October 2026

There’s this Victorian mansion on Orrong Road Armadale set behind a huge swathe of lawn, so I had to find out the story. Which isn’t much.

Originally called Kilbryde, it was built in 1876 for Robert Reid, whose company of the same name was a big drapery importer; he was also an MP in the 1890s, and lived there until his death in 1904. The architect was George Johnson, who did multiple town halls and theatres, and houses too, mostly Italianate, but this one goes a bit Gothic, with arched window eyebrows. The cast iron is very typical, and the only other interest is the bowed bit of the verandah.

In 1949 the State Government bought it as a mental health rehabilitation centre, and renamed it Trelowarren, and it’s still going, now run by @mind_australia. I guess at some point what would have been a nice garden was reduced to just lawns. There’s an individual heritage overlay.

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