A DOMESTIC REMNANT DWARFED BY THE CITY

Cheryl Griffin’s latest article in CBD News has just hit the streets. Cheryl takes us on a journey inspired by a photograph from the 1930s of a very modest, rather sad, little house found in Franklin Street. The land was first bought by John O’Shanassy, later Sir John, Premier of Victoria.

“For some time, this house was reputed to have been the home of Melbourne’s first mayor, Henry Condell, a theory dispelled around the time the photograph was taken, although the myth continued. Condell, a brewer, set up business in Lonsdale St in 1839. In the early 1840s he served a brief, disastrous term as Mayor of Melbourne and an equally disastrous term as the Port Phillip District Member of the Legislative Council, Garryowen referring to his “utter incapacity” as a politician. He was a whizz at developing a valuable property portfolio, however, and in 1854 returned to Britain a wealthy man.”

Read more here: https://www.cbdnews.com.au/a-remnant-of-the-past-tucked-away-in-franklin-st