Redcourt Estate

Last updated

Redcourt Estate
RedCourt-Exterior-01.jpg
Redcourt, Armadale
General information
Location Armadale, Melbourne, Australia
Completed1888
Technical details
Size3,497 square metre block
Design and construction
Architect(s) Joseph Reed

Redcourt Estate, in Armadale, Victoria, Australia, is one of the most significant Queen Anne Revival residences in Australia.

Contents

Built in 1888 by Edward Yencken, [1] a renowned local Glass and Timber merchant, 'Redcourt' was designed by Joseph Reed of preeminent architectural firm Reed Henderson and Smart.

Originally the main ‘Redcourt, Armadale' was a significant land holding of five acres fronting Dandenong and Orrong Roads [2] with horses and pasture, until it was reduced, in 1933, to its current size of approx 3,500 sq m (Approx 38,000 sq ft). [3]

After being owned by many notable families, ownership was transferred to the State Government of Victoria’s Ministry of Education in 1956 [4] and was used purely as an all girls residence for country students enrolled at Larnook Domestic Arts Teachers College and in later years regional secondary students from the Victorian College of the Arts until 1997 when it was then vacated and subsequently fell into disrepair.

In 2009, the property was sold back into private ownership and after a significant restoration is now used as a family residence.

History

In the mid-1800s, with the discovery of gold in Victoria, Melbourne was transformed from a country town to boomtown. The rapid economic boom of the Victorian gold rush peaked during the 1880s, by which time Melbourne had become one of the wealthiest cities in the world, [5] and the largest after London. [6]

During a visit in 1885 by English journalist George Augustus Henry Sala coined the phrase “Marvelous Melbourne”, an apt description of a city which had become one of the finest examples of Victorian architectural grandeur in the British Empire [7] It was in this environment that the young Edward Yencken (1854-1932), established himself as one of Melbourne's leading wholesalers and suppliers of paint, hardware, glass, wallpaper and timber.

Yencken commenced his career in the trade by joining the establishment of Brooks, Robinson & Co. Ltd, Melbourne's leading wholesalers and suppliers of paint, hardware and glass in 1871; [8] in 1882, having reached managerial level at Brooks, Robinson & Co, he left to open his own business and departed for Europe in March 1882 with the clear goal of establishing his own agents and contacts. [9]

By January 1883, Yencken's established E.L. Yencken & Co at 5 Flinders Street East, Melbourne, sharing ‘a handsome building on a bluestone foundation, having cellars and three floors above’ with renowned tea, coffee and cocoa merchants, Griffiths Bros. [10]

His experience allowed him to form sole agent agreements with companies such as Lightbown Aspinall. - wallpapers; William Harland & Co - varnish; Hamilton and Co –brushwares, Lindcrusta-Walton – wall covering [11] and the Belgian firm of Rene Verbest Lamal – marble flooring and chimney pieces.

Business flourished and in 1887, as befitting his newly found wealth and status [12] [13] [14] Yencken engaged Melbourne's leading architectural firm of Joseph Reed (Reed, Henderson & Smart) to design a suitable home for himself.

Yencken's choice was clearly an informed one as 'Redcourt, Armadale' became a showcase for his wares and exhibited the very latest in good taste and style.

In the late 1890s 'Redcourt' was bought by the successful mining entrepreneur, founder of BHP and member of Parliament, WR Wilson . Like many of the owners of 'Redcourt' Wilson was a horse enthusiast and owner. [15] Wilson's horses included Wallace, [16] son of Carbine (Winner of the Melbourne Cup and inducted into the Australian and New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame),‘Strathmore’ (Winner of the 1891 Caulfield Guineas 'Trenton' [17] and 'Redcourt'. 'Redcourt' was bred at Wilson's famous St. Albans Stud in Geelong and was named after the 'Redcourt' residence. [18]

After Wilson came John Turnbull, Western district and Queensland pastoralist, the Director of the English and Australian Pastoral and Investment Association, race horse owner and breeder. [19]

In 1912 'Redcourt, Armadale' was sold to Mary Louisa Falkiner, wife of Norman Fraser Falkiner(1872-1929) [20] a grazier, racehorse breeder and politician. [21]

