8 June 2014, updated:
Came across this very unusual house in Lord Street Brunswick, with a long deep classical verandah and horseshoe arches. Turns out it was built in 1912 for James Dolphin, a Jewish factory owner, so he must have wanted something with a near eastern feel.
It’s also very grand, placed at top of Methven Street, almost like a public building. Which it was when it was purchased to becacome a synagogue/torah school in 1942, serving the small Brunswick Hebrew Congregation. With declining numbers, they eventually wound up, and it became a private house again 1987.
It was sold in 2017, and real estate pics show the interior has some great woodwork, but much more classical, and that the two main rooms weren’t at the front (and one of them has no windows- something must have been added). Since then the missing bits of the verandah have been restored (I think someone sent me that last pic).
Storey of Melbourne 