Como House is a historical house, with associated gardens in the
City of Stonnington
The City of Stonnington is a local government area located within the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Australia. It comprises the inner south-eastern suburbs, between , from the Melbourne CBD. The city covers an area of .
Within twenty years o ...
,
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
,
Australia. It was constructed in 1847 for
Sir Edward Eyre Williams, and now serves as a tourist attraction under the custodianship of the
National Trust of Australia. The gardens are open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm and Sunday from 10am to 5pm. The historic house is open for guided tours every Saturday and Sunday.
Location
The house and landscaped area is located in the suburb of
South Yarra, Victoria
South Yarra is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the Cities of City of Melbourne, Melbourne and City of Sto ...
, adjacent to Como Park.
History
The first sale of land by the Crown in the area took place on 10 June 1840 when land bounded by Kooyong Road, Gardiners Creek (Yarra River). Gardiners Creek Road (now Toorak Road) and Glenferrie Road was sold. The purchasers included Jane Hill (the widow of pastoralist David Hill), the Langhorne Bros. (the nephews of Captain William Lonsdale), Capt. John Browne and James Jackson.
Como House was constructed in 1847 and owned by
Sir Edward Eyre Williams, a supreme court justice, until 1852 when it was sold to investor
Frederick Dalgety.
After only a year, it was sold to John Brown - a master builder and wine and spirit merchant - who took possession in 1853 and commenced a program of works to transform the property including adding a second storey (which included a ballroom) to the house.
In December 1855 William Sangster was appointed head gardener and overseer at Como. At that time the 53-acre site comprised partly cleared land, a rocky hill and a swamp adjoining the river. The site was bounded to the north by Gardener’s Creek Rd (now Toorak Rd) down to the Yarra River and extended west from Williams Rd to the vicinity of Kensington Rd. Sangster designed and laid out the five-acre formal pleasure gardens section of the grounds with exotic trees to create an ideal “picturesque garden” with borrowed views across the river. The design featured an impressive carriage drive from the main road. Large areas were set aside for the growing of almond trees, vegetables and fruit. In 1864 Brown's insolvency forced a mortgage to the
Bank of Australasia
The Bank of Australasia was an Australian bank in operation from 1835 to 1951.
Headquartered in London, the bank was incorporated by Royal Charter in March 1834. It had initially been planned to additionally include first South Africa and then ...
. When Brown’s bank sold to the Armytages in 1864 Sangster remained until mid-1866.
Charles Armytage purchased the property for £14,000 in 1864.
[ The family stayed for 95 years, eventually selling the property to the newly formed National Trust of Australia in 1959.][ ]
The Seekers
The Seekers were an Australian folk-influenced pop quartet, originally formed in Melbourne in 1962. They were the first Australian pop music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States. They were ...
filmed the video for their version of Morningtown Ride
"Morningtown Ride" is a lullaby, written and performed by Malvina Reynolds. It was covered by The Seekers and their recording reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart. The song tells the comforting story of the journey through nighttime made by al ...
at Como House.
Improvements to the property continued in the 1980s.
Further reading
*
*
References
{{reflist
External links
National Trust of Australia (Victoria) site - Como House and Garden
National Trust of Australia
Historic house museums in Victoria (Australia)
Houses in Melbourne
Landmarks in Melbourne
Buildings and structures in the City of Stonnington
Heritage-listed buildings in Melbourne