Falkiner owned numerous racehorses including Comedy King who was foaled in 1907 by Persimmon out of the mare Tragedy Queen [22] (by Gallinule). English Derby winner 'Persimmon' was owned by King Edward VII. Comedy King won the Melbourne Cup in 1910 and in doing so became the first foreign bred horse to achieve this feat, defeating both Trafalgar and Apple Pie in the process. He also won the Futurity Stakes in 1909 and the St George Stakes in 1911. [23]

Comedy King went on to be a great sire and his sons Artilleryman (1919) and King Ingoda (1922) also won the Melbourne Cup. In addition to Redcourt the Falkiners also owned and ran the well known horse stud and estate 'Noorilim' in Wahring near Murchison, Victoria. [24]

In February 1914, the Falkiners' engaged the respected architectural firm of Butler & Bradshaw to carry out extensive additions to the building.

In 1924 the Falkiners sold 'Redcourt' to Margaret Duggan Burke, wife of the well-known property developer, racing enthusiast and philanthropist, Thomas Michael Burke. [25]

By the 1930s, many of the original mansion homes around Melbourne had been demolished, converted into apartments or as happened to 'Redcourt' in 1935, turned into a successful guesthouse. [26]

In the mid 1950s 'Redcourt' was bought by the Ministry of Education and became a residence for Art & Music students and was used purely as an all girls residence for country students enrolled at Larnook Domestic Arts Teachers College and in later years regional students from the Victorian College of the Arts.

'Redcourt' remained largely unoccupied from the late 1900s. In 2009 the government sold the property into private ownership for the first time in almost 60 years.

Renovation

Garrisson appointed John Warwicker of London art and design collective, Tomato, as creative director. The pair walked through the building dozens of times before deciding on a theme. Garrisson says the idea was to achieve a "universal language" but with "different dialects" within each space. [27]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tootgarook, Victoria</span> Suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Tootgarook is a suburb on the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 62 km (39 mi) south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local government area. Tootgarook recorded a population of 3,178 at the 2021 census. Tootgarook is located within Boonwurrung Country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ormond College</span>

Ormond College is the largest of the residential colleges of the University of Melbourne located in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is home to around 350 undergraduates, 90 graduates and 35 professorial and academic residents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Reed (architect)</span>

Joseph Reed, a Cornishman by birth, was a prolific and influential Victorian era architect in Melbourne, Australia. He established his practice in 1853, which through various partnerships and name changes, continues today as Bates Smart, one of the oldest firms continually operating in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Munro (Australian politician)</span> Australian politician (1832–1908)

James Munro was a Scottish born Australian businessman and colonial politician, and the 15th Premier of Victoria. He is best known as one of the leading figures in the land boom of the 1880s and especially the subsequent crash of the early 1890s, where his Christian morals were seen to clash with his business activities.

Victoria College was a College of Advanced Education (CAE) in Melbourne, Australia. It was created as a result of the merger on 23 December 1981 of the State College of Victoria colleges at Burwood, Rusden and Toorak with the Prahran College of Advanced Education. In doing so, it became the largest College of Advanced Education in eastern Melbourne.

Robert Lewis John Ellery was an English-Australian astronomer and public servant who served as Victorian government astronomer for 42 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lauriston Girls' School</span> Independent, single-sex, day school in Armadale, Victoria, Australia

Lauriston Girls' School is an independent, non-denominational, day school for girls, located in Armadale, an inner south-eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Alexander Hugh Chisholm OBE FRZS also known as Alec Chisholm, was a noted Australian naturalist, journalist, newspaper editor, author and ornithologist. He was a member of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU), President of the RAOU 1939–1940, and editor of its journal the Emu from 1926 to 1928. In 1941 he was elected a Fellow of the RAOU in 1941 and the previous year he had been the first recipient of the Australian Natural History Medallion for his work in ornithology and popularising natural history. Chisholm was a prolific and popular writer of articles and books, mainly on birds and nature but also on history, literature and biography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Bonney</span> Australian politician

Charles Bonney was a pioneer and politician in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Chanter</span> Australian politician

John Moore Chanter was an Australian politician, farmer and commission agent. He was a member of the Protectionist Party, as well as the Australian Labor Party and the Nationalist Party of Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir William Clarke, 1st Baronet</span> Australian politician

