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.

Two days ago. :(((

www.kirchkreis-jena.de/region_sued/ammerbach.html

Riegelhaus „Wohnen West“ (oder auch „Wohnen am City-See“), Hervester Straße, Bergstraße, Marl-Mitte

Located on Coburg's elm lined and most prestigious street, The Grove, this property was one of the original buildings of the Moreland Park Estate.

Although it looks like one large high Victorian mansion, this property, constructed in the 1890s is a clever piece of architectural trickery, and is in fact two semi-detatched double storey residences. This in no way suggests that they were small. Quite the contrary, each was of a substantial size with their own towers, stables and outbuildings, and would have suited a wealthy upper middle-class Victorian family.

Built of polychromatic bricks, each villa is a mirror to that of its neighbour with a return verandah featuring elegant cast iron lacework. The roof is made of slate tiles with a striped pattern laid out as part of the design, whilst the verandah is of corrugated iron. The brown and yellow bricks are constructed in a profusion of geometric designs, which even make the shared wall between the two villas a smart feature. Even the chimney is built of polychromatic bricks. Perhaps its most outstanding features are the distinctive French inspired Second Empire mansard roofed towers, which make the property stand out for miles around.

This villa represents the brief initial period of development prior to the bust of the 1890s and subsequent housing boom of the early 20th Century, in which much of Coburg's residential development occurred.

The Grove, was part of the Moreland Park Estate. This was Coburg's most prestigious subdivision in the 1880s. In 1882 Charles Moreland Montague Dare, a St Kilda businessman, bought Jean Rennie's forty acre farm and, with his architect, T. J. Crouch, subdivided thirty acres of it into 147 allotments. The Grove was originally christened Moreland Grove after its owner. A covenant was placed on the subdivision prohibiting the building of hotels or shops, or any house under the value of 400 pounds. By 1890 there were twenty-four brick houses on the estate, twenty one of them owned by Charles Moreland Montague Dare himself. There was a caretaker to tend the streets, the wooden pavilion and the tennis courts, which soon became a bowling rink to suit the more sedate interests of the residents. Men of substance, including a banker, a merchant, a manufacturer and several civil servants and accountants lived on the estate and the Moreland Park Ladies' College in The Grove offered a genteel education. By the 1890s the Melbourne property boom had burst and by 1900 there were still only twenty seven houses in The Grove and many vacant allotments; Charles Moreland Montague Dare's own place at "Moreland Park", a ten acre property on Merri Creek, added to the rural atmosphere. In 1896 Dare fell into financial difficulties and had to transfer many of his properties to the Australian Widows' Fund Life Assurance Society. In 1900 he owned only seven houses, a few allotments and Moreland Park. He died in 1919.

Set well back from the street amid a formal garden of lawns and brick edged garden beds, "Norwood House", a large double storey Victorian villa constructed in the 1890s is situated in the inner northern Melbourne suburb of Moonee Ponds.

This large villa has a splendid front verandah with elegant cast iron lacework showing fern fronds. The roof is made of slate, whilst the verandah is of corrugated iron. Built of polychromatic bricks, "Norwood House" uses them to great effect, making the walls and the arched window surrounds real features of the villa. "Norwood House's" foundations are of bluestone.

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. Houses like these would have suited a large Victorian family, and would have required a small retinue of servants to maintain.

“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.

Located on Coburg's elm lined and most prestigious street, The Grove, this property was one of the original buildings of the Moreland Park Estate.

Designed by T. J. Crouch in 1888, although it looks like one large high Victorian mansion, this property, is a clever piece of architectural trickery, and is in fact two semi-detatched double storey residences. This in no way suggests that they were small. Quite the contrary, each was of a substantial size with their own towers, stables and outbuildings, and would have suited a wealthy upper middle-class Victorian family. The houses have ornate ceilings, wide arches, marble mantelpieces, cedar paneling and Australian blackwood staircases.

