A very grand house that consisted of an elaborate columned portico facing the garden away from the street, added in 1869 to an earlier house called Fernleigh.
1857 Crown allotments St Kilda Planning Scheme (part) M27 (333) First Land ownership R H Bunbury https://stkildahistory.org.au/our-collection/resources/m27
1873 Vardy Map WW4 Fitzroy Grey Acland Barkly Robe Streets 'Mittagong' Grey Street N 36 Index ID R Twentyman https://stkildahistory.org.au/our-collection/resources/vardy-plans
1897 MMBW Plan 1355 Maps Collection SLV https://stkildahistory.org.au/images/GreySt/Mittagong/pjdb1721.pdf
Charles Webb
1869 Denbigh, Edmund. Completed / Opened Cost £4,442
The site was occupied by a house called Fernleigh, probably built in the 1850s. William Nicholson (1816-65) owned the house in the 1860s but actually leased and lived next door at Barham (later Eildon) after the previous owner EB Green died in 1861. Nicholson died in 1865, and the next year on June 2 his widow Sarah Birkett married Richard Twentyman, and they lived at Barham.
Towards the end of the lease in mid 1869 Twentyman purchased Fernleigh from William Nicholson’s executor, commissioning Charles Webb (1821-1898) architect to rebuild the house, renaming it Mittagong. The Twentymans lived at Mittagong for a decade until Richard’s death in 1880.
The house was sold to the pastoralist Robert Arthur Molesworth (1844-1920), second son of the judge Sir Robert Molesworth (1809-1890). It remained in the Molesworth family until about 1940. The property was then sold, the house demolished and the land subdivided. To provide street access to the new sites, the developer extended Eildon Road eastward, curving it up through the centre of the site to Grey Street.
Peter Johnson Architecture Database was last revised 19.06.2012 https://stkildahistory.org.au/images/GreySt/Mittagong/pjdb1721.pdf
• Argus 26.8.1869 p.3: Tenders are required until Thursday 9th September for erecting a dwelling House (containing 20 rooms), and outbuildings, in Grey Street, St Kilda. Chas. Webb architect 102 Collins St east. [PJ note: from earlier plans this is more likely to be a substantial addition to the original house, not a new house].
• Building Times 5.10.1869 p.2: Contract, has been let by Charles Webb for residence, St. Kilda, to Edmund Denbigh for £4442.0.0.
• Donald McDonald image #SK0455, Heritage Collection, CPP: image of house above shows a view of the west (garden) elevation in 1872. Richard & Sarah Twentyman standing on path – date from record entry.
• Argus 12.6.1880 p.10: For sale by private contract, Mittagong, the mansion of the late Richard Twentyman Esq.
•The house was sold after Twentyman’s death to the pastoralist Robert Arthur Molesworth (1844 -1920), 2nd son of the judge Sir Robert Molesworth (1809-1890) It remained in the Molesworth family until about 1940. The property was then sold, the house demolished and the land subdivided. To provide street access to the new sites, the developer extended Eildon Road eastward, curving it up through the centre of the site to Grey Street.
Melbourne Mansions Data Base Mittagong Registration N 1012
Melbourne Mansions Data Base Fernleigh 3965
Part MMBW detail plan #1355 dated May 1897, SLV Map Collection