Sir William John Clarke, 1st Baronet, was an Australian businessman and philanthropist in the Colony of Victoria. He was raised to the baronetage in 1882, the first Victorian to be granted a hereditary honour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Wardill</span> Australian rules footballer

Richard Cameron Wardill was an Australian rules footballer and coach who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Edward Lowenstern Yencken was an Australian hardware merchant. Yencken was born in Brixton, Surrey, England and died in Toorak, Melbourne, Victoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Murray Smith</span> Australian politician

Robert Murray Smith, usually known as Murray Smith, CMG MA, was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly and Agent-General for Victoria (Australia).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Watterston</span>

David Watterston was Scottish born Australian journalist and newspaper editor; he was editor of The Australasian from 1885 to 1903 and of The Argus 1903 to 1906.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornelius Ham</span> Australian politician

Cornelius Job Ham was a politician in colonial Victoria (Australia), mayor of Melbourne 1881–82 and a member of the Victorian Legislative Council 1882–1904.

Edward Langton was an Australian businessman and politician, Treasurer of Victoria in 1868 and 1872–1874.

Lauchlan Mackinnon was a pastoralist, politician and newspaper proprietor in colonial Australia. Mackinnon one of the most enterprising of the pioneer colonists of Victoria (Australia) and one of the proprietors of the Melbourne Argus from 1852 until his death.

David George Druce Yencken was a builder, businessman, academic and heritage practitioner in Australia.

Comedy King (1907–1929) was a British bred thoroughbred racehorse that raced his entire career in Australia. He is most notable for winning the 1910 Melbourne Cup and becoming the first Northern-Hemisphere bred horse to do so.

References

  1. Sayers, Stuart. "Yencken, Edward Lowenstern (1854–1932)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University via Australian Dictionary of Biography.
  2. Certificate of Land Title. p. Vol 1109 Fol 221792.
  3. Certificate of Land Title. p. Vol 5836 Fol 1167116.
  4. The Argus . 19 June 1956. p. 17 and 20 June 1956, p 22.
  5. Cervero, Robert (1998). Cervero, Robert B.The Transit Metropolis: A Global Inquiry. Chicago: Island Press. p. 320. ISBN   1-55963-591-6.
  6. Statesmen's Year Book. 1889.
  7. Cannon, Michael (1966). The Land Boomers. Melbourne University Publishing: Cambridge University Press.
  8. "Robinson & Co".
  9. Stuart Sayers, 'Yencken, Edward Lowenstern (1854–1932)', Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography: Australian National University.
  10. "JAMES & JOHN GRIFFITHS, GRIFFITH BROS., TEA MERCHANTS, MELBOURNE". www.auspostalhistory.com.
  11. "Our History". lincrusta.com.
  12. A. Sutherland (1888). Victoria and its Metropolis, vol 2.
  13. "The Australian Storekeepers and Traders' Journal". Victorian Storekeepers and Traders' Association. 23 December 1910.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  14. "The Australian Storekeepers and Traders' Journal". Victorian Storekeepers and Traders' Association. 31 January 1911.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  15. The Australasian, 'Racing Men of the Day'. 17 October 1891. pp. 739–740.
  16. "The Sydney Mail - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  17. "Trenton Horse Pedigree". www.pedigreequery.com.
  18. Australian Town and Country Journal. 1895. pp. 28–31.
  19. The Australasian, 5 March 1910, p 597 AND The Pastoral Review. 315. p. 315.
  20. "Norman Fraser Falkiner".
  21. Certificate of Land Title, Vol 2956 Fol 591155 and The Pastoralist Review, 15 June 1929, p 539.
  22. "Tragedy Queen Horse Pedigree". www.pedigreequery.com.
  23. The Australasian, 10 August 1907, p 353 and Sydney Morning Herald . 14 May 1929. p. 12.
  24. "1879 Noorilim: Glory on a grand scale".
  25. Hannan, Tony. "Burke, Thomas Michael (1870–1949)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University via Australian Dictionary of Biography.
  26. City of Prahran rate book, 1935 no 11907 and The Argus. 1935. p. 20.
  27. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/executive-living/home-design/how-adam-garrisson-saved-melbourne-mansion-redcourt/story-fngmet9f-1226721878096#sthash.j7yojL4o.dpuf [ dead link ]