In basic terms, historic preservation means safeguarding the existence and appearance of historic elements that are located within our neighborhood. TYPES OF HISTORIC ELEMENTS Structures Houses, commercial and industrial buildings, bridges and monuments – any human-made structure that has some historical value, significance or associated to someone who lived or worked in our neighborhood who became significant in their own right. Historical value resides in the historical element itself. It may be valuable as an example of a style of architecture or an industrial process that’s no longer used, or simply for its age. Many houses that were unremarkable when they were built, for instance, have gained historical value because they’ve lasted, and are among the few left from their time. A Victorian or Edwardian house built from as early as the 1850’s to 1915 are important historically because these are the oldest and grandest of houses compared to new builds in the the inner Melbourne neighborhood. Historical significance usually concerns links between an element, say a building or streetscape and a particular historical event or series of events. Many historically significant buildings, like the North Melbourne Town Hall built in 1875-76 designed by noted architect George Johnson. That specific …
Maloney, Jane née Dowling (1816-1894)
Born in Sumerset England in 1816, daughter of George Pyke Dowling, rector of Puckington, Somerset, and his wife Anne, née Biggs, of an old and wealthy Bristol family. She had married Denis Maloney in Sydney in 1847 and they later joined the Californian gold rush. Jane’s sister was Elizabeth Clarke née Dowling (1801-1878) wife of William Clarke. Jane left California and returned to Australia and lived in the first recorded house built at number 57 Roden Street West Melbourne on the 21st of February 1854.(1) The house was constructed of wood and it is believed where her son Dr. William Robert Maloney was born in 1854. Denis Maloney was entered into the baptismal register as William’s father, but he and Jane had already parted. Life as a deserted wife at that time in the Victorian era was vert tough, thankfully Jane was supported by her brother-in-law William J. T. ‘Big’ Clarke. Many people came to assume that William Clarke was the biological father to Jane’s children as he provided for them in his will.(3) Lot 11 on section 53, the corner of Roden & King streets in West Melbourne (house numbers 43 to 57 Roden Street) was one of a large …
Clarke, William John Turner (1805–1874)
William John Turner Clarke (1805-1874), pastoralist and landowner, was born on 20 April 1805 in Somerset, England, the second son of William Clarke of St Botolf, Aldgate, London, and his wife Sarah, née Turner, of Weston Zoyland, near Wells, Somerset. His yeoman father died in 1819 and William was placed under the guardianship of his uncle Joseph. He began to work for a drover taking cattle from Somerset to Smithfield and became a shrewd judge of livestock. At 21 the meat firm he was working with failed and he pledged himself to independence by making money, cautiously investing his savings in cattle and avoiding debt. In May 1829 he married Elizabeth (1801-1878), daughter of George Pyke Dowling, rector of Puckington, Somerset, and his wife Anne, née Biggs, of an old and wealthy Bristol family. A weak chest and a congenitally malformed hip as well as the prospect of new opportunities induced him to emigrate, and he arrived at Hobart Town with his wife in the Deveron on 23 December 1829. In 1837 Clarke shipped 1612 ewes across Bass Strait, and took them first to Station Peak in the You Yangs between Melbourne and Geelong, and then to Dowling Forest near …
Maloney, William Robert (1854–1940)
William Robert Maloney (1854-1940), humanitarian and politician, was born on 12 April 1854 at 57 Roden Street West Melbourne, son of Jane Maloney, née Dowling, then and later being supported by her brother-in-law W. J. T. ‘Big’ Clarke. Jane had married Denis Maloney in Sydney in 1847 and they later joined the Californian gold rush. Maloney was entered in the baptismal register as William’s father, but he and Jane had parted. Many people came to assume that Clarke was the father and he provided for the boy in his will. William attended a primary school in West Melbourne and the Errol Street National School. After a year in New Zealand he joined the Colonial Bank of Australia, left to spend a year or more at Scotch College, then rejoined the bank. At the Turn Verein he became an accomplished gymnast and was introduced to socialist ideas by German migrants. About 1874 he and his mother took up a selection at Longwarry, Gippsland, and over several years cleared 100 acres (40 ha). Returning to Melbourne, Maloney attended night-school, matriculated, and in 1880 began a medical course at St Mary’s Hospital, London (L.S.A., M.R.C.S., 1885). He became resident obstetric physician at St …
Spencer Street
