Number 9 Collins Street Melbourne is the Grosvenor Chambers building built in 1887-1888 by architect Oakden, Addison & Kemp for the Scottish decorative artist Charles Stewart Paterson. At some point in its history it also hosted the prestigious Melbourne Club and was Australia’s first custom designed studio complex, used by prominent Australian artists.
In 1976 a brazen thief stole some original stained glass windows from the Collins Street face of the building. It was claimed that these historic windows were the work of the Colonial Victorian firm of Ferguson & Urie!
“Thieves yesterday hacked out two stained glass windows worth more than $5,000 from a Collins Street building. The building, No.9 Collins St., has been classified by the national Trust. Since it was built in 1887 it has housed such famous Australian artists as Tom Roberts, Sir John Longstaff and Albert tucker. The building is the centre of a controversy between the Trust and the owners, Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society, who want to demolish it. A tenant of the building, photographer Mr. Eric Baylis, said he last saw the window late on Sunday night. “When I got here yesterday morning it was gone. Part of the window had been cut out of the frame, while other parts had been hacked out”, Mr. Baylis said. An authority of stained glass windows, Mr. Allan Sumner, said the windows were made by Ferguson and Urie of Melbourne in the late 1880’s. “It is a classic example of that type of work. Now it has been stolen it is irreplaceable”. He said the windows would be hard to sell. “People who know anything about glass will know that that type of work is hard to come by. What people should look for is that the margins on a couple of frames will be damaged because they have been hacked out by a knife or screwdriver”.
“ABOVE: Photographer Eric Bayliss with one of the gaps left by the stolen windows. BELOW: One of the windows before it disappeared”.
(photos from article shown together below)
The Age, Melbourne, Tuesday 31st August 1976, page 3.
The Age, Melbourne, Vic, Friday 3rd September 1976.
“Old glass windows recovered”.
“Two stained glass windows stolen from a Collins St. building last Sunday were found abandoned behind a Westmeadows church on Wednesday. The windows, made by Ferguson and Urie, of Melbourne, in the 1880’s, were lying in a paddock wrapped in blankets. Thieves removed them from their frames at the Colonial Mutual Life Assurance building last Sunday. CMLA senior property officer. Mr. A. Gray, said yesterday the windows would not be put back. ‘They are being crated for safe storage. We do not propose to put them back for the same thing to happen again”, Mr. Gray said. He said the windows did not appear to be damaged. An authority on stained glass windows, Mr. Allan Sumner, said the windows would be worth about $5,000. The CMLA building, built in 1887, has a National Trust classification”.
As Dr. Bronwyn Hughes has pointed out on her comment to this article in June 2012, it’s extremely likely that Sumner is incorrect in his observation as to who made the window. “The stairwell window for Grosvenor Chambers was designed by John Hughes and made by Brooks, Robinson & Co. The article doesn’t make clear whether it was the stairwell, but it seems unlikely that another firm would be brought in for other windows.”
This is further corroborated by an article published in April 1888 which chronicled the opening of the Grosvenor Buildings and included a significant amount of detail about the stained glass windows by the “Mr. Hughes” from the stained glass firm of Brooks, Robinson & Co.
“CHEAP PAPERHANGINGS. SELLING OFF WITHOUT RESERVE. Robson’s London House, Sturt street.
A GENUINE CLEARING -OUT SALE.-Paper hangings from 4d per piece. Oils, Colors, &c, &c., equally cheap. Must be sold, to make extensive alterations prepatory to new and fresh arrivals. Agent for Ferguson and Urie’s Stained Glass Cathedral windows. N.B – It is particularly requested that all outstanding accounts be paid forthwith.”
The Star, Ballarat, Saturday 13th June 1863, page 1.
The township of Avoca lies at the cross roads of the Sunraysia and Pyrenees Highways in the North West of Victoria.
The foundation stone of St Johns was laid in the 21st of October 1869, the first service was held on the 3rd of December 1871 and the church was Consecrated on the 18th of October 1893.
This Ferguson & Urie stained glass window was only found by chance during one of my Western Victorian trips in early June 2011 and although it is no doubt an early Ferguson & Urie window, no newspaper articles of the time have been found mentioning the church or windows.
