This property has high local significance for its associations with the early selection era; with the establishment of the Silvan orcharding industry in the 1870s; and with the emergence of a flower growing industry in the 1940s and 1950s. The property has historical significance as the home of the Lewis family, district pioneers and fruit growers, from the 1870s until the 1930s or later. The old house, thought to date from the 1870s, has significance for its early date of construction and as a rare and intact example of the modest weatherboard cottage built by early district settlers.

The New Gippsland Seeds and Bulbs property is located in the rolling hills of the Silvan red soil area. It contains a number of nineteenth and twentieth century features associated with the development of this farming property including a farmhouse, three outbuildings and pine plantings along the main entry.

The timber farmhouse and pine plantings are the most interesting of the surviving features. The farmhouse is asymmetrical in form with a projecting gable to one side and a verandah across the balance of the main facade. The front entry door, an elaborate late Victorian door with side and highlights, appears later. A timber window hood shades the front window located in the projecting gabled section. Other windows used to have similar hoods, but these have been removed. The verandah has recently been reconstructed from a partially collapsed state. There are two external chimneybreasts, one a chimney in the front room of the house, and the other in the former kitchen (now used as a order packing room). The front chimney appears far early than the kitchen chimney and is built of hand-moulded bricks (perhaps local). The kitchen chimney is of pressed reds, probably from one of Melbourne's larger brickworks (Box Hill?)

Externally the house substantially retains its original appearance. An extension has been added to one side, probably in the 1950s. Some of the windows have been altered, and a number of weatherboards replaced (however, some boards show pitsaw marks). Internally the house has been altered to suit its current use as an order packing area; for example, the kitchen fittings and the wall between the kitchen and front room have been removed. When the rear verandah was being rebuilt some years ago, shingles were found, however their origin is unknown and none are known to survive on the roof or within the ceiling space. (Peter de Vaus pers comm)

The pine plantings along the main entry drive appear to date from the nineteenth century. The trees vary in size, but many are very large. They appear to be the common Radiata Pine (Pinus radiata).

There are three outbuildings which pre-date the current owners (ie pre-1948): a large timber shed built in two distinct sections of sawn timber and clad in corrugated iron; a smaller timber shed, once used as a packing shed, and now lined; a Nissan hut which previously served as the Silvan Fire station until its removal to this site around 20-25 years ago. (Peter de Vaus pers comm)

Physical Conditions: Good

Integrity: Minor Modifications