Hawthorn house built for 19th-century German consul on the market

Hawthorn house built for 19th-century German consul on the market
Jonathan ChancellorDecember 8, 2020

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Friesia, the 1888-built Italian Renaissance-designed Hawthorn house and one of Melbourne’s most captivating residences, has been listed for sale. The single-storey mansion was designed for German consul William Brahe by architect John August Bernard Koch, who later designed Labassa in North Caulfield.

The Hawthorn house was last traded in 1970 for $49,000 totally derelict – with no electricity, no hot water, no internal toilet, and the sky could be seen through most rooms.

It’s been listed by Kay & Burton agent Scott Patterson, with offers due by November 15. Patterson hopes to secure $6.5 million plus for the property.

Decorated in a way befitting a man of Brahe's standing, there are three dwellings set within established gardens covering approximately half an acre.

The residence, with its unique single-storeyed arcaded loggia (veranda) and internal octagonal domed vestibule, was inspired by the works of Filippo Brunelleschi, father of Italian Renaissance architecture in Florence.

From its Corinthian-arcaded entrance, Friesia exhibits the grandeur, glory and grace of Melbourne's magnificent boom period during the 1880s

It’s been listed by Warwick Forge and his wife, Sue, who have been running the biennial Australian Landscape Conference for 10 years in a bid to bring together creative landscape designers from overseas and Australia.

They camped at Friesia on the first night with candles.

Set in the small Isabella Grove enclave near a bend of the Yarra a pocket of German high culture was formerly centred on Friesia.

The flow of German immigrants began within 10 years of Melbourne being established in 1835, with vignerons laying the foundations of the Victorian wine industry in the Lilydale and Geelong districts during the 1840s, and many were attracted by gold discoveries in the 1850s.

The marketing material says it was a much-loved cultural meeting place for educated Europeans during the 1880s – a golden age for Australian art and architecture.

“However, during the First World War, the German eagles on the parapet, German flags and German generals painted on the octagonal hall ceiling were all removed owing to anti-German sentiment,” says the house’s marketing material.

William Brahe was a founding partner of the 1856 law firm Garland Hawthorn Brahe. Brahe was appointed consul for Prussia in 1868 and consul for the North German Confederation in 1869. On the re-establishment of the German Empire in 1870 he was appointed consul for the German Empire, a position he held for 25 years.

In 1924, “Vally” Cole, son of E W Cole – famous for Cole's Book Arcade in Bourke Street – purchased Friesia for £6,000 pounds.

Vally's daughters, Nancy and Evangeline, lived on until 1970 when it was sold to the Forge family.

Friesia has been described as the most beautiful house in Melbourne by Dr George Tibbits, senior lecturer in the faculty of architecture at the University of Melbourne.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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