Built of polychromatic bricks, each villa is a mirror to that of its neighbour with a return verandah featuring elegant cast iron lacework. The roof is made of slate tiles as is the hipped roof of the verandah. The brown and yellow bricks are constructed in a profusion of geometric designs, which even make the shared wall between the two villas a smart feature. All window sills are bluestone as is the foundation of the property. Perhaps its most outstanding features are the twin towers both of which are sixty feet in height, which make the property stand out for miles around. These towers are solidly built and are roofed with lead. They have railings and four large draped urns on each. The building is a landmark to the area and is referred to affectionately as "Coburg Castle".

This villa represents the brief initial period of development prior to the bust of the 1890s and subsequent housing boom of the early 20th Century, in which much of Coburg's residential development occurred.

One was occupied between 1889 and 1924 by the Reverend Dr Mathew, Minister of Coburg Presbyterian Church, and the property survived Melbourne's property bust of the 1890s and the new boom after Federation in 1901. However, its luck ran out during the Great Depression and the stables and outhouses were demolished during the early 1930s. The property was then turned into a cheap rooming house (as were so many other fine Victorian houses and mansions during this period of history). It remained so for nearly sixty years, and then it was sold. The new owners restored the property fully, and live in one half, whilst renting the other half out (which has now been converted into several modestly sized flats).

The Grove, was part of the Moreland Park Estate. This was Coburg's most prestigious subdivision in the 1880s. In 1882 Charles Moreland Montague Dare, a St Kilda businessman, bought Jean Rennie's forty acre farm and, with his architect, T. J. Crouch, subdivided thirty acres of it into 147 allotments. The Grove was originally christened Moreland Grove after its owner. A covenant was placed on the subdivision prohibiting the building of hotels or shops, or any house under the value of 400 pounds. By 1890 there were twenty-four brick houses on the estate, twenty one of them owned by Charles Moreland Montague Dare himself. There was a caretaker to tend the streets, the wooden pavilion and the tennis courts, which soon became a bowling rink to suit the more sedate interests of the residents. Men of substance, including a banker, a merchant, a manufacturer and several civil servants and accountants lived on the estate and the Moreland Park Ladies' College in The Grove offered a genteel education. By the 1890s the Melbourne property boom had burst and by 1900 there were still only twenty seven houses in The Grove and many vacant allotments; Charles Moreland Montague Dare's own place at "Moreland Park", a ten acre property on Merri Creek, added to the rural atmosphere. In 1896 Dare fell into financial difficulties and had to transfer many of his properties to the Australian Widows' Fund Life Assurance Society. In 1900 he owned only seven houses, a few allotments and Moreland Park. He died in 1919.

Located on Coburg's elm lined and most prestigious street, The Grove, this property was one of the original buildings of the Moreland Park Estate.

Although it looks like one large high Victorian mansion, this property, constructed in the 1890s is a clever piece of architectural trickery, and is in fact two semi-detatched double storey residences. This in no way suggests that they were small. Quite the contrary, each was of a substantial size with their own towers, stables and outbuildings, and would have suited a wealthy upper middle-class Victorian family.

Built of polychromatic bricks, each villa is a mirror to that of its neighbour with a return verandah featuring elegant cast iron lacework. The roof is made of slate tiles with a striped pattern laid out as part of the design, whilst the verandah is of corrugated iron. The brown and yellow bricks are constructed in a profusion of geometric designs, which even make the shared wall between the two villas a smart feature. Even the chimney is built of polychromatic bricks. Perhaps its most outstanding features are the distinctive French inspired Second Empire mansard roofed towers, which make the property stand out for miles around.

This villa represents the brief initial period of development prior to the bust of the 1890s and subsequent housing boom of the early 20th Century, in which much of Coburg's residential development occurred.

