, before he caught ‘California fever’ in 1852. He sailed to Australia in 1857 where he landed in Melbourne. William purchased land in Napier Street, Emerald Hill and built four small cottages that proved to be very profitable when he sold them. He commenced business as an auctioneer and estate agent in the early 1860s. William married Anne Faram in 1860, and they had eight children, born between 1862 and 1872. He built elegant Rochester Terrace, a row of eight roomed terrace houses in St Vincent Place South in fashionable Albert Park between 1869 and 1871. After he returned from a ten month trip to India, the Middle East and Europe, William published "An Australian Abroad". Subsequently he took active steps from 1871 to have the Albert Park lagoon made into a permanent lake, the bowling green and croquet lawn in St Vincent Gardens in 1873, and in 1874 he proposed a canal from the Yarra River to the bay. In 1900 he married his second wife Agnes McCall. His original home was "Kent Villa", named for his native county, and later, "Windarra" in St Vincents Place Albert Park, and finally "Goodrest", Toorak Road, South Yarra, where he died in 1906.

 

Walter Buckhurst was born in Emerald Hill in 1863 to William Parton Buckhurst and his wife Anne Jane Faram. He became a very successful architect, not only designing "Goodrest", but many others. He owned sixty five mansion and villa sites facing the Botanic Gardens and Fawkner Park. He married Ada Jessie Gardiner. He died at his South Yarra home in 1897.

  

Built in 1884 in the fashionable Fawkner Park district in what is the modern day Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, "Goodrest" is a large boom-style Italianate two-storey brick mansion designed by Walter Buckhurst for his parents William Parton Buckhurst and Anne Jane Faram. Walter was their eldest son.

 

The two-storey brick mansion standing proudly on Toorak Road West overlooking Fawkner Park from behind century old willow trees and Canary Island date palms has the typical Italianate massing with projecting canted bay wing, tower and two storey cast iron verandah. The tower is capped by a mansard dome. The facade is picked out in primrose yellow and white paintwork, highlighting its elaborate decoration. It is a fine example of the boom-style Italianate mansion popular amid wealthy pastoralists, developers and self-made Melbournian families eager to show off their wealth in the booming economic periods of 1880s and 1890s before the property crash of the late 1890s. The typical composition of the building with its central entranceway and L-shaped verandah is enhanced by the elaborate plaster work decoration and the splendid mansard dome on the tower. The stylised first floor cornice and window mouldings and the ground floor verandah with coupled columns and balustraded plinth are notable features of "Goodrest".

 

Originally, "Goodrest" was a typical large Victorian family home to the wealthy Buckhursts: William and Anne, their six children and a large retinue of indoor and outdoor servants. William was a developer and wool broker from Emerald Hill. The family were prominent members of Christ Church South Yarra, located only a short brougham ride or stroll from "Goodrest" on the corner of Toorak and Punt Roads. The Buckhursts were also important members of Melbourne's social elite and many a fine party was held at "Goodrest" which glittered like an ornately lit layer cake. However, by the time of the Second World War, the mansion's fortunes had changed. Crippled by taxes after the Great War and then hit by the Great Depression of 1929, the gilded age of the Buckhurts had long gone, so during hostilities, "Goodrest" served as the Far Eastern Liaison Office. With the restoration of peace in 1945, the property was no longer required by the War Office and it reverted to private ownership. However times had changed dramatically, as had the lives and fortunes of Melbournians. No-one wanted, nor could many afford, a crumbing Victorian edifice like "Goodrest" as their private home, and in the ensuing years it became the Avon Private Hotel. Situated on what was left of the originally large property, it was hedged in by an encroaching number of flats, and "Goodrest's" grand rooms were converted into smaller, more serviceable spaces. Whilst Coadjutor in the 1960s, Archbishop Justin Daniel Simonds was instrumental in strengthening the Catholic Education Department. After his death in 1967, the church purchased "Goodrest" to run conferences for Catholic teachers, restoring the rooms to their former grand proportions. "Goodrest" was renamed "Simonds Hall" in his honour. In 1971 "Simonds Hall" (formerly "Goodrest") was classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) as being of state significance as an outstanding feature of the South Yarra and Fawkner Park precincts as they once were. The mansion is today owned by Christ Church Grammar School, which sits alongside the church in which the Buckhursts used to worship. The small parcel of land upon which "Goodrest" stands, once neatly separated into paths and flowerbeds, is now a dusty carpark. Only the Canary Island palms and weeping willows remain. In 2016, the school put forth a suggestion to build an underground carpark and re-landscape and terrace the gardens to their former elegance. However the proposal was rejected because of the traffic difficulties it posed, its obstruction of this beautiful building from Toorak Road, and the possible structural damage it posed to "Goodrest". The matter continues to be a matter of discussion.

 

William Parton Buckhurst was born in Rochester, Kent in 1831, the son of John Buckhurst, a farmer. He was educated at local schools. At the age of seventeen he sailed to America and traveled through Canada before settling in Illinois where he was apprenticed to a miller. William became the manager of a flour mill in the Mississippi valley, before he caught ‘California fever’ in 1852. He sailed to Australia in 1857 where he landed in Melbourne. William purchased land in Napier Street, Emerald Hill and built four small cottages that proved to be very profitable when he sold them. He commenced business as an auctioneer and estate agent in the early 1860s. William married Anne Faram in 1860, and they had eight children, born between 1862 and 1872. He built elegant Rochester Terrace, a row of eight roomed terrace houses in St Vincent Place South in fashionable Albert Park between 1869 and 1871. After he returned from a ten month trip to India, the Middle East and Europe, William published "An Australian Abroad". Subsequently he took active steps from 1871 to have the Albert Park lagoon made into a permanent lake, the bowling green and croquet lawn in St Vincent Gardens in 1873, and in 1874 he proposed a canal from the Yarra River to the bay. In 1900 he married his second wife Agnes McCall. His original home was "Kent Villa", named for his native county, and later, "Windarra" in St Vincents Place Albert Park, and finally "Goodrest", Toorak Road, South Yarra, where he died in 1906.

 

Walter Buckhurst was born in Emerald Hill in 1863 to William Parton Buckhurst and his wife Anne Jane Faram. He became a very successful architect, not only designing "Goodrest", but many others. He owned sixty five mansion and villa sites facing the Botanic Gardens and Fawkner Park. He married Ada Jessie Gardiner. He died at his South Yarra home in 1897.

  

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