9 June 2024
#Peeking out behind some magnificent Lemon Scented Gums is #Torloisk, an 1883 #RenaissanceRevival #MelbourneMansion squeezed onto a relatively small corner block in that bit of #EastMelbourne on the south side of Wellington Pde, near Hoddle. It addresses both streets and especially the corner, and unusually its three floors, ending up rather vertical. Its a rather odd collection of features, with areas of blank wall, blind arches, an elaborate projecting verandah section, not the best thing #TwentymanandAskew ever did. But very impressive, especially the still unpainted finely detailed render, and the wonderfully rusty unusual cast iron fence.
Been through many changes; originally built for ironmonger William McLean, whose family had a connection to Scotland, presumably the Torloisk area, it became St Ives private hospital in 1901, then an Anglican convent in 1917, adding a cream brick wing on the north side, and losing the turret, and adding a third floor to the rear. From 1978 it was a nurses home for the Alfred, then sold in 1990 to a member of the Myer family, who removed the extension, and though the north side wall matches well, only the form of the two level loggia is like the original.
Info East Melb Historical Society, who have a photo from just after the renovation in 1990, without the big trees, didnt know they grew that fast.
Storey of Melbourne 