Lee Terrace - Life in the 1890s

This house, Waterloo, is part of a row of Italianate terraces in Avoca Street, South Yarra, which are each named after a battle. Together they form Lee Terrace, named after the architect and dating from 1890.  Waterloo is now for sale.

It has been modernised (bankerised even) by the current residents and now features a Moroccan style bathroom which I rather like, just because it is brave:

and rooms like this with perfect dark floorboards and great lighting:

and even a roof top deck and pool:

But in 1890 life would have moved at a different pace.

The bay side beaches would not have been particularly crowded, but still full of ladies in lace dresses or bathing suits, dipping their toes in the chilly water.  There would have been no syringes on the beach, or loud jet skis, or sun worshippers baking their skin.   Just the gentle lap of the tide and the sound of cockatoos in the background. 

(Rickett's Point by Charles Conder, 1890)

You would have attended the theatre on a regular basis.  Here, at the Theatre Royal, the pantomime 'Cinderella, Gold and Silver and the Little Glass Slipper' had a successful run in January of 1890, with actors specially imported from the UK:  

For the nanny to read to your children at night, you may have bought this little ABC and nursery rhyme book printed on linen:

If you were lucky enough to have servants, they would have shopped at the Fish Market in Flinders Street, brand new in 1890 and demolished in the 1970's:

And if you were very adventurous you may have ventured to Chinatown in Little Bourke Street, and seen something as exotic as this:

(Chinese figures in doorway including two children, c 1900 courtesy Museum of Chinese Australian History)

but best of all, a short stroll from Avoca Street, were the Royal Botanic Gardens, for picnicking, and sitting in a shady glen, and still the same today:

(Images: (1)-(4) Kay & Burton (5) National Gallery of Victoria (6) Theatre in Melbourne 1890 (7)  Brian Di Mambro Rare Books (8) Walking Melbourne (9) Chinese \ Australian Museum (10) Flickr

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Monday Inspiration - Wrought Iron Chandeliers

Over the weekend I found a story on Jasper Conran's amazing renovation of a Tudor home on the Thames. The lights in his stairwell and hallway were incredible. They are wrought iron 'oak tree' chandeliers made by Charles Saunders Antiques in London. Here they are.

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We tried to achieve this look at our wedding by tying ivy around a huge wrought iron hired hanging thing in the marquee.

Anthropologie has some beautiful whimsical chandeliers.

And here are some wrought iron chandeliers in action.

I love the idea of a non-utilitarian light in the bathroom.


Look at the beautiful different grey and cream textures in this room and the combination of guava and pale blue in the room below. Note how the chandelier is set at the correct (lower) height.

This wrought iron sconce against a lilac background creates a whole new point of interest in what would be just an empty corner.

This light looks assymetrical and handmade and works beautifully with the carved wooden dining table and Bhuddist monk orange curtains.

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One note of caution - some furniture you can get away with knock offs, replicas and inexpensive versions. But - cheap chandeliers really do look cheap. We had one in our house when we moved in. It was a super shiny brassy colour with light bulbs showing and it hung crookedly. In hindsight maybe I could have painted it. We loathed it so much we didn't use the room for years! It's true.

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