East Melbourne, Hotham Street 023, Beverley Mansions

In 1868 the Church of England completed its first East Melbourne vicarage on land granted to it on the south side of Hotham Street, near Hoddle Street, one half acre in all. Today its address would be 21-25 Hotham Street, which address now holds two blocks of apartments. The vicarage was built on the western half of the block leaving the rest as garden.

The Rev H N Wollaston, first vicar of Holy Trinity (1864) occupied the house from the time it was built until he retired in 1890 when the new vicar, Rev W G Hindley, moved in.

It was not long before the Church’s Trustees decided a new vicarage should be built in Clarendon Street, nearer the church, and a swap was arranged between the diocese as owners of the cathedral block (made redundant by the construction of St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral in the city), and the parish as owners of the old vicarage.

From that time the diocese rented the house out until 1917 when it was put up for sale. About 1922 the land was subdivided into two sections. The purchasers of the eastern garden section were two doctor brothers, Dr William Robert Boyd and Dr Thomas Hugh Boyd. In 1923 the rate books describe this land as a garage. It is possible that the garage had belonged to the old house next door, but the Boyd brothers were car buffs and it seems more likely they bought the land specifically to build a garage for their cars.

The doctors lived and practised at Urbrae, 171 Hoddle Street, Richmond, on the crest of the hill opposite Wellington Parade. Off street parking was limited and Hotham Street was a short walk away. 

Circa 1928 the Boyds subdivided the land further selling off the major portion of their land fronting Hotham Street and a block of flats was built, first known as Earls Court but soon after renamed Beverley Mansions. The garage became an island site with access only from a lane leading off Hotham Street, now known as Burchett Lane.

The pair who built Beverley Mansions, Clarence Henry Thompson and William James Culliver, were two spec builders who sold the block of flats almost as soon as it was completed.