Ravelston 17a Tennyson Street

In 1868 wealthy tobacconist Frederick William Heinecke purchased land on the corner of Tennyson and Milton Streets from William Kay. In February and June 1869 the architect J F Matthews advertised tenders for the construction of a nine-room brick house of behalf of F W Heinecke. In 1874 Heinecke rented the house, known as Salerno, to squatter William Kennedy with Kennedy acquiring ownership the following year. In the 1882 St Kilda Rate Book Kennedy is described as the owner of a house on the Tennyson-Milton Street corner comprising seven acres with coach house and stables. Kennedy died in April 1882 and in September the same year, the architect Lloyd Tayler advertised for tenders for additions to Salerno in Tennyson Street. The additions may have been on behalf of the new owner William Henderson Calder of Couch Calder Co., a former New Zealand politician who was in residence by 1883. The Scottish-born Calder called the house 'Ravelston' after an Edinburgh suburb. During the Calders' occupation the house and large circular driveway faced Milton Street.

In 1887 and 1888, 18 villa sites were sold off as the 'Salerno Estate' surrounded by Southey, Milton, Dryden and Browning Streets. When Calder died in 1914, the 12-room house and 1.5 acre grounds were offered for sale, together with 12 surrounding villa allotments. The house must have remained unsold as the widow Jane Calder died at Ravelston in 1921. Following her death the house was sold and converted to flats.

(Previously the house has had many different street addresses - it is currently 17a Tennyson St.)

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