1 July 2024
These elegant wrought iron gates at entrance D to the Botanic Gardens are almost all thats left of the grand mansion Nareeb that once stood at 170 Kooyong Road Armadale.
Built in 1888 and designed by William Sallway, it was a very heavily elaborated design in large gardens, entered through these gates. Made by Hill & Smith ironworks, near Birmingham, they’re unusual for being delicate wrought iron (making them hard photograph) rather than the more common heavy cast-iron. By the early 1960s the house hadn’t been touched for decades, still relying on gaslighting, and crowds came for a look when the owner allowed the @nationaltrustvic to hold an open day weekend in 1965 just before sale and subsequent demolition The Trust negotiated to save the gates, which they then donated to the gardens, installed in 1967.
My photos are from July 2021, just after they were refurbished and re-gilded.
Rather surprisingly the gateway to Nareeb wasn’t demolished, and was itself recently heritage listed by the City of Stonnington.
B&W pics c1963 @library_vic, clipping from Trust file, gateway from streetview.
Storey of Melbourne 