Sergeant’s ownership was short, selling on to former grazier Robert Hannon in 1922, who also moved in with his wife, and his son’s family. Residents continued to remain fairly well to do, with one family, Percy Kingston, his wife Ida and her sister Helen occupied the billiard room / music room flat for 30 years. Hannon committed suicide in his flat in 1929, leaving the house in the hands of trustees for many years. It was finally sold in 1933 to William and Sarah (Sal) O’Callaghan, who had run a series of country hotels. In 1936, William built a red brick block of six flats adjacent to the house to the rear, parallel to the rear wing, naming it Willas (Wil plus Sal backwards). The mansions flats and Willas were operated as one, with a communal laundry and telephone, and with more residents and more children, it felt like an extended family to some. Residents included a set of relatives, the Spencers and the Dalys, contributing eight people in four flats from the late 30s to the early 50s. The Chadwicks, Tom and Annie, who rented flat 10 (the former drawing room and boudoir) from 1934-1947, hosted charity events, sometimes in the still large front garden. The Jones family rented a smaller flat, their young son growing up to be politician and activist [[Barry Jones (Australian politician)|Barry Jones]].<ref name=”:1″ />
Sergeant’s ownership was short, selling on to former grazier Robert Hannon in 1922, who also moved in with his wife, and his son’s family. Residents continued to remain fairly well to do, with one family, Percy Kingston, his wife Ida and her sister Helen occupied the billiard room / music room flat for 30 years. Hannon committed suicide in his flat in 1929, leaving the house in the hands of trustees for many years. It was finally sold in 1933 to William and Sarah (Sal) O’Callaghan, who had run a series of country hotels. In 1936, William built a red brick block of six flats adjacent to the house to the rear, parallel to the rear wing, naming it Willas (Wil plus Sal backwards). The mansions flats and Willas were operated as one, with a communal laundry and telephone, and with more residents and more children, it felt like an extended family to some. Residents included a set of relatives, the Spencers and the Dalys, contributing eight people in four flats from the late 30s to the early 50s. The Chadwicks, Tom and Annie, who rented flat 10 (the former drawing room and boudoir) from 1934-1947, hosted charity events, sometimes in the still large front garden. The Jones family rented a smaller flat, their young son growing up to be politician and activist [[Barry Jones (Australian politician)|Barry Jones]].<ref name=”:1″ />
In 1946 Labassa was sold to Teodor and Sima Lapin, the first of many Jewish owners, just as the North Caulfield area began to become the centre of Jewish community in Melbourne. They sold it the next year to a pair of Jewish investors, who then sold it in 1949 to Wolf and Hinda Kazer. They had fled Poland just before WWII, establishing a garment business, and by the early 1950s most residents on the top floor were postwar Jewish refugees; though from different countries they mostly spoke Yiddish and supported each other in their new home. Caretaker Emily Brearley continued to care for the house, as well as the needs of the new residents, such as turning on the heating on the Sabbath. In 1957 the Kazers subdivided a part of the garden for flats (1B Manor Grove), replacing the fountain and rockery, and in 1960 built a cream brick home for themselves in what remained of the garden. In 1962 Wolf died, and Hinda sold the new house, but retained the mansion. Though now hemmed in, it remained untouched, in fact somewhat neglected, to the point that sections of the ceiling collapsed, and the brolgas on the parapet were removed as dangerous. Tenants also began souveniring items such as bell-pulls and even a chandelier on the assumption that the days of the house were numbered. By the early 1960s, young migrant families from northern Europe and Scandinavia were added to the mix, creating a ‘little United Nations’ of young and old, married and single.<ref name=”:1″ />
In 1946 Labassa was sold to Teodor and Sima Lapin, the first of many Jewish owners, just as the North Caulfield area began to become the centre of Jewish community in Melbourne. They sold it the next year to a pair of Jewish investors, who then sold it in 1949 to Wolf and Hinda Kazer. They had fled Poland just before WWII, establishing a garment business, and by the early 1950s most residents on the top floor were postwar Jewish refugees; though from different countries they mostly spoke Yiddish and supported each other in their new home. Caretaker Emily Brearley continued to care for the house, as well as the needs of the new residents, such as turning on the heating on the Sabbath. In 1957 the Kazers subdivided a part of the garden for flats (1B Manor Grove), replacing the fountain and rockery, and in 1960 built a cream brick home for themselves in what remained of the garden. In 1962 Wolf died, and Hinda sold the new house, but retained the mansion. Though now hemmed in, it remained untouched, neglected, to the point that sections of the ceiling collapsed, and the brolgas on the parapet were removed as dangerous. Tenants also began souveniring items such as bell-pulls and even a chandelier on the assumption that the days of the house were numbered. By the early 1960s, young migrant families from northern Europe and Scandinavia were added to the mix, creating a ‘little United Nations’ of young and old, married and single.<ref name=”:1″ />
After Mrs Brearley died in 1964, management became more remote, and the flats started to attract ‘bohemian’ and artistic residents. By the early 1970s, residents included art school students and musicians, both classical and contemporary, attracted to the cheap rents and faded glamour of the house, and the house was a place of parties, music, performances, and overnight visitors. Fascinated by this relic of another era, some residents filled their flats with Victorian furniture and bric-a-brac found cheap at second hand stores, and most never forgot their time in the house. Residents at this time who went on to successful careers included performer [[Jane Clifton]], song writer [[Hans Poulsen|Hans Poulson]], playwright [[John Romeril|John Romeri]]<nowiki/>l, and poet [[Geoffrey Eggleston]]. Many films both amateur and professional were shot using the interiors, including the 1978 horror film [[Patrick (1978 film)|Patrick]].
