Louis Suhard first appears in the Rate Books as the owner and occupier of a house on the corner of Simpson and Grey Streets in 1860. The house, at this time, is described as a wooden house of three rooms, valued at 16 pounds. There is no Notice of Intent to Build for the house, nor is there one for a later addition, which, according to the Rate Books took place around 1865, when the description became a brick and wooden house of four rooms, valued at 20 pounds. In 1879 it became six rooms, valued at 26 pounds. Then in 1884 the first Notice of Intent to Build relating to the house is registered. Christopher Fry is to build a two storey additon to the exisitng house, with Paolo Dattari as architect. Subsequently the description becomes a brick house of nine rooms, valued at 60 pounds. The timber section was demolished to make way for the new addition. Until the 1890s the house is consistently listed under Simpson Street in the Rate Books, probably because the original wooden house faced that way.

This is the only known work in Melbourne of the Italian born architect, Paolo Dattari. However he was regarded highly enough to be appointed as one of the Italian jurors at the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880.

Louis Suhard lived in the house until his death in 1891. His wife, Georgina, continued to live there for another year until her own death in 1892. Very little is known about Suhard's life. He was variously described as a publican, licensed victualler or chef. In the 1860s he was managing Nunn's Hotel in Bourke Street, Melbourne, but became insolvent in 1862. Later he is described as a confectioner and as such seems to have prospered. In 1883 he was elected founding president of the newly formed Cooks, Pastrycooks and Assistants' Union. He was a Freemason.