The Grove, was part of the Moreland Park Estate. This was Coburg's most prestigious subdivision in the 1880s. In 1882 Charles Moreland Montague Dare, a St Kilda businessman, bought Jean Rennie's forty acre farm and, with his architect, T. J. Crouch, subdivided thirty acres of it into 147 allotments. The Grove was originally christened Moreland Grove after its owner. A covenant was placed on the subdivision prohibiting the building of hotels or shops, or any house under the value of 400 pounds. By 1890 there were twenty-four brick houses on the estate, twenty one of them owned by Charles Moreland Montague Dare himself. There was a caretaker to tend the streets, the wooden pavilion and the tennis courts, which soon became a bowling rink to suit the more sedate interests of the residents. Men of substance, including a banker, a merchant, a manufacturer and several civil servants and accountants lived on the estate and the Moreland Park Ladies' College in The Grove offered a genteel education. By the 1890s the Melbourne property boom had burst and by 1900 there were still only twenty seven houses in The Grove and many vacant allotments; Charles Moreland Montague Dare's own place at "Moreland Park", a ten acre property on Merri Creek, added to the rural atmosphere. In 1896 Dare fell into financial difficulties and had to transfer many of his properties to the Australian Widows' Fund Life Assurance Society. In 1900 he owned only seven houses, a few allotments and Moreland Park. He died in 1919.

Autumn in Melbourne is always beautiful, with many wonderful deciduous trees full of colour like this maidenhair or ginkgo tree in front of a fine single storey Arts and Crafts villa.

This villa, built on an awkwardly shaped block has a garden for all seasons, in spite of the fact it is small. As well as the maidenhair tree for autumnal golds, it has a huge pink magnolia that bursts into colour with the approach of spring (see photo on the first comment below). Both trees allow light in during the winter months and provide shade during Australia's hot summer months.

Melbourne had a very good start to summer with not too many burning hot days and lots of rain, which means that the autumn display of leaves at present are simply glorious.

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.

I'm so proud of myself! I have produced my first edited video! :D

Um... took the clips for this yesterday - it's still raining off and on today

Every time it rains, I start to love it more. I used to hate rain - I don't anymore. As long as I have a place to stay dry and take pictures of it!

My horse, Levi, had a sort of but sort of not mild case of colic 2 days ago. I gave him a couple shots of banamine and he was better last night, but still acting lethargic and he had a teeeeny tiny temperature. The vet came this morning to check on him - he basically developed a bit of a digestive/intestinal/whatever blockage (which causes colic) so the vet sedated him and stuck a looooong rubbery tube up his nose and down his throat and pumped his guts full of water and mineral oil to flush him out. Yuck, I know, but he's already acting more like himself! Yay!!

Love you guys!

This is going to be my post for tomorrow too, probably. I've posted enough for the week, but I'll be around. Just no new posts probably til Monday.

Check the tags for song info and stuff --- >>>

Leave me love!

Fave it if you like it!

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.

This impressive Reformist (Arts and Crafts) style bungalow, built in Darlington Grove in the Melbourne suburb of Coburg, has an extremely austere garden to allow the house to be fully on show. The house is owned by Mr. and Mrs. Gordon. I have a friend who grew up in Darlington Grove in the 1950s and remembers the middle-aged couple as his neighbours. He has confirmed that they still live there to this day. They must be in their 90s now, yet they both still keep the garden neat and trim!

Built in the years just before the Great War (1914), you can just start to see the transition from Edwardian villa to the popular Californian Bungalow of the early 1920s. The choice of red brick to construct the villa with is very in keeping with the Arts and Crafts Movement, as is the restrained use of decoration - most noticably pediment decoration over the enclosed porch, and the shingled barge boards on both gables. The two sets of front windows feature leadlight upper panes of a geometric design. To either side of the drawing room chimney breast are wonderful windows of stained glass featuring Dutch scenes. The one nearest the street has a windmill atop a hill, whilst the one farthest away depicts a Dutch girl in traditional dress looking out to sea as she sits on a fence.

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 house's floor plan appears to be more traditional than others, with a central hallway off which the principal rooms were located.

"Holyrood" is a large Victorian Italianate villa constructed circa 1891, probably to the design of architects Little and Beardsley, as part of the former Moreland Park Estate in the Melbourne suburb of Coburg.