On close inspection of the digital photos of the window, the bottom right lancet indicated that there was restoration work completed in 1993. The restorer had written names and dates on the outside edge of the window, which means that it can only be read back to front from the inside the church. A digitally enhanced mirror image of the text revealed that the restoration work was done by the church Organist, Mr Peter Lucey, whom I later tracked down to the “Mt Lonarch, Fine Bone China, Gallery and B&B at Avoca”. I contacted Peter in in June 2011 and he indicated that the restoration of the Ferguson & Urie window took him over a year to complete.
St Paul’s Anglican Church is located in the tiny township of Avenel which lies a couple of kilometers west of the Hume Freeway, and about twenty kilometers north of the township of Semour in central Victoria.
The foundation stone of the first Anglican church in the town was laid on the 26th June 1872 and opened on the 24th November 1872.
From 1872 to 1913 the church was located closer to the Hume Highway, but in 1913 a new red brick church was erected further to the north west of the township and the original stained glass chancel window, made by Ferguson & Urie of North Melbourne, was re-installed in it.
Other windows in the church were made at much later dates (post 1913) and some of the borders in those either side of the chancel windows have been made to complement similar patterns seen in the historical Ferguson & Urie window. The most recent window in the church was created by ‘Guan Wei’ at ‘Almond Glass’ works in 2008.
“Consecration of St. Paul’s, Avenel. BY BISHOP OF WANGARATTA”.
“If there is one thing more than another of which the residents of Avenel have reason to be proud of it is the handsome and costly structures which they have dedicated to the service of God. The latest addition to these edifices has just been completed by the parishioners of St Paul’s church, and on Wednesday last was solemnly consecrated by the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Wangaratta, before a very large assemblage.
THE BUILDING
The church occupies a prominent position in the eastern portion of the town, and is a handsome structure – in the Gothic style of architecture, though very much modernised – of specially selected brick, with Portland cement facings. The foundation stone was laid on Nov 30th, 1913 in the presence of a very large gathering by Mr. E. Plummer J.P., the sermon for the occasion being also preached by the Bishop of Wangaratta. An account of the ceremony on parchment, mentioning the bishop, rector, church wardens and vestry men, was enclosed in a canister and placed under the stone. The eastern stained glass windows and the gable cross were transferred from the old church, which was built over 40 years ago. The lamps in the church were given by the vestry of St. John’s Church, Nagambie. The interior of the building is very handsome without being ornate. The chancel is wide and deep, and is spanned by a magnificent arch. The ventilation of the building has received special attention, there being an open ridge the full length of the building and while the walls are hollow to secure circulation of air and coolness they are fitted with the latest ventilators, which can be closed or shut as desired. The windows are of the very latest cathedral glass of a delicate green tint, and are made to open the full length of the window if necessary…”
Memories of Avenel by Amelia Jane Burgoyne 1958, page 48.
“In 1872, Lloyd Jones gave four acres of land, part of his property, to build an Anglican Church. On that site, in the old town, a pretty little church, St Paul’s was built, and was later beautified with stained-glass windows and some fine pieces of furniture presented by pioneer families in memory of their dear ones. The church was removed, about 1912, to the new town, somewhat to the regret of the older people, who had worshipped at the old site for forty years; but it is still the same pretty little church, though now on a site more convenient for the majority of residents. A recent addition to the interior fittings is the panelling of beautiful wood in the sanctuary, given by Mrs E. J. Shelton in memory of her husband, Captain John Shelton, who made the supreme sacrifice in the First World War”.
Mandeville Hall was originally a sixteen room mansion built for Alfred Watson of the colonial trading firm William Watson & Sons. It was designed by architect Joseph Reed and originally named St Georges. A later owner, Joseph Clarke, commissioned architect Charles Webb to enlarge the house in 1877 and it was then re-named Mandeville Hall. After Clarkes’ death in 1895, Mandeville Hall had a number of transformations, including being an exclusive guest house, before eventually being purchased by the Loreto Sisters in 1924 as an Independent Catholic girls school, which it still is today.
