Kilora

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE


Kilora
45 Kennedy Street


One of the first properties in Hamilton, Kilora has regional significance for its architectural interest and its historical associations. It was owned by an early editor of the influential Hamilton Spectator and then by a prominent local auctioneer. The first part of Kilora was constructed in 1871-72 for george H Mott (c1832-1906), previously proprietor of the Albury Border Post and then editor of the Hamilton Spectator from about 1869. During his editorship the views of the newspaper, previously liberal, swung towards the conservative side of Victorian politics. ([i]) Kilora's second owner, the auctioneer, Thomas H Laidlaw (1862-1941) lived in and enlarged the house. Laidlaw bought the pastoral property Croxton during the soldier settlement era and subdivided it in 1905. ([ii]) He was at Kilora still in 1938, when the house was sewered. ([iii]) By 1968 a new owner, W R Riches was recorded. ([iv]) For several years the house was used as a restaurant until 1990 when it was sold.


The house uses details and materials which were typical throughout the Victorian period. It is one of the few buildings in Hamilton which is built with polychrome brick, a fashion which raged through Melbourne and lasted for a whole generation. The architecture of the house gains distinction from its restraint. The extensions built by Laidlaw were sympathetic to the original design. The house remains significantly intact and in excellent condition. The garden, although now simple, has an important relationship with the Botanic Gardens across the street.