Built at the entrance to the Moreland Park Estate on Coburg's most prestigious elm lined street, The Grove, "Holyrood" is a mirror to that of its neighbour on the opposite side of the street. These sentinals of Victorian upper middle-class respectability, wealth and aspirations to climb socially would have been very impressive when all that surrounded them was open famland. "Holyrood" and its neighbour represent the brief initial period of development prior to the bust of the 1890s and subsequent housing boom of the early 20th Century, in which much of Coburg's residential development occurred.

This single storey, Italianate style residence has a return verandah with elegant cast iron lacework. The roof is made of slate tiles with a geometric pattern laid out as part of the design, whilst the verandah is of corrugated iron. Its four chimneys are tall and corniced and its has its original mock ashlar walls. Perhaps its most outstanding feature is a distinctive pyramidal roofed low tower over the entryway,

The Grove, was part of the Moreland Park Estate. This was Coburg's most prestigious subdivision in the 1880s. In 1882 Charles Moreland Montague Dare, a St Kilda businessman, bought Jean Rennie's forty acre farm and, with his architect, T. J. Crouch, subdivided thirty acres of it into 147 allotments. The Grove was originally christened Moreland Grove after its owner. A covenant was placed on the subdivision prohibiting the building of hotels or shops, or any house under the value of 400 pounds. By 1890 there were twenty-four brick houses on the estate, twenty one of them owned by Charles Moreland Montague Dare himself. There was a caretaker to tend the streets, the wooden pavilion and the tennis courts, which soon became a bowling rink to suit the more sedate interests of the residents. Men of substance, including a banker, a merchant, a manufacturer and several civil servants and accountants lived on the estate and the Moreland Park Ladies' College in The Grove offered a genteel education. By the 1890s the Melbourne property boom had burst and by 1900 there were still only twenty seven houses in The Grove and many vacant allotments; Charles Moreland Montague Dare's own place at "Moreland Park", a ten acre property on Merri Creek, added to the rural atmosphere. In 1896 Dare fell into financial difficulties and had to transfer many of his properties to the Australian Widows' Fund Life Assurance Society. In 1900 he owned only seven houses, a few allotments and Moreland Park. He died in 1919.

This large Victorian Italianate villa was constructed circa 1891, probably to the design of architects Little and Beardsley, as part of the former Moreland Park Estate in the Melbourne suburb of Coburg.

Built at the entrance to the Moreland Park Estate on Coburg's most prestigious elm lined street, The Grove, this villa is a mirror to that of its neighbour on the opposite side of the street, "Holyrood". These sentinals of Victorian upper middle-class respectability, wealth and aspirations to climb socially would have been very impressive when all that surrounded them was open famland. This villa represents the brief initial period of development prior to the bust of the 1890s and subsequent housing boom of the early 20th Century, in which much of Coburg's residential development occurred.

This single storey, Italianate style residence has a return verandah with elegant cast iron lacework. The roof is made of slate tiles with a geometric pattern laid out as part of the design, whilst the verandah is of corrugated iron. Its four chimneys are tall and corniced and its has its original mock ashlar walls. Perhaps its most outstanding feature is a distinctive pyramidal roofed low tower over the entryway,

The Grove, was part of the Moreland Park Estate. This was Coburg's most prestigious subdivision in the 1880s. In 1882 Charles Moreland Montague Dare, a St Kilda businessman, bought Jean Rennie's forty acre farm and, with his architect, T. J. Crouch, subdivided thirty acres of it into 147 allotments. The Grove was originally christened Moreland Grove after its owner. A covenant was placed on the subdivision prohibiting the building of hotels or shops, or any house under the value of 400 pounds. By 1890 there were twenty-four brick houses on the estate, twenty one of them owned by Charles Moreland Montague Dare himself. There was a caretaker to tend the streets, the wooden pavilion and the tennis courts, which soon became a bowling rink to suit the more sedate interests of the residents. Men of substance, including a banker, a merchant, a manufacturer and several civil servants and accountants lived on the estate and the Moreland Park Ladies' College in The Grove offered a genteel education. By the 1890s the Melbourne property boom had burst and by 1900 there were still only twenty seven houses in The Grove and many vacant allotments; Charles Moreland Montague Dare's own place at "Moreland Park", a ten acre property on Merri Creek, added to the rural atmosphere. In 1896 Dare fell into financial difficulties and had to transfer many of his properties to the Australian Widows' Fund Life Assurance Society. In 1900 he owned only seven houses, a few allotments and Moreland Park. He died in 1919.

