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Labassa Mansion

Labassa, located in Manor Grove, North Caulfield, is one of the most lavishly decorated 19th century mansions in Melbourne, Australia, a city with many such surviving landmarks. Originally called Ontario, it reached its present form in 1889, as deigned by JAB Koch, and after a period as flats and the subdivision of almost all the land, has been owned by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) as a house museum since 1980.

History

Two large lots at the corner of Balaclava and Orrong Roads were first acquired in 1854 by William Lyall. They were transferred to his partner, John Mickle, in 1859, who then also acquired the adjoining allotment on Balaclava Road. The three allotments were later conveyed to lawyer, Richard A. Billing, and he built an eight-roomed house named Sylliott Hill in 1862-3. This was extended significantly in 1873 into a twenty-room house, designed by architects Crouch and Wilson, adding a tower and the grand staircase lit by a stained glass window depicting the four seasons by the leading firm of Ferguson & Urie. This reflected Billing's ongoing success as a barrister, and he lived here until his death in 1882.

In 1883 prominent Melbourne businessman, Alexander William Robertson, leased the Sylliott Hill property from Billing's widow. Robertson was an energetic immigrant from Canada, who had found success in the 1870s as a partner with another Canadian running the Victorian arm of Cobb & Co, the biggest coaching firm in Australia. He was an accomplished horseman and enthusiastic member of the Melbourne Hunt Club, chasing deer across the estates and paddocks of the suburban fringe. His fortune multiplied greatly in 1886 through his share of the successful Mount Morgan gold mine in Queensland. In 1885 he had purchased the adjoining allotment in Balaclava Road and then in 1886 purchased the Billing's property, creating a 6.31 hectare estate, which he renamed Ontario, after the largest province in Canada.

In 1889-90, Robertson commissioned the German born architect, John A. B. Koch, to extensively remodel the house into a thirty-five roomed mansion. The existing house was extended and altered, largely resulting in the mansion as it now appears. After Robertson's death in 1896, the house was tenanted until it was eventually sold to John Boyd II Watson, son of a mining millionaire, in 1904. He renamed the property Labassa and carried out repair and re-decoration work to the house.

In the early twentieth century, most of the large 19th century estates in Melbourne were subdivided into smaller home allotments as the demand for suburban land grew and fewer families could afford such large estates. Mr Watson's died in 1911, and in 1913 Mrs Watson retained a 1.73 hectare portion containing the house, while the rest became forty-six allotments for sale, which included the formation of the southern parts of Labassa Grove and Ontario Street to the east of the property.

The grand cast iron gates and flanking fence on the corner of Balaclava and Orrong Roads were purchased by architect Edmond George Ovey, who also purchased one of the lots facing Balclava Road. The gates remained in situ until 1921, when they were bought by the Bacchus Marsh branch of the Australian Natives Association (ANA) to serve as an entrance Maddingley Park in Bacchus Marsh, where they still stand.

In 1919 the house and its remaining grounds were sold, and the subdivided further with the creation of Manor Grove in Labassa was first recorded as containing flats in 1920. In 1936, the owner, Robert Hannon, built a red brick block of flats adjacent to the house. Subdivision continued, until the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) purchased the house in 1980 and subsequently purchased adjoining sites, one to the south-east in 1984 (house demolished in 1988) and to the west in 1988.

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