10 December 2024
This grand and picturesque house in Grattan Street Hawthorn called ‘Alloarmo’ near the river is unusual in a couple of ways. Firstly, it’s in two parts built many years apart in similar styles; the plainer brick section, enlivened only by a gothic bargeboard, is 1850s, while the more elaborate section is c1895, in a QueenAnneish Gothic. The other unusual thing is the elevated entrance, with its own porch, I guess a function of building close to the street, perhaps allowing better river views. No architect for either section is noted by any of the heritage listings. Last pic is from the heritage listing showing the bay window facing the river. Couldn’t find any architect via Trove, just that the owner who may have done the extension was Alexander Clerk, when it was called Penicuik, and he drowned at the back beach at Cowes in 1898, aged only 51.
Storey of Melbourne 