I liek the fireplace. The mantle is an IKEA Lack shelf, and the dragon is a wood carving Kerry gave me for Christmas on year. The painting is by Michigan artist Connis Obits.

Delabole, Cornwall

Surrounded by a well kept garden and neatly trimmed lawn, this sprawling Reformist (Arts and Crafts) style bungalow may be found at the provincial Victorian city of Ballarat.

Built in the years just before the Great War (1914), you can just start to see the transition from Edwardian villa to the popular low slung Californian Bungalow of the mid 1920s. The choice of red brick to construct the house is very in keeping with the Arts and Crafts Movement, as is roughcast treatment of the wall above the brick dado, the slate roof tiles and the terracotta capping. The stylish wide pillars of the portico, supported by four wooden columns can also be found on Arts and Crafts houses of the late teens in Australia. The chimneys of the villa feature red brick detailing which can be seen to great effect against their grey roughcast background. The villa also makes the air vents in its eaves a feature, as like the villa itself, they sprawl horizontally across both the front and the side of the facade. The windows along the front of the facade are all plain, however, looking around the chimney nooks, you will find fluid Art Nouveau stained glass windows in golden yellow and blue glass.

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. With a front door built off to one side of the villa's enclosed portico, this house may have a more unusual floor plan.

This sizable house built on a large block in a prestigious street would have appealed to the moneyed middle-classes of Ballarat whose money came from the many businesses that boomed in the burgeoning city as a result of the Nineteenth Century gold rush. Comfortable and very English, it would have shown respectability and not inconsiderable wealth.

"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.

“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 between 1884 and 1885 by Henry Robert Bastow (1839–1920), the J.H. Boyd Girls High School, at 207 City Road in the inner Melbourne Southbank precinct, is of architectural significance as one of the most ornamental and distinctive of the Education Department schools of the 19th century in Australia. It was the only Nineteenth Century State School to have a three storey central block, reflecting its prominent location in full view of the railway line from Port Melbourne to Flinders Street. The schools size and style are evidence of the rapid growth in population and wealth in Melbournes suburbs as a result of post-Gold Rush consolidation and prosperity. In 1930, the institution was converted into a Domestic Arts School for girls and named after grazier and philanthropist J.M. Boyd.

The school is built in Neo-Gothic or Tudor Revival style, which was inspired by theorists such as John Ruskin and Pugin. The movement was one of the most distinctive styles to emerge from the Victorian era. Based on the principle of allowing freemasons to express their contribution to a building (as was the case for the guilds that built Gothic buildings in medieval times), these buildings became extensively ornate edifices. The J.H. Boyd Girl's High School with its crenelling and fine brick and stone work is no exception.

At the time of photographing, the interior of the school was being ripped out as it was prepared for its new life as a community centre as part of a large complex of public and private housing. 30 floors of glass and concrete (not at all in keeping with the architecture of the school) will shortly be built directly behind the old building, so I thought I had better take the opportunity of photographing it in its most original condition before it is eclipsed by a modern monstrosity of monsterous proportions!

Henry Robert Bastow became one of the foremost architects of civil and public buildings in Melbourne and was appointed Architect to the State Schools Division of the Public Works Department of Victoria in the 1870s and 1880s. His style was characterised by steeply pitched roof detailing with prominent gables, label moulding round the windows and pointed arched openings. His works include several primary schools designed in the 1870s and 1880s as well as the Melbourne College of Printing & Graphic built in 1882.

“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.

This smart Reformist (Arts and Crafts) style villa may be found in the Melbourne suburb of Essendon.

