31 December 2024

I knew the St James Park Estate in Hawthorn had some big houses, but I’d forgotten how big (as my friend driving me around said f** off big). It all started off as the huge estate for the bluestone Gothic Invergowrie, 1st pic, first part built 1840s, and it’s still there nestled in a big garden looking very picturesque.

In 1871 actor and entrepreneur George Coppin bought it and subdivided the grounds, creating Coppin, Shakespeare and Isabella Groves. The houses built in the next 2 decades include big ones on big lots, hidden behind their gardens, and just large ones on large lots, and some more modest ones. The one with the fountain, Avon Court, is especially grand and formal (pic 3, real estate), while the others are mostly Italianate. They were later variously unpopular and altered, with some more subdivision, then they became desirable again from the late 70s, when I recall it was one of the first declared heritage areas. Since then they’ve all been super restored, in the case of Avon Court complete with a new cast iron fence, it’s all very leafy and luscious, and values have skyrocketed with Avon going from $20mill in 2009 to ~$40mill last year. Theres also a bunch on the riverside that I didn’t photograph. There’s one quite nice new one by @b.e_architecture clearly referencing the others but not exactly blending in. The last pic is the other extreme, a Victorian style towered mansion built in 1990 (replacing some flats, information from Hawthorn Historical Society). I can’t actually find a good overview of the estate, though most houses have a separate heritage listing.

October 2025

There’s a house with a tower in Hawthorn that you can see from the bridge to Burwood Road off to the right – finally checked it out – golly ! It’s on Coppin Grove, and a Facebook post tells me it was called Placida, and was built in 1881; it faces towards the river rather than the street. It’s flanked by a steep informal bit of Isabella Grove I didn’t know existed, with a big single storey house opposite and two 1891 cottages downhill looking extremely desirable.

Meanwhile back up on Coppin Grove there’s another towered mansion, 1878 but rather oddly plain, and on the corner of Burwood Road there’s a very cute Gothic cottage, probably early 1860s – this was the gate house for the huge Invergowrie mansion estate, subdivided in 1871 into big house lots by entrepreneur George Coppin, hence the street name. And then there’s another bit of informal street parallel to Burwood Road, with a small block of flats and another desirable cottage style house, c1937.

A very pretty house in Hawthorn on the corner of Coppin & Isabella in the St James Park estate. It was built in 1872 in a bold polychrome brick, designed by Edward Twentyman; but it’s more famous as the home of Sir John Monash for about 20 years from 1896. This was the period when he was an innovative engineer, developing reinforced concrete in particular. He later of course became a famous general during WWI, and then became head of the new SEC in 1920. Phew !

Probably in the 80s or 90s the house was restored, likely gaining the fountain and the new cast iron fence.

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