The slideshow of photos depicts all the Stained Glass and Etched Glass windows at Mandeville Hall in detail. The main Stairwell window, depicting the Four Seasons with Hunting and Angling scenes was designed by Ferguson & Urie’s senior stained glass artist, David Relph Drape and it has the year “1878” shown at the apex of the window and Joseph Clarke’s initials “J.C” at the bottom. The hallway window depicts country scenes which were also designed and painted by Drape and his signature appears at the base of the log in the central garden scene. The stained glass in the grand front entry doors depict the mythological fertility deities, “Flora” and “Pomona”, and they are again depicted in the doors to the conservatory but in this instance they are in acid etched glass.
Photos taken 6th December 2010.
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Beneath the stairwell are three small single light windows depicting Australian native birds, the Kookaburra, Cockatoo and a Magpie. The roundel depicting the Magpie is not original and is thought to have been a replacement or reproduction circa 1970, but it is still set within the original Ferguson & Urie outer parts of the window.
There are also some figures depicted in the stairwell window that have been positively matched to some of David Relph Drapes original pencil stained glass designs which are preserved in the State Library of Victoria’s manuscripts collection. The sketches that match those in the window are also shown as side by side comparisons in the slideshow.
The photos (other than the first image from the 1878 newspaper engraving) were taken on the 6th of December 2010. Special thanks to Mr Steve Stefanopoulos, the Heritage Collection and Records manager at Loretto, who took myself and Mrs Val Goller on a fantastic tour of the mansion.
“The suburbs to the south of the River Yarra have for many years been famous for the number and beauty of their semi- rural residences, which, while, being within an easy distance of the city, are sufficiently removed from the influences of its dust and smoke to enable their owners to enjoy most of, if not all, the luxuries of a country, life. Toorak and its immediate neighborhood is undeniably the most fashionable suburb, and many of the villas belonging to our successful professional men, wealthy merchants and opulent land owners, would not do discredit to the most aristocratic neighborhood in the mother country. Mandeville Hall, the subject of our engraving, is situate in the Orrong road, Toorak, and has been recently erected by Mr. Joseph Clarke, a gentleman of large fortune, and the proprietor of large landed estates in several of the colonies. The house stands a considerable distance off the road, and is surrounded by grounds about thirteen acres in extent, the greater part of which are planted and tastefully laid out. It is a commodious house, containing in all about twenty-five rooms, and carries all the outward appearance of an English, gentleman’s residence. It has been built in the modern Italian style of architecture, from designs made by Mr. Charles Webb, architect, of Melbourne, the same order being observable in the columns on the lower story, and the Corinthian in those on the upper. A great feature in the exterior is a handsome colonnade and balcony, about twelve feet wide, extending round the west and south sides of the building, while in front is a terraced balustrading with steps leading; to a grassy lawn, between which and the house is a broad carriage drive. The building has been substantially constructed with blue stone foundations, the superstructure being of brick finished with Portland cement. Internally the rooms are spacious and convenient, all modern improvements in the way of ventilation and other necessary matters having been adopted. The decorations and furnishing are more than usually elaborate, Mr. Clarke having gone to the trouble, and. expense of commissioning Messrs. Gillow and Co., of London, to send out artists and workmen specially for the purpose of rendering his new home beautiful to the eye. The interior is decorated and fitted in the early English mediaeval and Oriental styles, and the whole richly ornamented. The cost of the building was about £30,000, and it forms, a handsome addition to the numerous private residences in the neighborhood”.
The French Gothic mansion ‘Narrapumelap’ was built at Wickliffe in western Victoria in 1873 for the wealthy squatter John Dixon Wyselaskie (1818-1883)
Wyselaskie engaged the Ferguson & Urie stained glass company of North Melbourne to decorate various parts of his modest country mansion with stained glass. The window in the vestibule is personalised specifically to contain Wyselaskie’s initials “J.D.W” flanked by the year “18-73” on either side.
After Wyselaskie’s death in 1883 the property was then owned by Gerald Neville Buckley (1855-1935), the son of Mars Buckley and Elizabeth Marion Neville. After the death of Gerald in 1935 the property was owned by his brother Charles and after his death it was acquired for Soldier Settlement purposes.
The McIntyre family brought the dilapidated property at auction in 1951 but the homestead was considered uneconomical to live in and the McIntyre’s resided in a modest wooden home about 300 meters down the hill. Over the years the original mansion was vandalised with many of the original fittings stolen or broken.