Built between Federation (1901) and the Great War (1914), the shingled barge boards beneath the gable, the rough cast stuccoed brick upper dado, and the square window awnings over bay window are very Arts and Crafts inspired, as is the choice of red brick to build the villa with.

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.

Essendon was etablished in the 1860s and became an area of affluence and therefore only had middle-class, upper middle-class and some very wealthy citizens. A large villa like this built in one of the finer pockets of the suburb suggests that it was built for an aspiring upper middle-class family of some means. A villa like this would have required the employment of a retinue of staff to keep it well maintained.

"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 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.

Melting frost/dew on a falled autumn leaf.

Standing proudly behind its picket fence with capped newel posts, this large Victorian villa constructed in the 1890s is situated in the inner northern Melbourne suburb of Moonee Ponds.

This single storey sprawling villa has a splendid front verandah with elegant cast iron lacework. The roof is made of slate tiles with a geometric pattern laid out as part of the design, whilst the verandah is of corrugated iron. This villa also features its original capping and ornate finials along the tips of each section of roofline. Built of polychromatic bricks, they are used to great effect, making the walls real features of the villa.

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. Houses like these would have suited a large Victorian family, and would have required a small retinue of servants to maintain. Built on a corner block, this villa has a large street frontage, and mantains its original stables, which may be accessed through a back laneway.

"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.

“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.

“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.

Surrounded by a well kept garden and neatly trimmed lawn, this sprawling Reformist (Arts and Crafts) style bungalow may be found at the provincial Victorian city of Ballarat.

Built in the years just before the Great War (1914), you can just start to see the transition from Edwardian villa to the popular low slung Californian Bungalow of the mid 1920s. The choice of red brick to construct the house is very in keeping with the Arts and Crafts Movement, as is roughcast treatment of the wall above the brick dado, the slate roof tiles and the terracotta capping. The stylish wide pillars of the portico, supported by four wooden columns can also be found on Arts and Crafts houses of the late teens in Australia. The chimneys of the villa feature red brick detailing which can be seen to great effect against their grey roughcast background. The villa also makes the air vents in its eaves a feature, as like the villa itself, they sprawl horizontally across both the front and the side of the facade. The windows along the front of the facade are all plain, however, looking around the chimney nooks, you will find fluid Art Nouveau stained glass windows in golden yellow and blue glass.

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. With a front door built off to one side of the villa's enclosed portico, this house may have a more unusual floor plan.

This sizable house built on a large block in a prestigious street would have appealed to the moneyed middle-classes of Ballarat whose money came from the many businesses that boomed in the burgeoning city as a result of the Nineteenth Century gold rush. Comfortable and very English, it would have shown respectability and not inconsiderable wealth.

Built between 1884 and 1885 by Henry Robert Bastow (1839–1920), the J.H. Boyd Girls High School, at 207 City Road in the inner Melbourne Southbank precinct, is of architectural significance as one of the most ornamental and distinctive of the Education Department schools of the 19th century in Australia. It was the only Nineteenth Century State School to have a three storey central block, reflecting its prominent location in full view of the railway line from Port Melbourne to Flinders Street. The schools size and style are evidence of the rapid growth in population and wealth in Melbournes suburbs as a result of post-Gold Rush consolidation and prosperity. In 1930, the institution was converted into a Domestic Arts School for girls and named after grazier and philanthropist J.M. Boyd.

The school is built in Neo-Gothic or Tudor Revival style, which was inspired by theorists such as John Ruskin and Pugin. The movement was one of the most distinctive styles to emerge from the Victorian era. Based on the principle of allowing freemasons to express their contribution to a building (as was the case for the guilds that built Gothic buildings in medieval times), these buildings became extensively ornate edifices. The J.H. Boyd Girl's High School with its crenelling and fine brick and stone work is no exception.

At the time of photographing, the interior of the school was being ripped out as it was prepared for its new life as a community centre as part of a large complex of public and private housing. 30 floors of glass and concrete (not at all in keeping with the architecture of the school) will shortly be built directly behind the old building, so I thought I had better take the opportunity of photographing it in its most original condition before it is eclipsed by a modern monstrosity of monsterous proportions!