After Mrs Brearley died in 1964, management became more remote, and the flats started to attract ‘bohemian’ and artistic residents. By the early 1970s, residents included art school students and musicians, both classical and contemporary, attracted to the cheap rents and faded glamour of the house a place of parties, music, performances, and overnight visitors. Fascinated by this relic of another era, some residents filled their flats with Victorian furniture and bric-a-brac found cheap at second hand stores, and most never forgot their time in the house. Residents at this time who went on to successful careers included performer [[Jane Clifton]], song writer [[Hans Poulsen|Hans Poulson]], playwright [[John Romeril|John Romeri]]<nowiki/>l, and poet [[Geoffrey Eggleston]]. Many films both amateur and professional were shot using the interiors, including the 1978 horror film [[Patrick (1978 film)|Patrick]].
”’National Trust ownership”’
”’National Trust ownership”’
At the same time the house became known to preservationists, and it was amongst the initial 370 places put on the [[Victorian Heritage Register]] in 1974. By the late 1970s the [[National Trust of Australia (Victoria)|National Trust]] was exploring ways to rescue the mansion from further decay. When Hinda Kazer died in 1980, and the house was put up for auction, and with a large donation from [[Alcoa]], the Trust placed the winning bid of $282,500. While urgent repairs were undertaken, many tenants stayed on since the Trust needed the rents; poet Javant Biarujia<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-05-31 |title=Corey Wakeling Interviews Javant Biarujia |url=http://cordite.org.au/interviews/wakeling-biarujia/ |access-date=2025-11-06 |website=Cordite Poetry Review |language=en-US}}</ref> and his partner Ian, who moved into the house just after the auction, were the last tenants to leave in 2005.<ref name=”:1″ />
The National Trust of Australia (Victoria) purchased the house in 1980, and subsequently purchased adjoining sites, the house the Kazar’s built in 1984 and one to the west facing Orrong Road in 1988. The Kazar’s house was demolished in 1988, opening up the front of the house again.
Restoration work has taken the approach was to only clean or reveal what had survived of the 1890 decoration, rather than repaint or restore to as-new condition. As soon as the house had a future, former residents began to return items, and over the next decades the Trust tracked down and purchased others, such as one of the statue-lamps from the stairwell niche which had been taken by the Watsons in 1919.
In 1984 the Trust purchased the Kazar’s house, and in 1986 it was demolished by [[Whelan the Wrecker]] to great fanfare, revealing the full grandeur of the mansion once again.
From 2013 National Trust volunteers began collecting oral histories and researching the occupants of the house, collated into a series of newsletters,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Return to Labassa |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.au/places-vic/return-to-labassa/ |access-date=2025-11-06 |website=National Trust |language=en-AU}}</ref> and finally into book form in 2020, ”Labassa: House of Dreams”.
In 2014 the tennis pavilion at 13 Manor grove was donated to the Trust, restored and placed in the rear garden. The Conservatory, which had been over-clad and used as a small house at no 21 Manor Grove, was carefully restored in 2010 to serve as a living space with a new separate bedroom wing.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Storey |first=Rohan |date=2025-04-30 |title=Labassa Conservatory |url=https://storeyofmelbourne.org/2025/04/30/labassa-conservatory/ |access-date=2025-11-06 |website=Storey of Melbourne |language=en}}</ref>
Proposals for use as a costume or decorative arts museum have proven difficult to achieve or inappropriate, so the house remains as a carefully preserved example of extravagant 19th century Victorian interior, open to visitors and events only on a limited basis.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Labassa |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.au/places/labassa/ |access-date=2025-11-06 |website=National Trust |language=en-AU}}</ref>
In 2014 the tennis pavilion at 13 Manor grove was donated to the Trust, restored and placed in the rear garden.
