Trip to 'Villa Alba', a Museum of 19th century Interior Design
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( website http://www.villaalbamuseum.org )
On the way to Villa Alba, Diana gave us a broad overview of the history of the Villa Alba as well as her childhood recollections of the mansion. Very kindly, Diana has made that talk available here. |
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This is a rough sketch of the history of Villa Alba.
It was built and decorated between 1882 and 1884 for its original owners
William and Anna Greenlaw. He was the Gen. manager of the Colonial Bank of Australasia, now the National Bank. The land had been given to the couple by Anna’s father as a wedding present.
Mrs Greenlaw had the house decorated lavishly, and engaged Patterson Bros. the leading decorators of the day in Melbourne to hand paint every room in the house. It is the only house in Australia that is entirely hand painted throughout.
Patterson Bros. engaged Italian artisans as decorators
I understand Mr Greenlaw went broke as a result of the costs involved with the house and the financial crash at the time. Mr Greenlaw died in 1895 and Villa Alba was held in trust for the lifetime of Mrs Greenlaw.
My ancestor and great great uncle, Samuel Fripp and his second wife Esther
were the second owners of Villa Alba . They rented it initially until it became available for purchase in the early 1900s. It remained in Fripp hands until Esther died in 1949 and it was then purchased by The Royal Womens’ Hospital and became The Henry Pride Wing.
It had several owners for the next 30 years or so, such as Mount Royal Hospital, St. Georges Hospital for Geriatric Services and Xavier College.
In 1978 this unique Victorian property was saved and secured for the people of Victoria by an incorporated body chaired by former Vic. Premier Sir Rupert Hamer who was the local member for Kew at the time. The house and garden were both in very poor condition with the roof needing to be replaced. Many of the wonderful murals in the house had been painted over, although I don’t know how they could have done that, and plumbing was added all over the house for nurses quarters etc.
Villa Alba is still not yet fully restored but it has now been placed on the Register of the National Estate for its exceptionally high quality 19th Century decorated interior, including the scenic murals.. Along with the Exhibition Building, Villa Alba is one of the few Victorian buildings on the National Heritage Register. It is not owned by the National Trust, it is owned by the people of Victoria, and an incorporated body was appointed to raise the money to restore and administer the property. It relies on membership, grants and donations. Only the very best restoration experts have been used to restore
Villa Alba authentically and it has cost a fortune to date both for the house and garden, and for its upkeep. Today is a fund raiser for them, and you might even consider becoming a Friend of Villa Alba today and they will then keep you posted about lovely events that occur here which includes lectures and entertainment etc/
The Murdoch family including Dame Elisabeth have been very generous over the years as has Mrs. Jeanie Pratt. I was in charge of fund raising when I was on the Committee of Management before moving to Point Lonsdale, and since I left I have continued to do a little fund raising for them and plan to arrange a Jazz Soiree in the Vestibule early next year.
The garden was completely ruined during the tenure of the hospitals. The hospital filled the grounds up completely with cream brick administration buildings. So all of that has had to be demolished before restoring the garden back to its orginal design. A lot of the soil had become contaminated so all of that had to be removed and replaced, it has been and remains a huge project. The newly restored garden is named the R.J. Hamer Garden and was dedicated by Dame Elisabeth Murdoch.
The garden has been restored as a result of archaeological digs and photographs, and supervised by one of Australia’s leading garden historians James Broadbent from Sydney, assisted by Jessie Serle.
Jessie has been the mainstay of the whole project from day one. She had just finished working in the Premier’s Dept. following being responsible for the restoration of Werribee Park, when she was asked if she’d take on Villa Alba in an honorary capacity and she’s been at it ever since, for over 30 years. She has devoted her retirement to VA ever since and it has nearly got the better of her many times, particularly of late when grants for history and restoration have more or less dried up. She’s now quite frail and elderly but she is still at it on a daily basis and will be one of our two guides today and will speak to us during morning tea. Jessie’s late husband Geoffrey Serle was a renowned historian and particularly noted for his great book Australians at Home which he wrote in conjunction with historian Terence Lane. Jessie has received an OAM for her incredible services to the state throughout her lifetime.
Villa Alba is now a Museum for the collection, study and display of:
19th Century interior decorative finishes and the components of 19th and 20th C interior decoration, to preserve and conserve the fabric of the building and in particular the wall and ceiling paintings and to foster an appreciation of 19th C decorative techniques with educational programs and publications.
Now to my own connections with Villa Alba. When I was a child, we lived in Kew in the house my great grandparents built, and so we often accompanied our mother or grandmother on visits to our cousins at Villa Alba. In those days everything was wonderfully intact, the house was fully furnished and they had three full time live- in servants. One was the housekeeper/ cook, one the gardener and the third was a sort of retainer as they used to call such employees. He was the handyman, the chauffeur, milked the cow, helped in the garden if necessary etc etc. Their names were Bridgitte, Ern and Sid and I still remember them all quite clearly. The whole place was like a wonderland to a child and all immaculately kept . There was a spiral staircase that led to the tower and overlooked Melbourne. They had a selection of flags on the top landing for various occasions to be flown from the flagpole on the tower. They grew wonderful orchids in the Conservatory and we were always sent home with one or two. Orchids were more exotic in those days than they are now. We also always went home with a tin of toffees or a box of chocolates. In the garden at the side of the house at the end of the vestibule was a huge aviary the size of a large room full of exotic birds, so I always associated the noisy sounds of birds en masse with visits to Villa Alba.
