11 September 2025

Just found this pic of my house ! That is, the house that was transformed into my flats in Dalgety Street St Kilda. So exciting! Well for me and my neighbours anyway. Never thought I’d find a photo, but @historical_stkilda had it up, noting the address had been wrong. So it was called Kara, and was built in 1890, and probably designed by Sydney W Smith. He basically put a rather unusual verandah on an otherwise simple terrace-like house to one side of a double block. In fact I reckon they intended to build, or left space for, another half, but built extra verandah instead.

It was built for Joseph Salberberg, a solicitor, and a German Jewish immigrant, and part of the St Kilda Jewish community. And … I even found a photo of him, aged 90 or so, when he died in 1933. In fact I found a lot of stuff, like Miss Butchers wedding in 1906. The photo comes from an add in the 1914 ‘St Kilda By The Sea’ annual when it was a guest house.

Then I found the auction of the contents in 1925 just before they built around next to in front of to create the flats, in an odd Mediterranean/ Tudor style, all one beds. Not much left of the house, except the hall and stair.

The flats were called Kara Mansions, and I found the Larkins having a baby in 1929, the Bonwicks here in 1940, and Theadora Rose (nee Het Hoff) in 1955. Maybe we can use the name again ? And maybe it’s a reference to Katra-ite Judaism.

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