== Description ==
== Description ==
Labassa Mansion
Labassa, located in Manor Grove, North Caulfield, is a late 19th century mansion in Melbourne, Australia, noted for the largely intact lavish decoration of the main rooms, a rare survival. The house reached its present form after extensions about 1891, designed by architect JAB Koch. The creation of the mansion and its use for the grand entertaining it was designed for was brief, but through luck and an appreciation for the magnificent interiors it survived many more decades through many owners and divided into flats, and almost all the grounds subdivided off. Put up for sale in 1980 it could have been lost, but it was purchased by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) as a house museum.
The first house
Two large lots at the corner of Balaclava and Orrong Roads were first acquired in 1854 by William Lyall. They were transferred to his partner, John Mickle, in 1859, who then also acquired the adjoining allotment on Balaclava Road. The three allotments were later conveyed to lawyer, Richard A. Billing, and he built an eight-roomed house named Sylliott Hill in 1862-3.[1] This was extended significantly in 1873 into a twenty-room house, designed by architects Crouch and Wilson, adding a tower and the grand staircase lit by a stained glass window depicting the four seasons by the leading firm of Ferguson & Urie. This reflected Billing’s ongoing success as a barrister, and he lived here until his death in 1882.[2]
Robertson’s mansion
In 1883 prominent Melbourne businessman, Alexander William Robertson, leased the property from Billing’s widow. Robertson, recently widowed and with six children, was an energetic immigrant from Canada, who had found success in the 1870s as a partner with another Canadian running the Victorian arm of Cobb & Co, the biggest coaching firm in Australia.[1] He was an accomplished horseman and enthusiastic member of the Melbourne Hunt Club, chasing deer across the estates and paddocks of the suburban fringe. His fortune multiplied greatly in 1886 through his share of the successful Mount Morgan gold mine in Queensland.[1] In 1885 he purchased the adjoining allotment in Balaclava Road, and then in 1886 purchased Sylliot Hill, creating a 6.31 hectare estate, which he renamed Ontario, after the largest province in Canada.[1]
About 1889, Robertson commissioned the German born architect, John A. B. Koch, to extensively remodel the house into a thirty-five roomed mansion.[2] The already large house was extended and altered, resulting in the mansion as it now appears. This involved expanding and adding rooms on three sides, with arcaded verandahs and bow widows, creating four large reception rooms – drawing room, dining room, billiard and music room, as well as a boudoir, many bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs, and increased servants accommodation. The garden was expanded, with 100 trees, extensive flower beds, a fountain in the front lawn, a tennis court and pavilion, a freestanding cast-iron conservatory, and elaborate cast iron entry gates (from the Saracen Foundry in Glasgow) on the corner of Balaclava and Orrong Roads.[1]
For much of the time of the works, the Robertson family was in London, launching two of his daughters into British society. The first party at the new house was in August 1892, when the Victorian economic crash was well under way. Robertson did not live to enjoy the house for long, dying of heart failure in 1896. The house was tenanted until it was eventually sold to John Boyd II Watson, son of a Bendigo mining millionaire in 1904.[2] He renamed the property Labassa, probably after the town of Labasa in Fiji, which he and wife Flora had visited on a cruise.[1]
In 1910, the family put the estate up for sale, possibly because of John’s declining health; he died the next year. In 1913 with her five teenage children, Flora decided to stay on in the house on a reduced site, and subdivide about 2/3 of the estate for forty-six house lots, which included the formation of the southern parts of Labassa Grove and Ontario Street to the east of the mansion.