The landing half way up the staircase had a false floor with an alarm under it.
When it was set at night when everyone went to bed upstairs, the alarm would be turned on, which meant that it would ring loudly if anyone came up the stairs in the night. I always found that unusual feature fascinating.
My great aunt, whom the family called Auntie, died when I was 10 and the house was sold to the Women’s Hosptial. I remember my relatives attending the auction of the contents of the house and bringing many interesting things home. I still have a kitchen stool that my mother bought.
Regarding Sam Fripp, my great great uncle and my first relative to migrate to Australia from the UK.
If you go to the Queenscliffe Museum’s website you will see a letter that I’ve posted that Sam wrote to his sister, my great grandmother Ruth Fripp in England, when he arrived at Point Henry in 1875 at the age of 18, to pursue a life and career in Australia. In this letter he describes his trip out from England to Melbourne and his impressions of Melbourne on arrival. He then describes the farm at Point Henry on which he was engaged as a jackaroo and which belonged to a relative on his mother’s side of the family. He suggests in this letter that his sister, my great grandmother and her fiancée should consider migrating also and they could all buy land and farm together. Well they did come out, but for some reason did not pursue the farming idea which I’m sure they were not suited to anyway with no previous experience. Sam who was on the Board of the Herald and Weekly Times newspaper amongst other organizations, became the owner and managing director of Rocke Thomsit industrial and wholesale chemists in Melbourne. Rock Tomsitt Arcade still exists off Flinders Street, opposite Flinders St. Station. The house that he and his first wife, who died following the birth of her third child, owned in Malvern, eventually became Cabrini Hospital before the Fripps moved to Villa Alba in Kew.
Sam Fripp died in the 1930s before I was born. He had three sons, and a daughter who was a nurse at the Alfred Hospital and nursed in England during WW2. His eldest son Sam Jrn. continued to run Rock Thomsit and lived with his wife Eileen in Parkville in another amazing house ‘Wardlow’ which is Phrine Fishers house in the Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries.
So now you have a background briefing on the story of Villa Alba which hopefully will make it all the more interesting and maybe fill in the gaps when you are being shown over the house. Remember that it is not furnished and the only furniture that Jessie will agree to have in the house is original furniture, which she is always seeking.
Diana Allen
28.10.15
It was built and decorated between 1882 and 1884 for its original owners
William and Anna Greenlaw. He was the Gen. manager of the Colonial Bank of Australasia, now the National Bank. The land had been given to the couple by Anna’s father as a wedding present.
Mrs Greenlaw had the house decorated lavishly, and engaged Patterson Bros. the leading decorators of the day in Melbourne to hand paint every room in the house. It is the only house in Australia that is entirely hand painted throughout.
Patterson Bros. engaged Italian artisans as decorators
I understand Mr Greenlaw went broke as a result of the costs involved with the house and the financial crash at the time. Mr Greenlaw died in 1895 and Villa Alba was held in trust for the lifetime of Mrs Greenlaw.
My ancestor and great great uncle, Samuel Fripp and his second wife Esther
were the second owners of Villa Alba . They rented it initially until it became available for purchase in the early 1900s. It remained in Fripp hands until Esther died in 1949 and it was then purchased by The Royal Womens’ Hospital and became The Henry Pride Wing.
It had several owners for the next 30 years or so, such as Mount Royal Hospital, St. Georges Hospital for Geriatric Services and Xavier College.
In 1978 this unique Victorian property was saved and secured for the people of Victoria by an incorporated body chaired by former Vic. Premier Sir Rupert Hamer who was the local member for Kew at the time. The house and garden were both in very poor condition with the roof needing to be replaced. Many of the wonderful murals in the house had been painted over, although I don’t know how they could have done that, and plumbing was added all over the house for nurses quarters etc.
Villa Alba is still not yet fully restored but it has now been placed on the Register of the National Estate for its exceptionally high quality 19th Century decorated interior, including the scenic murals.. Along with the Exhibition Building, Villa Alba is one of the few Victorian buildings on the National Heritage Register. It is not owned by the National Trust, it is owned by the people of Victoria, and an incorporated body was appointed to raise the money to restore and administer the property. It relies on membership, grants and donations. Only the very best restoration experts have been used to restore
Villa Alba authentically and it has cost a fortune to date both for the house and garden, and for its upkeep. Today is a fund raiser for them, and you might even consider becoming a Friend of Villa Alba today and they will then keep you posted about lovely events that occur here which includes lectures and entertainment etc/
The Murdoch family including Dame Elisabeth have been very generous over the years as has Mrs. Jeanie Pratt. I was in charge of fund raising when I was on the Committee of Management before moving to Point Lonsdale, and since I left I have continued to do a little fund raising for them and plan to arrange a Jazz Soiree in the Vestibule early next year.