The owner of Narrapumelap, Kevin McIntyre, is restoring the homestead to its former glory which has been a childhood passion since he was a boy.
We stayed the night at the mansion in January 2011 which was a fascinating experience. On arrival Kevin gave us a tour of the mansion, which he is still restoring, and the fantastic B&B residence we were to stay in at the rear of the mansion. We were then left to our own to roam the mansion and magnificent gardens. By torchlight at night it’s an amazing experience roaming the mostly empty rooms of the mansion, and seeing the shadows on the wall cast by the antlers of the stags head in the breakfast room is very spooky. The most remarkable view of the property is from the lookout at the top of the tower above the vestibule. A door to the side of the vestibule reveals a tiny winding staircase all the way up the tower that leads to a small doorway out on to a lookout platform where you can view the entire grounds and watch the sun set.
Kevin told us that when he was a boy, vandals were stealing and vandalising the original fittings in the mansion, such as marble fireplaces and tiles, and when he was about twelve years old he decided to climb the roof and cover up the historic old stained glass windows with boards and iron sheeting to hide them from visibility and damage. His tactic worked well and the historic windows survived and can now be seen in all their glory to this day.
Kevin’s restoration work on the mansion is nothing short of remarkable and he hopes to make it his own home one day.
Photos were taken 9th January 2011.
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This is a rudimentary YouTube clip taken with my iPhone 3GS on the 9th January 2011 from the top of the tower at sunset.
Another iPhone clip showing a tour through the mansions empty rooms just before sunset, which includes the stained glass windows and the B&B rooms at the back of the mansion.
John Dixon Wyselaskie was the son of army officer Louis Wyselaskie and Elizabeth Kerr[1] and was born in Sanquhar, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, on the 25th June 1818.
His official biography on-line at the National Library outlines the significant events in his life but it’s the events after his death that provide some interesting additional detail.
Wyselaskie arrived in Tasmania in 1837 to join an uncle, Robert Kerr, of the firm Kerr & Bogle in Hobart. In 1840 he obtained the Narrapumelap run at Wickliffe in Victoria for the firm and in the 1850’s bought out 24,000 acres of the estate from Kerr & Bogle to start his own sheep run[2].
In 1862 he married Mary Jane Austin Farrell (1838-1895) of Wickliffe, Victoria, at St James’s Church in Melbourne[3] and in 1873 he had a magnificent French Gothic mansion built of bluestone on the Narrapumelap estate at Wickliffe in western Victoria.
“A Victorian squatter named Wyselaskie is about to build a costly mansion on his property at Wickliffe. In the centre of the building will be a tower seventy or eighty feet high, from which every portion of the estate will be visible”.[4]
In 1878 Wyselaskie moved to St. Kilda at Melbourne where he built a two storey mansion named “Wickliffe House” on the St. Kilda Esplanade which had unimpeded views of the bay and the historic St. Kilda pier. He died there of a stroke on the 4th of May 1883 aged 65[5].
On the 7th May 1883[6] he was interred in the Boroondarra cemetery at Kew and three years later, on the 3rd of July 1886, one of the most extravagant and expensive marble monuments ever seen in the Colony was erected over his grave site which included a life size statue of him. The local press reported;
“One of the finest pieces of monumental statuary in the colony was unveiled on Saturday last at the Boorondara [sic] cemetery. It has been erected by the executors in the estate, and in memory of the late Mr. Wyselaskie, one of the earliest settlers of the Western district. The deceased in his will made bequests to the extent of about £40,000 to various charities, and educational establishments, by which he will long be remembered. The monument is of Italian design, and excellently executed, standing about 20ft. high. The base is square with angles so splayed off as to present an octagonal appearance. The moulded panels of the base are beautifully carved with flowers and emblems of sepulture, and on the top at each corner are four chaste figures of angels. Rising from the base is the main pedestal, embellished with sculptured festoons of flowers, and on it stands a life size figure of Mr. Wyselaskie, executed in Carara marble. This is a work of art, and coupled with the angels on the base, stamps Signor G. Fredani, of Naples, whose work it is as a sculptor in the truest sense of the word. The whole marble work stands on a bluestone base 8ft. square, the massive foundations of the same material going right down to the bottom of the grave. It is enclosed with moulded Malmsbury bluestone kerb and heavy cast-iron railing with gilded points. The erection of the monument and everything with the exception of the marble work, was entrusted to Messrs Clark and Henderson, the well known monumental masons, of Gisborne-street, E Melbourne, and they are to be complimented on the excellent general effect.”[7]
Wyselaskie’s estate was bequeathed to many significant Melbourne institutions, including the Presbyterian Church and Melbourne University.
