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Balclutha

Location 17 Como Street,, ALPHINGTON VIC 3078 - Property No B5091 File Number B5091 Level Regional

[1/2] B5091 Balclutha [2/2] B5091 Balaclutha

Statement of Significance

On the Lucerne Estate of 1885, created by A D Hodgson from Thomas Wills's original Lucerne Farm of the 1840's, Balclutha was built in 1889 by former Heidelberg farmer Peter Fanning.
Fanning commenced his stay in the area when he leased part of Hawdon's Banyule estate in the 1860-70's; becoming a member of the Heidelberg Road Board in 1868 and a Heidelberg Shire Councillor in 1871. Fanning became Shire President in 1877 but perhaps the most notable part of his municipal involvement was his design of the beautiful Heidelberg Park at Burgundy Street.
Possibly to the design of Architects Twentyman and Askew, Balclutha was built as a large stuccoed and verandahed house on a bayed plan. The verandah is also bayed and supported on coupled and single cast iron columns, panelled friezes and iron brackets. Internally the cornices, roses and mantles are intact, the cruicform hallway and large divided drawing-room being the notable parts.
At the rear, the stables, coach and harness room remain as does a large White Mulberry Tree, (indicative of Fanning's botanical interests). Stone grottoes have also survived at the front of the house.
Balclutha perpetuates the memory of Peter Fanning, a pioneering farmer of the area who built this well preserved house for his retirement, beside the Yarra River, on the site of one of the early farms of the Port Phillip District.
Classified: 18/02/1982