Henry Robert Bastow became one of the foremost architects of civil and public buildings in Melbourne and was appointed Architect to the State Schools Division of the Public Works Department of Victoria in the 1870s and 1880s. His style was characterised by steeply pitched roof detailing with prominent gables, label moulding round the windows and pointed arched openings. His works include several primary schools designed in the 1870s and 1880s as well as the Melbourne College of Printing & Graphic built in 1882.

Surrounded by a well kept garden and neatly trimmed lawn, this sprawling Reformist (Arts and Crafts) style bungalow may be found at the provincial Victorian city of Ballarat.

Built in the years just before the Great War (1914), you can just start to see the transition from Edwardian villa to the popular low slung Californian Bungalow of the mid 1920s. The choice of red brick to construct the house is very in keeping with the Arts and Crafts Movement, as is roughcast treatment of the wall above the brick dado, the slate roof tiles and the terracotta capping. The stylish wide pillars of the portico, supported by four wooden columns can also be found on Arts and Crafts houses of the late teens in Australia. The chimneys of the villa feature red brick detailing which can be seen to great effect against their grey roughcast background. The villa also makes the air vents in its eaves a feature, as like the villa itself, they sprawl horizontally across both the front and the side of the facade. The windows along the front of the facade are all plain, however, looking around the chimney nooks, you will find fluid Art Nouveau stained glass windows in golden yellow and blue glass.

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. With a front door built off to one side of the villa's enclosed portico, this house may have a more unusual floor plan.

This sizable house built on a large block in a prestigious street would have appealed to the moneyed middle-classes of Ballarat whose money came from the many businesses that boomed in the burgeoning city as a result of the Nineteenth Century gold rush. Comfortable and very English, it would have shown respectability and not inconsiderable wealth.

“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.

Surrounded by a well kept garden and neatly trimmed lawn, this sprawling Reformist (Arts and Crafts) style bungalow may be found at the provincial Victorian city of Ballarat.

Built in the years just before the Great War (1914), you can just start to see the transition from Edwardian villa to the popular low slung Californian Bungalow of the mid 1920s. The choice of red brick to construct the house is very in keeping with the Arts and Crafts Movement, as is roughcast treatment of the wall above the brick dado, the slate roof tiles and the terracotta capping. The stylish wide pillars of the portico, supported by four wooden columns can also be found on Arts and Crafts houses of the late teens in Australia. The chimneys of the villa feature red brick detailing which can be seen to great effect against their grey roughcast background. The villa also makes the air vents in its eaves a feature, as like the villa itself, they sprawl horizontally across both the front and the side of the facade. The windows along the front of the facade are all plain, however, looking around the chimney nooks, you will find fluid Art Nouveau stained glass windows in golden yellow and blue glass.

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. With a front door built off to one side of the villa's enclosed portico, this house may have a more unusual floor plan.

This sizable house built on a large block in a prestigious street would have appealed to the moneyed middle-classes of Ballarat whose money came from the many businesses that boomed in the burgeoning city as a result of the Nineteenth Century gold rush. Comfortable and very English, it would have shown respectability and not inconsiderable wealth.

"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.

"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.

"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.

“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.

"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.

"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.

"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.

This tiling project was installing a platform, the existing tile was matched perfectly.

Standing proudly behind its white picket fence with capped newel posts, this large, asymmetrical Victorian villa constructed in the 1890s is situated in the inner northern Melbourne suburb of Moonee Ponds.

This single storey residence built in Victorian Italianate style has many of its original features, including its splendid corrugated iron bull nosed front verandah with elegant cast iron lacework, slate tiled roof with metal capping and corniced chimneys. A large bay window with decorative mouldings in classical style in keeping with the Victorian Italianate theme offers spendid views of the street. It also features floral mouldings up under the eaves and the original wooden panelling around the front door.

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. Houses like these would have suited a large, wealthy Victorian family, and would have required a small retinue of servants to maintain.

tiles are set, now its time to put on the grout!

“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.