“THE WYSELASKI BEQUELTS [sic].- Friday’s Telegraph states that owing to excessive valuation in the estate of the late J. D. Wyselaskie of Wickliffe, it is feared the amounts specified in the will to fall to the various legatees will not be realised in full. It has been stated that unless £4 per acre be received, the bequests – at least those that are contingent – cannot be met. Recently the estate, when put up for sale, had only one bid made for it at £3, 1s., owing to the rabbit pest having become so prevalent, and done so much damage. The following is the value and allocation of the estate, with the various amounts bequeathed to each legatee: – The estate was valued at £72,337 reality, and £28,000 personality. To his widow the deceased left his house at St. Kilda, with the furniture, &c., and £5,000. He also directed that the trustees should invest £25,000, the interest of which was to be for her benefit during life. He bequeathed likewise a number of private legacies, also £5,000 to the Church of Scotland at Farquhar, of which the Rev. T. Sellar was minister; £2,000 to the Presbyterian Church, Wickliffe; £20,000 to the endowment fund for the salaries of professors and teachers for training young men for the Presbyterian ministry; £5,000 for the Presbyterian Ladies’ College; £10,000 for the Presbyterian Theological-hall; and £12,000 to be invested for the endowment of six scholarships at the Melbourne University, to be called the Wyselaskie Scholarships. The residuary estate was to be invested for the benefit of the children; and in the event of there being no children alive at the death of his widow, the property was to be divided between the Melbourne Hospital, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne Blind Asylum, Deaf and Dumb Asylum, and the Benevolent Asylum.” [8]
The University ended up receiving the sum of £8,400 from the Wyselaskie executors and as at 2002, (more than a century later) the combined capital for the six Wyselaskie Scholarships was stated at over half a million dollars ($530,561.75)[9]
His widow, Mary Jane Austin (nee Farrell) became the gossip of society in 1884 when she married Alfred James Horner who was more than twenty years her junior and of questionable moral character. Horner, an accountant, had previously been sued by a widow named Catherine “Kitty’ Edgin[10]for £1,000 damages in a breach of promise case. Previous to this, Alfred’s father James had tried to intervene by visiting Catherine on the 1st of May 1883;
“…The young man’s family then got wind of the affair, and his father appeared on the scene. He visited the plaintiff. She showed him the children, and the old man said that his son ought to marry the mother of the children. The old man died on the following day, broken hearted…”[11]
James Hassler Horner, accountant of Acland Street St Kilda, was reported as having died suddenly on the 2nd of May 1883[12].
The jilted Catherine Edgin was awarded £600 by the court and Alfred Horner was then free to marry the widow Wyselaskie, who seemed oblivious to his appalling moral character;
“…Afterwards he said he was not going to marry a poor woman, and he could only allow her £2 per week. He only paid one instalment, and then said it would be better to drown herself and poison the children. After this he said that he was going to marry the richest widow on St. Kilda. On the 30th April he married Mrs Wyselaskie, the rich widow referred to….”[13]
Alfred Horner married Mary Jane Austin Wyselaskie in St James’ Church in Melbourne and although it was stated that the “society” papers had chronicled the lavish event only one detailed account of it has been found in, of all places, a ladies gossip column in a New Zealand tabloid![14]
In October 1887 the now, Mrs. A. J. Horner, presented a large oil painting of her former husband, John Dixon Wyselakie, to the “Wyselaskie-Hall Ladies College.” [15] The College had been built with funds from the Wyselaskie bequest and was opened by Francis Ormond in March that same year[16].
On the 31st of July 1895 Mary Jane Austin Horner died at Bendigo[17] aged 57 and on the 3rd August 1895 was interred with her first husband, J. D. Wyselaskie, at the Kew Boroondarra cemetery[18].
