Heritage 1870s Portland, Victoria, Annesley House hotel listed

Heritage 1870s Portland, Victoria, Annesley House hotel listed
Alistair WalshDecember 8, 2020

An 1878-built hotel in Portland, Victoria, has been listed for sale with $1.29 million hopes.

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Annesley House was originally built as the residence and surgery of Dr Brewer, then chief medical officer and mayor of Portland.

The two-bedroom residence consists of seven furnished apartments, which have been run as self-contained holiday accommodation by vendor Mark Robinson, who bought the property in 2004.

The two-storey brick structure was designed by architect Daniel Nicholson. Heritage documents say the building is an interesting example of a substantial 19th-century townhouse design in an Italianate style.

Brewer passed the building on to the Wadmore sisters in the early 1900s. They converted the mansion into a guesthouse. In the 1940s the building passed onto a Mrs Luers, the daughter of a local politician and poet. She continued to run the building as a guest house until the current owners bought it in 2004.

When it was built the Portland Guardian reported it was “one of the finest that a private gentleman in a country district need desire”.

Inside pictures of Annesley House on page 2 


Robinson has undertaken significant restoration of the property, including remodelling the original kitchen, while keeping many of its original features and furnishings, including a bell to summon the servants.

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Current rates at the hotel start at $155 per night.

Portland Bay was named in December 1800 when Lieutenant James Grant on the Lady Nelson sighted it for the first time and named it after a Secretary of State, the Duke of Portland.

It was set up as whaling station and trading port in the early 1830s, but it soon attracted pastoralists as the fertile nature of the land was discovered.

Eventually the sheltered bay became a permanent township, with the government commencing the set out of a new township in 1840.

As the Victorian goldfields became overcrowded ships were diverted to Portland, with the first immigrant ships sailing directly from Great Britain in Portland in 1852.

The 1,344-square-metre property includes proprietor's rooms and off-street parking and garages.

It is being sold by Mike Barrett from Charles Stewart Warrnambool.

Alistair Walsh

Deutsche Welle online reporter

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