The lot on the corner of Balaclava and Orrong Roads with the cast iron gates was purchased by architect Edmond George Ovey, who also purchased one of the lots facing Balaclava Road, no 72. The gates remained in situ until 1921, when they were bought by the Bacchus Marsh branch of the Australian Natives Association (ANA) to serve as an entrance Maddingley Park in Bacchus Marsh, where they still stand.[3][4]
Labassa flats
In 1919, with her children grown, Flora Watson decided to sell up. She retained the house on a much smaller lot, and subdivided the rest into 10 lots, creating Manor Grove. Some outbuildings were demolished and others retained: the stables at no 5-9 Manor Grove, which were altered to become a house; the conservatory on a very small lot was purchased by Ovey, and added to the rear of his block; and the tennis pavilion which was repurposed as a shed in the rear of 13 Manor Grove. The house was bought by ‘flipper’ Stanley Stuart Sergeant who could see potential in turning the house into superior flats. He created about 10 one and two bed apartments, with the main reception rooms retained as they were, carefully retaining the decoration, albeit some divided by a new partition walls. He lived there himself with his family for a short time, and other tenants included well off professional people, some recently single women, and some families with children. Sergeant installed James and Emily Brearley as caretakers, who stewarded the care of the interiors; Emily stayed on after James died in 1943 right up to 1964, becoming the longest resident by far.[1]
Sergeant’s ownership was short, selling on to former grazier Robert Hannon in 1922, who also moved in with his wife, and his son’s family. Residents continued to remain fairly well to do, with one family, Percy Kingston, his wife Ida and her sister Helen occupied the billiard room / music room flat for 30 years. Hannon committed suicide in his flat in 1929, leaving the house in the hands of trustees for many years. It was finally sold in 1933 to William and Sarah (Sal) O’Callaghan, who had run a series of country hotels. In 1936, William built a red brick block of six flats adjacent to the house to the rear, parallel to the rear wing, naming it Willas (Wil plus Sal backwards). The mansions flats and Willas were operated as one, with a communal laundry and telephone, and with more residents and more children, it felt like an extended family to some. Residents included a set of relatives, the Spencers and the Dalys, contributing eight people in four flats from the late 30s to the early 50s. The Chadwicks, Tom and Annie, who rented flat 10 (the former drawing room and boudoir) from 1934-1947, hosted charity events, sometimes in the still large front garden. The Jones family rented a smaller flat, their young son growing up to be politician and activist Barry Jones.[1]
In 1946 Labassa was sold to Teodor and Sima Lapin, the first of many Jewish owners, just as the North Caulfield area began to become the centre of Jewish community in Melbourne. They sold it the next year to a pair of Jewish investors, who then sold it in 1949 to Wolf and Hinda Kazer. They had fled Poland just before WWII, establishing a garment business, and by the early 1950s most residents on the top floor were postwar Jewish refugees; though from different countries they mostly spoke Yiddish and supported each other in their new home. Caretaker Emily Brearley continued to care for the house, as well as the needs of the new residents, such as turning on the heating on the Sabbath. In 1957 the Kazers subdivided a part of the garden for flats (1B Manor Grove), replacing the fountain and rockery, and in 1960 built a cream brick home for themselves in what remained of the garden. In 1962 Wolf died, and Hinda sold the new house, but retained the mansion. Though now hemmed in, it remained untouched, indeed neglected, to the point that sections of the ceiling collapsed, and the brolgas on the parapet were removed as dangerous. Tenants also began souveniring items such as bell-pulls and even a chandelier on the assumption that the days of the house were numbered. By the early 1960s, young migrant families from northern Europe and Scandinavia were added to the mix, creating a ‘little United Nations’ of young and old, married and single.[1]
After Mrs Brearley died in 1964, management became more remote, and the flats started to attract ‘bohemian’ and artistic residents. By the early 1970s, residents included art school students and musicians, both classical and contemporary, attracted to the cheap rents and faded glamour of the house; it became a place of parties, music, performances, and overnight visitors, and a source of irritation to other residents of Manor Grove. Fascinated by this relic of another era, some residents filled their flats with Victorian furniture and bric-a-brac found cheap at second hand stores, and most never forgot their time in the house. Residents at this time who went on to successful careers included performer Jane Clifton, song writer Hans Poulson, playwright John Romeril, and poet Geoffrey Eggleston. Many films both amateur and professional were shot using the interiors, including the 1978 horror film Patrick.
National Trust ownership
At the same time the house became known to preservationists, and it was amongst the initial 370 places put on the Victorian Heritage Register in 1974. By the late 1970s the National Trust was exploring ways to rescue the mansion from further decay. When Hinda Kazer died in 1980, and the house was put up for auction, and with a large donation from Alcoa, the Trust placed the winning bid of $282,500. While urgent repairs were undertaken, many tenants stayed on since the Trust needed the rents; poet Javant Biarujia[5] and his partner Ian, who moved into the house just after the auction, were the last tenants to leave in 2005.[1]
Restoration work has taken the approach was to only clean or reveal what had survived of the 1890 decoration, rather than repaint or restore to as-new condition. As soon as the house had a future, former residents began to return items, and over the next decades the Trust tracked down and purchased others, such as one of the statue-lamps from the stairwell niche which had been taken by the Watsons in 1919.
In 1984 the Trust purchased the Kazar’s house, and in 1986 it was demolished by Whelan the Wrecker to great fanfare, revealing the full grandeur of the mansion once again.
From 2013 National Trust volunteers began collecting oral histories and researching the occupants of the house, collated into a series of newsletters,[6] and finally into book form in 2020, Labassa: House of Dreams.
In 2014 the tennis pavilion at 13 Manor grove was donated to the Trust, restored and placed in the rear garden. The Conservatory, which had been over-clad and used as a small house at no 21 Manor Grove, was carefully restored in 2010 to serve as a living space with a new separate bedroom wing.[7]
Proposals for use as a costume or decorative arts museum have proven difficult to achieve or inappropriate, so the house remains as a carefully preserved example of extravagant 19th century Victorian interior, open to visitors and events only on a limited basis.[8]
Exterior
Interior