When Mary’s will was executed and probate was proven, her Farrell relatives and her daughter and adopted daughter were the beneficiaries and Alfred James Horner was excluded[19]
Alfred James Horner left Melbourne after Mary died and headed for Perth in Western Australia, where he joined his brother, Ernest E. Horner in the firm of Horner & Horner, Fire and Insurance Assessors. Alfred died in Sydney on the 23rd of November 1918 after a “painful illness”[20]
Gerald Neville Buckley (1855-1935)
The second owner of Narrapumelap was Gerald Neville Buckley. He was the son of Elizabeth Marion Neville (1826-1920)[21] and Mars Buckley (1825-1905), proprietor of Buckley & Nunn haberdashery of Bourke Street Melbourne[22].
Gerald brought the Narrapumelap station from the estate of J. D. Wyselaskie in June 1884[23] and, apart from his international travels, lived there for the rest of his life. His exploits at big game hunting in Africa were well known and his animal trophies were on display in the homestead.
Gerald died unmarried aged 78 on the 19th February 1935 at Narrapumelap and was reported to have a combined estate of £140,262.[24]
“OBITUARY, Mr. G. N. Buckley
The death occurred on Tuesday night at his home, Narrapumelap, Wickliffe, of Mr. Gerald Neville Buckley, whose father, the late Mr. Mars Buckley, was a founder of Buckley and Nunn Ltd and donor of the Mars Buckley Cup for tennis for annual competition between Victoria and New South Wales. Mr. Buckley, who was aged 78 years, was unmarried. He was one of the leading pastoralists and horse breeders in Victoria. At the Rock House Stud, on the Campaspe River, near Kyneton, he bred many fine horses. The sires, The Night Patrol, for which Mr. Buckley paid the Earl of Stradbroke 10,000 guineas, and Woorak were both kept at Rock House. Cape Sky and Greenstead were also in Mr. Buckley’s stud, and Halbadier, Linker Up, Woorgun, and Sergeant Major raced under his colours. Halbadier and Gamekeeper are in training at present. As a young man Mr. Buckley was a member of several big game hunting expeditions to South Africa”.[25]
Narrapumelap was then in the hands of Gerald’s brother Charles Mars Buckley until his death in 1946[26]. The Soldier Settlement Commission purchased the property which was then occupied by Peter C. Jensen[27] and then R. A. S. Hayes[28].
On Monday 30th July 1951 a public auction for the estate was held at Scott’s Hotel in Melbourne[29] and the 1400 acres of property and buildings passed into the hands of Alistair McIntyre who ran sheep on the property which produced some of the finest wool at record prices in Victoria[30].
The McIntyre’s never lived in the old mansion because of its dilapidated condition but their son Kevin had loved the old bluestone building since he was a boy and has now been restoring it to its former glory for more than twenty years.
“Historic homestead restoration a labour of love”
BY ALEXANDRA WEAVER 22 Oct, 2011 03:00 AM
“RESTORING a historic south-west property has been a labour of love for Kevin McIntyre. For the past 18 years he has spent weekends working on Wickliffe’s Narrapumelap homestead, which was built in 1873 and is considered one of rural Victoria’s finest examples of French gothic revival architecture. Its original owner, John Dixon Wyselaskie (1818-1883), was a successful pastoralist and philanthropist. Mr McIntyre’s parents bought Narrapumelap at a Melbourne auction in 1951 and today live in a more modest residence nearby. The homestead was badly damaged in the 1980s when vandals broke in and smashed its ornate fireplaces. “Twenty years ago it was really quite ruinous,” Mr McIntyre said. “When I first started there was no garden, a devastated interior now it’s really quite nearing completion inside. “It’s quite a popular tour destination now. It is totally unique.” Mr McIntyre recently added a kitchen in a style sympathetic to the home’s design and removed a dining room added to the central courtyard in about 1900. “People have been following this project with quite a bit of interest,” he said. “I do most of the work myself I do all the design work. I actually make a lot of the things. “It’s very comprehensive because I really believe in the idea of one hand controlling all details: garden, design, garden structures, interior.” Narrapumelap will be open during the Melbourne Cup and Easter weekends and can be seen at other times by appointment.”[31]
Kevin also has B&B accommodation available in a beautifully restored section at the rear of the mansion.
