25 August 2019:

The other kind of #MansionFlat; a #VictorianMansion turned into flats ! This one rather leaps out on #HennesseyStreet street in #Elwood, surrounded by interwar flats.

Designed by #DavidAskew (of #TwentymanandAskew) and built 1891 for Joseph Syme, nephew of #DavidSyme who ran #TheAgeNewspaper for 30 years. For a while that was in partnership with Joseph- but they didn’t get along so he was bought out and spent his $ on this 45 room mansion, calling it Rotherfield, living here till his death in 1916, then his widow stayed on till 1925.

Then the huge estate was subdivided with the creation of Hennessey Ave. The house then had a succession of owners and uses, becoming a guest house in 1940. then in 1943 it was subdivided into 16 flats, leaving much of the grand interior intact, and called Sherwood Hall.

I think it’s the best remaining of what was once quite common, partly because seems still a single owner, all the flats are rented ! $350/week, but worth it. At least one has an original bathroom.

2025

Rachelle Unreich, the daughter of the lady who owned it and lived there for a long time, commented on my Insta ! She lives there herself now, and has written a bio of her mum, Mira, published in 2023. She says there’s some original painted ceilings and the bathrooms all date from the 50s.

2025

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