COOMBE COTTAGE

Coombe Cottage, purchased by Dame Nellie Melba in 1909 and her primary residence in Australia from around 1911 to 1931, being approximately 30.78 hectares (76 acres) comprising a main house, a garden with numerous landscape features, multiple outbuildings, avenue of elms, and objects integral listed in the inventory held by the Executive Director.

Coombe Cottage is of historical significance to the State of Victoria. It satisfies the following criterion for inclusion in the Victorian Heritage Register: 

Criterion B
Possession of uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of Victoria’s cultural history.

Criterion E
Importance in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics.

Criterion H
Special association with the life or works of a person, or group of persons, of importance in Victoria’s history.

Coombe Cottage is a rare as an unusually intact private residence with a collection of objects belonging to a significant figure in Victoria and Australia’s cultural history, Dame Nellie Melba. The place and its collection were developed over twenty years, and largely retains its layout from the late 1920s, including fixtures and fittings, decorative schemes, and examples of hand painted wallpaper. Melba was, and remains, one of the most well-known celebrities in Australian culture, and the place provides a unique insight to her life and desire to create both a home and a showpiece for her prominent social circle. The place remains unusually intact due to the ownership and care of her granddaughter Pamela Vestey over a number of decades, and of other members of the Vestey family. [Criterion B]

Coombe Cottage – including the residence, its interior schemes, decorative features, objects integral, gardens, outdoor artworks, rooftop promenade and rural setting – exhibits particular aesthetic characteristics which achieved wide acknowledgement in print media for their exceptional nature. Melba was an aesthete and created a place with outstanding qualities that reflected her sensibilities and tastes. Designed by Melba in consultation with architects, artists and artisans, Coombe Cottage was acclaimed in 1911 as a ‘symphony of architecture and furniture’ and ‘an art gallery, a museum, and a residence in one’. [Criterion E]

Coombe Cottage is historically significant for its association with Melba, one of Australia’s most famous opera singers who achieved international acclaim. Purchased as a rural retreat, the place reflects Melba’s aesthetic tastes and enjoyment of a country lifestyle away from her concert touring schedule. Melba is understood to have directed the design of the house in 1911 and 1927, as well as the development of its decorative schemes, collection of objects, garden, and avenue of elms over twenty years after acquiring the property in 1909. [Criterion H]