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Merchiston Hall

Location 2a Garden Street,, GEELONG VIC 3220 - Property No B0256 File Number B0256 Level National

[1/1] B0256 Merchiston Hall

Statement of Significance

Merchiston Hall, an eight room two storey stone mansion with outbuildings was erected in 1856 for James Cowie, a pioneer Geelong merchant, businessman and politician. Backhouse and Reynolds were the architects for this stucco rendered Italianate mansion with single storey colonnaded verandah and upper balcony. James Leggatt built the mansion at a cost of c. 5,000 pounds. G F Belcher, a Geelong businessman, acquired the property in 1872.
Merchiston Hall, which was originally built to command views over Corio Bay and the infant Botanical Gardens, is perhaps the finest Italianate style mansion in Geelong and most distinguished work of the accomplished architectural firm of Backhouse and Reynolds. The disciplined axial composition is sensitively detailed and an examplar of Italianate architecture of the mid nineteenth century in Victoria. James Cowie was a significant pioneer resident and later M L C for Geelong.
Merchiston Hall is maintained in excellent, near original condition.
Classified: 21/05/1959