By the mid 1880’s James Ferguson & James Urie had built their substantial new homes in Parkville and Flemington and their humble cottages in Curzon street near their workshop were obviously no longer required. James Urie’s cottage was at 28 Curzon Street and James Ferguson’s at No 24 Curzon street. The company’s first business premises was situated in very close proximity to the two cottages and was diagonally opposite the Union Memorial Presbyterian Church in Curzon Street.
In todays terms (2018) the address is 42 Curzon Street and the majority of the facade of the original building still exists.
In November 1886 they placed their cottages in the hands of Barrett & Co Auctioneers.
The Argus, Melbourne, Friday 19th November 1886, page 3.In
“SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20. At Three O’Clock.
On the Premises, Little Curzon-street, Hotham. 2 BRICK COTTAGES. By Order of Messrs. Ferguson and Urie.
BARRETT and Co. will SELL by AUCTION, on the premises, as above, land having frontage of 55ft. to Little Curzon-street by a good depth, on which is erected two brick cottages, containing six rooms, outhouses, &c. Terms at sale.
The auctioneers would call special attention to this sale the property being well-built, near the omnibus and cab route, and within a few minutes’ walk of the city. Barrett and Co., auctioneers, corner of Queensberry and Abbotsford street, Hotham, and Racecourse-road, Newmarket”.
The partial municipal map below from 1878 shows the three key addresses in Curzon & Little Curzon street in North Melbourne.
Charles William Hardess (1858-1949) was the son of George Mathew Hardess (1827-1909) and Mary Ann McCarthy (1834-1889). He began his career at the Ferguson and Urie stained glass company as an apprentice stained glass artist circa 1873 at the age of fourteen. As part of his apprenticeship, he attended the Hotham School of Art which was formed in 1873 by prominent members of the Ferguson & Urie company. His father, George, was an Honorary Superintendent of the school in 1877 as well as a reader of the Legislative Assembly.
C. W. Hardess married Janet ‘Jessie’ Gilchrist Pie on the 28th of October 1886 and they had three known children. William, Hilda, and Elsie.
After the Ferguson & Urie company closed in 1899, the stained glass firm of E. L. Yencken purchased the vast majority of the equipment and stock in trade from their Franklin Street warehouse. My fair assumption at this point in time is that C. W. Hardess was enticed to join the Yencken firm as their stained glass artist. On Good Friday in 1900 a stained glass window was unveiled in the Buninyong Presbyterian Church to the memory of the Rev Thomas Hastie and notes of this event recorded in the Buninyong Historical Society’s June 2014 newsletter wrote that the window was made by ‘Zenken & Co Melb’ and the artist was a ‘Mr. Hardness’. That clue was too coincidental to ignore and so I’m absolutely sure that this was supposed to refer to the company as ‘E. L. Yencken & Co, Melb’ and the artist was none other than ‘Charles William Hardess)’.
In later years Hardess teamed up with another former employee of Ferguson & Urie named Frank Clifford Lording, and they became a partnership as ‘Hardess & Lording’. They are known to have done the lead-lighting for the homestead ‘Warra’ in Wangaratta (sometime after 1908). C. W. Hardess was buried in the Burwood cemetery 1st March 1949.[1]
“HARDESS-PIE.- On the 28th ult., at the residence of the bride’s parents, Ravenscraig, Flemington-road, Hotham, by the Rev. R. Short, Charles W., second son of George K, Hardess, Royal-park, to Jessie G., eldest daughter of Captain W. Pie, Hotham.”
The Argus, Melbourne, Saturday 5th March 1949, page 15.
“HARDESS.- On February 28 at the residence of his daughter, 8 Martin Crescent, Glen Iris, Charles William, loved husband of the late Jessie G., and loving father of William G., Hilda (Mrs. Ellis), and the late Elsie Vera (Mrs. Clark), aged 90 years”.
Charles William Hardess. Photo was taken for the June 1887 North Melbourne company dinner
This article was updated 20190706 to reflect the connection with the Yencken company at para 3.
