30 March 2024:
Clarendon Terrace, Clarendon Street, East Melbourne, long owned by the National Trust, is for sale. Built in 1857 it was designed by architect Osgood Pritchard (great name) to look like a single grand house with a Neoclassical columned portico, but it’s actually three houses. Must’ve really stood out in colonial Melbourne.
By the 60s, it had fallen into disrepair, losing the delicate Corinthian capitals by 1963 (B&W photo), then in 1977, having only been listed by the new Historic Buildings Preservation Council for a few years, they issued a permit for demolition because restoration would have been ‘too onerous’. The Trust and the East Melbourne Group got into action and actually got a funding to buy and restore it from the Hamer State Government. They got enough to buy it in 1978, but then they got an offer from the new Menzies Foundation to pay for restoration in return for a 45 year peppercorn lease – and those years are up! It’s worth up to $12 million, which would keep the Trust going for a while, since they run on a shoestring.
The works in 1979-81 involved pretty much gutting the interior of the two southern terraces to make large spaces (pics 5,6), so any new owner could do what they liked inside. The northern one seems mostly intact with original stair and fireplace (pics 7,8). Interiors from real estate ad, before and after restoration from @nationaltrustvic 1982 annual report via Graeme Butler.
Storey of Melbourne 