The garden was completely ruined during the tenure of the hospitals. The hospital filled the grounds up completely with cream brick administration buildings. So all of that has had to be demolished before restoring the garden back to its orginal design. A lot of the soil had become contaminated so all of that had to be removed and replaced, it has been and remains a huge project. The newly restored garden is named the R.J. Hamer Garden and was dedicated by Dame Elisabeth Murdoch.
The garden has been restored as a result of archaeological digs and photographs, and supervised by one of Australia’s leading garden historians James Broadbent from Sydney, assisted by Jessie Serle.
Jessie has been the mainstay of the whole project from day one. She had just finished working in the Premier’s Dept. following being responsible for the restoration of Werribee Park, when she was asked if she’d take on Villa Alba in an honorary capacity and she’s been at it ever since, for over 30 years. She has devoted her retirement to VA ever since and it has nearly got the better of her many times, particularly of late when grants for history and restoration have more or less dried up. She’s now quite frail and elderly but she is still at it on a daily basis and will be one of our two guides today and will speak to us during morning tea. Jessie’s late husband Geoffrey Serle was a renowned historian and particularly noted for his great book Australians at Home which he wrote in conjunction with historian Terence Lane. Jessie has received an OAM for her incredible services to the state throughout her lifetime.
Villa Alba is now a Museum for the collection, study and display of:
19th Century interior decorative finishes and the components of 19th and 20th C interior decoration, to preserve and conserve the fabric of the building and in particular the wall and ceiling paintings and to foster an appreciation of 19th C decorative techniques with educational programs and publications.
Now to my own connections with Villa Alba. When I was a child, we lived in Kew in the house my great grandparents built, and so we often accompanied our mother or grandmother on visits to our cousins at Villa Alba. In those days everything was wonderfully intact, the house was fully furnished and they had three full time live- in servants. One was the housekeeper/ cook, one the gardener and the third was a sort of retainer as they used to call such employees. He was the handyman, the chauffeur, milked the cow, helped in the garden if necessary etc etc. Their names were Bridgitte, Ern and Sid and I still remember them all quite clearly. The whole place was like a wonderland to a child and all immaculately kept . There was a spiral staircase that led to the tower and overlooked Melbourne. They had a selection of flags on the top landing for various occasions to be flown from the flagpole on the tower. They grew wonderful orchids in the Conservatory and we were always sent home with one or two. Orchids were more exotic in those days than they are now. We also always went home with a tin of toffees or a box of chocolates. In the garden at the side of the house at the end of the vestibule was a huge aviary the size of a large room full of exotic birds, so I always associated the noisy sounds of birds en masse with visits to Villa Alba.
The landing half way up the staircase had a false floor with an alarm under it.
When it was set at night when everyone went to bed upstairs, the alarm would be turned on, which meant that it would ring loudly if anyone came up the stairs in the night. I always found that unusual feature fascinating.
My great aunt, whom the family called Auntie, died when I was 10 and the house was sold to the Women’s Hosptial. I remember my relatives attending the auction of the contents of the house and bringing many interesting things home. I still have a kitchen stool that my mother bought.
Regarding Sam Fripp, my great great uncle and my first relative to migrate to Australia from the UK.
If you go to the Queenscliffe Museum’s website you will see a letter that I’ve posted that Sam wrote to his sister, my great grandmother Ruth Fripp in England, when he arrived at Point Henry in 1875 at the age of 18, to pursue a life and career in Australia. In this letter he describes his trip out from England to Melbourne and his impressions of Melbourne on arrival. He then describes the farm at Point Henry on which he was engaged as a jackaroo and which belonged to a relative on his mother’s side of the family. He suggests in this letter that his sister, my great grandmother and her fiancée should consider migrating also and they could all buy land and farm together. Well they did come out, but for some reason did not pursue the farming idea which I’m sure they were not suited to anyway with no previous experience. Sam who was on the Board of the Herald and Weekly Times newspaper amongst other organizations, became the owner and managing director of Rocke Thomsit industrial and wholesale chemists in Melbourne. Rock Tomsitt Arcade still exists off Flinders Street, opposite Flinders St. Station. The house that he and his first wife, who died following the birth of her third child, owned in Malvern, eventually became Cabrini Hospital before the Fripps moved to Villa Alba in Kew.
Sam Fripp died in the 1930s before I was born. He had three sons, and a daughter who was a nurse at the Alfred Hospital and nursed in England during WW2. His eldest son Sam Jrn. continued to run Rock Thomsit and lived with his wife Eileen in Parkville in another amazing house ‘Wardlow’ which is Phrine Fishers house in the Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries.
So now you have a background briefing on the story of Villa Alba which hopefully will make it all the more interesting and maybe fill in the gaps when you are being shown over the house. Remember that it is not furnished and the only furniture that Jessie will agree to have in the house is original furniture, which she is always seeking.
Diana Allen
28.10.15