James Ferguson Jnr (1861-1945), was the only son of James Ferguson Snr (1818-1894), who was a principal partner in the firm ‘Ferguson & Urie’. James Jnr was also a member of the firm until its closure in 1899. He never married and nothing significant is known of his life between 1899 and 1945. Numerous electoral rolls after 1899 simply listed him as a labourer and he resided in a small two storey terrace house at 22 Capel street North Melbourne (one street back from the Victoria Markets) prior to his death in 1945. Family lore has it that he was spoilt as a result of being the only son (amongst his seven elder sisters) and never had any of the business acumen and determination to succeed like his pioneering father. This would seem to be a contributing factor in the firm’s demise after his father’s death in 1894. Most noticeable was the absence of regular company advertising in the leading Melbourne newspapers after the death of James Ferguson Snr on the 18th April 1894. After September 1894 all traces of advertising for the company ceased to exist.
Only three photos of James Jnr are known to exist, being: the employee poster created for the June 1887 company dinner, the Ferguson Clan photo at ‘Ayr Cottage’ on 1st January 1888 and a photo with his father and some employees at the back of one of the stained glass workshops (at either Curzon or Franklin street) thought to be circa 1892-94.
James Ferguson Jnr is buried with his parents, James and Jane Ferguson, and sibling Margaret in the Ferguson family grave at the Melbourne General cemetery but he and Margaret are not listed on the headstone.
“FERGUSON.- On July 26, at Parkville, James, loving son of the late James and Jane Ferguson, and loving brother of Margaret Ferguson (deceased), Mrs. Koop (sic) (deceased), Mrs. Auld (deceased), Mrs. Williams (deceased), Mrs. Gordon (deceased), Mrs. Kier (deceased), Mrs. Gentles (deceased). – At rest.”
“FERGUSON.- The funeral of the late JAMES FERGUSON will arrive at the Melbourne General Cemetery, Carlton, THIS DAY, at 3.30 p.m. RONALD MAY, St. Kilda LA4406.”
Frank Clifford Lording (1860-1944), was born in Melbourne on the 10th of October 1860 to architect and builder, Frederick Henry “Harry” Lording and Marianne Coulsell.
Frank became an apprentice glass stainer and embosser with the Ferguson & Urie stained glass company in his early teens. In 1879 was awarded a prize at the Hotham School of Art as a senior student in the category of “Ornamental Shaded” under the tutelage of Ferguson & Urie’s stained glass artist David Relph Drape (1821-1882).
His name is mentioned a number of times in the press articles about the company dinners of 1886, 1887, and 1888. At the 1886 company dinner, he sang ‘The Old Brigade’, and at the 1887 dinner sang, ‘Romany Lass’. After the firm closed in 1899 he went into partnership with Charles William Hardess (1859-1849), another employee of the firm, to become ‘Hardess & Lording’. Lording was also a capable footballer and was selected for the Victorian team in the first Inter-colonial football match against South Australia on Tuesday 1st July 1879 [1] which the Victorian team won. The Hotham Football club later became the North Melbourne Football Club and he was selected as a state representative in 1879 and 1881.
Frank married Mary Ann Christie in 1884 and had three sons, Frank Clifford ‘Cliff’ Jnr, Frederick ‘Fred’ Alexander, and Walter Leonard ‘Len’.
Frank died at his home at 18 McDonald Street, Mordialloc on the 7th October 1944 aged 84, and was interred at the Cheltenham New Cemetery.
Frank Clifford Lording. A subset photo from the Ferguson & Urie company dinner portraits in June 1887, North Melbourne.
Frank Clifford Lording in the Hotham (North Melbourne) Football Club uniform in 1879 (Museum Victoria)
Coincidentally Frank’s father ‘Harry’ was the architect and builder of James Ferguson‘s house in Leonard Street Parkville in 1887
In April 1937 Frank’s brother Frederick ‘Harry’ Lording (1855 – 1939) wrote to the Melbourne Age about his brother’s football history.
The Argus, Melbourne, 14th October 1944, page 15.
“LORDING.- On October 7, at his residence, 18 McDonald street, Mordialloc, Frank Clifford, beloved father of Cliff, Fred, and Len, aged 84 years.”
![Curzon St map [1878] [c1]](https://fergusonandurie.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curzon-st-map-1878-c1.jpg)
Ferguson and Urie 