Normanhurst (Demolished) Brighton Road

The following information was prepared by Liz Kelly.

Henry Figsby Young (1813-1900), was the licensee of the Elsternwick Hotel from the 1850s becoming its owner in 1870. 
The 1877 St Kilda Rate book identifies a six-room brick house next to the hotel, occupied by Henry F Young (Senior).Correspondence between him and the St Kilda Council identify it as being called Elsternwick Cottage. 
In 1883 Henry Young senior, by then a widower, remarried and moved away. Probate for his will in 1900 makes no mention of this property in his estate.
By the 1890's the house is identified as being owned by his son, also named Henry Figsby Jackson (1845-1925) with the house having grown to twelve rooms.
In 1917 the Estate was subdivided with that portion of it, now Heaton Avenue, being sold off in 49 allottments.
Henry Jackson Junior is famously the co-founder of Young and Jackson.He married Joanna Fraser and had two sons and a daughter. His second wife,Jessie Allison Mead and Henry
both died in 1925. His estate was worth 121,000 pounds with his beneficiaries being his children and grand children whilst his widowed daughter Rosalie Bickford was made life tenant of Normanhurst.
In 1929 when the estate was finally wound up, it took Leonard Joel and Gardiner and Lang six days to auction the 1300 items of furniture,decorative items and paintings.Young's painting collection was sold separately and was considered the finest in private hands at the time..
In 1930 the house was offered for sale but remained unsold being the onset of the great Depression. For several years Normanhurst was used as a guest house.
In 1938 it was finally sold for £10,000 to W E Fraser now the owner and licensee of the neighbouring Elsternwick Hotel
In January 1939 the part of the property was destroyed by fire. By May 9th the house (described as having 30 rooms) was demolished using a power jack, a cable and motor truck band taking two and half hours to bring down the land-mark tower. The removal of the cast iron verandah posts in April resulted in a spectacular industrial accident when a workman was 
injured with 25 tons of concrete, steel and iron verandah falling on him.
Brick-veneer flats and a drive-through bottle shop now stand where Normanhurst once stood.