INVERGOWRIE

 

 

Invergowrie, a single-storey bluestone residence designed by an unconfirmed architect and constructed in several phases from c.1846. It served as a grand residence for several notable Victorians before being donated to the Headmistresses’ Association for use as a Homecraft Hostel in the early 1930s. It returned to residential use in 1990. The grounds of Invergowrie include an early stables building, erected by 1855 with late nineteenth century additions; a double-storey L-shaped cottage (built in 1938) and a picturesque garden setting which retains early landscaping elements.  

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

Criterion A 

Importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria’s cultural history. 

Criterion D 

Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural places and objects 

Criterion H 

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

 

Invergowrie is historically significant for its association with the very early phase of European residential settlement in Melbourne’s affluent east. Through the retention of early building fabric and landscape and garden elements, Invergowrie reflects the place’s former use as a rural retreat for Melbourne’s elite, including some of the most prominent and influential individuals in nineteenth century Victoria. Invergowrie demonstrates the suburban ideal expounded by Scottish botanist, garden designer and author John Claudius Loudon in the early nineteenth century which advocated a retreat from the commercialism of the city to a rural residence in garden surrounds. 

 

Invergowrie is architecturally significant as an early Gothic style residence, set in picturesque garden surrounds. The primary residence exhibits principal features of the Gothic style including the use of pointed arches at the main entrance and a bell tower.

 

Invergowrie is also historically significant through its association with its former notable owners and occupiers including the prominent medical practitioner and politician Sir James Palmer (1803-1871), the philanthropist Sir William Murray McPherson (1865-1932) whose family donated the property to the Headmistresses’ Association, the actor and philanthropist George Coppin (1819-1906), and clergyman and founder of the Australian Church Dr Charles Strong (1844-1942). The association with these figures is demonstrated through the development phases of the site, which illustrate the values aspired to by Melbourne’s elite.