November 2025
If you’ve ever gone up Auburn Road Hawthorn you’ve probably seen this fantastical mansion, which is now up for sale. ‘Talana’ was designed in 1899 by John Beswicke, who lived a few doors down the side in Harcourt Street, and had designed just about all the big houses in that street in the previous 25 years, not to mention loads of other houses, shops and the Hawthorn Town Hall.
The story is that he built this as a surprise for his wife, but she chose to stay in their earlier house – but the State Library has the original drawing showing it was designed for Mr Christie Jones.
Beswicke had already taken up the very new Edwardian style of red brick and half timbered gables, and here ramps it up a notch, with that extraordinary gabled room on top of the tower, and a wide verandah round the corner turret with very rustic fretwork. Inside he went to town with those very elaborately detailed ceilings; I would have thought originally in many colours but the one old photo shows it was all white or pale.
The house was later a Salvation Army hostel and looked pretty sad in the 2nd last 1992 pic. Most pics real estate or heritage listing (it’s on the Register), old pics from the book on Beswicke. Ps I always thought the ‘surprise’ for his wife story unlikely.
Storey of Melbourne 