20 March 2020
Revealed by some demolition on Fitzroy Street St Kilda – the edge of the mini-mansion originally called Canterbury, built in 1882, and from 1913 known as Brook Lawn guesthouse. It had shops built in front of it in 1916, and remained hidden until c1995 when the middle shop was demolished revealing the main entry. There’s actually a photo of it, from ‘St Kilda by the Sea’, 1914, which shows its now missing the iron lace and ground level arches. The house was built for Ruben Barnard, and designed by noted architects Smith & Johnson.
It’s often said to have been the French Embassy, but there’s no evidence of that, in fact there weee no embassies in the 19thC in Victoria, only honorary consuls. This grand house was the first one of six mini mansions all in a row, all with a similar setback.
Surprisingly, four of them still exist, albeit variously altered by putting shops in front of them from the 20s to the 50s.
Storey of Melbourne 
Hi Rohan, The building that was demolished was the St Kilda West Post Office, built some time in the 1970s. It was sold in the mid to late 90s and was turned into a cafe. I have some photos, not sure how to upload them here.
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Never mind I have a photo myself ! But it was a bit boring.
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Hi Rohan, the photos I have are of the original post office just after it was built, including the interior and the building site when the foundations were laid, if you are interested. Sorry, don’t mean to be a pain.
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Sounds nice, you could email to me, and I could add to the post ?
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Hi Rohan, I’ll try again to send the pictures, Cheers, Chris
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My email is rohanstorey@yahoo.com.au
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