Spencer Street was named after Lord Spencer, former leader of the Whig party in the House of Commons. Road section running from Flinders Street northwards was gazetted 29 March 1837 by Sir George Gipps, Govener of NSW and the street is thought to have been named after John Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl Spencer, a British statesman. He was notably Chancellor of the Exchequer under Lord Grey and Lord Melbourne from 1830 to 1834. Due to his reputation for integrity he was nicknamed “Honest Jack”. Garryowen’s Chronicles of early Melbourne (1888) quotes from a supposed journal of surveyor Robert Hoddle, suggesting that Bourke instructed Hoddle as to the names of the streets. Such a journal has never been subsequently located, and the precise origin of some names remains a matter of speculation. Spencer, King and William Streets were all later extended in a northerly direction to LaTrobe Street in 1838. In 1860 Sir William Denison, Governor of New South Wales approved the gazettal of a further extension to Spencer, King and William Streets starting from LaTrobe street heading north into the suburb of West Melbourne. Source.(1) John Charles Spencer, Viscount Althorp, 3rd Earl Spencer (1782-1845) by Henry Pierce Bone.(2) NSW Government Gazette,(3) Victorian …
Dudley Street
Gazetted in 1860 by the State Government of Victoria and named in honour of John Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley. In 1827 John Ward was appointed Foreign Secretary under George Canning, a post he held also under Lord Goderich and the Duke of Wellington, resigning office in May 1828. In 1827 he was admitted to the Privy Council and created Viscount Ednam, of Ednam in the County of Roxburgh, and Earl of Dudley, of Dudley Castle in the County of Stafford. As foreign minister John Ward was only a cipher; but he was a man of considerable learning and had some reputation as a writer and a talker. Dudley took an interest in the foundation of the University of London, and his Letters to Edward Copleston, the Bishop of Llandaff, were published by the bishop in 1840.(2) Source. (1) National Portrait Gallery London. (2) wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ward,_1st_Earl_of_Dudley
Rosslyn Street
Gazetted in 1860 by the State Government of Victoria and named in honour of General James Alexander St Clair-Erskine, 3rd Earl of Rosslyn. Source. (1) National Gallery of Scotland, General James Alexander St Clair-Erskine, 3rd Earl of Rosslyn. Photographer, Friedrich Emil Ernest Theodore Schenck.
Stanley Street
Gazetted in 1860 by the Victorian parliament, Stanley Street West Melbourne was named after Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, KG, GCMG, PC, (29 March 1799 – 23 October 1869) who was a British statesman, three-time and, to date, the longest-serving leader of the Conservative Party for the Commonwealth. Source. National Portrate Gallery London, Lord Derby, photographed by John Clarck before 1869.
Eade, Joel (1823–1911)
Born 9th February 1823 at Breage, Cornwall, England, son of James Richard Eade, farmer and miner, and his wife Elizabeth, née Dunnald. At 14 Joel left school and began work on a farm. In 1840-44 as an apprentice carpenter and joiner he attended classes at the local Mechanics’ Institute, ‘acquiring a knowledge of drawing and design that lifted him out of the rank of journeymen’. From 1845 he practised his trade in London, taking charge of a workshop where his employer discovered his drawing skill. In 1851 he went to California and gained a similar position. In 1857 Eade arrived at Melbourne in the What Cheer. After four unsuccessful months on the Ovens goldfields he worked on the Beechworth court-house at £6 a week and was in charge at its completion. In 1859 he sought further contracts in Melbourne and then Daylesford where he had more success and bought land. He returned to Melbourne in 1861 and soon set up as an architect and builder at Collingwood. He was assessor to the borough in 1867-69, a member of the Municipal Council in 1869-75 and mayor in 1870-71. As honorary surveyor he planned new public buildings, including public baths, reformed the …
Jeffcott Street
Named after Sir William Jeffcott (1800 – 1855) he was an Irish barrister, a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales for the District of Port Phillip from 1843 to 1845.(1) Source. (1) Jeffcott, Sir William (1800–1855)”. Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: Australian National University. TOWN ALLOTMENTS. A considerable number of new allotments have been surveyed and marked out for sale, between the Flag Staff and the Swamp, abutting upon La Trobe and Spencer-streets, and a new street called after Judge Jeffcott. They will not, however, be put up to sale except upon special application, and under any circumstances we should recommend their being withheld, till the removal of the boiling-down establishments has rendered the neighbourhood a little less obtrusive upon the ollactories. We have before noticed the abandonment of the lane system, which has been productive of so much mischief. The streets are all marked out of equal width, but we doubt whether a narrowing of the blocks would not prove a still further advantage, in decreasing the tendency to the creation of rookeries, narrow rights of way, and other nuisances. In future, town allotments are only to consist of a quarter acre each, the frontage remaining …