The house was built for William McLean. McLean was a partner in McLean Bros. & Rigg, a large and prosperous firm of ironmongers and general merchants with a major store in Elizabeth Street, a warehouse in Collins Place, an iron yard in Bourke Street and offices in London and New York. The company had branches throughout Victoria and Western Australia . In Victoria the company eventually merged with McEwan's in 1903, but continued to operate in Western Australia until the 1970s when it was sold to Metro Industries. William McLean was the general manager from 1887 to 1900. He died in 1905.

In 1887 he was elected president of the YMCA and was a leading member of the Collins Street Baptist Church and the Victorian Baptist Fund. He was also chairman of the board of the Federal Bank.

His wife, Margaret, was equally important for her role in Australian female suffrage and women's rights. She was one of the founders of the Victorian branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and was instrumental in many other women’s organizations. Hers was the first signature on the 'Monster' Women's Suffrage Petition of 1891.

The house was named Torloisk for its association with the McLean clan in Scotland.

Financial troubles resulting from the 1890s depresssion forced McLean to sell the property and move to smaller premises at 342 Albert Street. In 1901 it was converted to a private hospital by Miss Elizabeth Glover, an English trained nurse and leader in the movement calling for nursing reform. She was the inaugual honorary secretary of the Victorian Trained Nurses Association. She was also responsible for the establishment of Mena House Private Hospital at 29 Simpson Street. She renamed the building St. Ives and was both proprietor and matron of the hospital. It was possibly she that added a third storey to the eastern section of the house, which was originally two storeys, and she who removed the conical roof that once finished the corner turret.

In 1917 the hospital was taken over by the Anglican religious order, the Community of the Holy Name, and in 1935 they added a new wing to the north, to the design of Leighton Irwin. By 1978 it had become a home for the Alfred Hospital nurses. More recently the building has again become a private home, the new wing has been demolished and replaced by garden, and the house fully restored.