Como House - Melbourne's loveliest mid C19th home

Front veranda of Como House, 
surrounded by gardens

In discussing rare Australian colonial architecture in Melbourne, I wrote briefly about grand residence in Como Avenue, South Yar­ra called Como.

Melbourne town was only 2 years old when the site that is now Como House was used as a cattle run. In 1847 Edward Eyre Williams, a colonial lawyer and from 1852 on, a Judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria, purchased land extending from the Yarra River to Toorak: these were the first ever land sales held south of the Yarra. Thanks to Vict­or­ian Heritage Melbourne and National Trust for their notes

Williams had a four-roomed residence with separate kitchen built in the 1840s, named after romantic Italian Lake Como. It was perfectly sited on a hill, overlooking the Yarra River.

Starting in 1847, during the era before Victoria split from NSW, the house’s design might have been called Colonial Geor­g­ian style. I prefer it to be described as a combination of the Australian Regency style with details normally used on Italianate buildings later in the century. The splendidly proportioned, sym­met­rical estate mansion had restrained classical details and comfort­able, well-crafted in­t­eriors. These included the verandas with cast iron balustrading and the par­ap­eted tower at the rear. The timber arcad­ing on the ground floor ver­anda was unusual and, with the early application of cast-iron pickets, looked wonderful.

In 1852 Wil­liams sold Como to Frederick Dalgety, owner of a firm providing sup­plies to wool, gold and settlers' trades. Dalgety paid £4,200 for the house and grounds, not exactly a bargain. Alas Dal­gety found Como very dull and sold it within a year to John Brown, master builder and later a wine and spirits merchant. It turn­ed out to be a windfall for Dalgety because Brown paid £12,000 for Como!

In 1853 John Brown added a second storey of stuccoed brick to the original four rooms, inc­luding a Ball Room overlooking the gard­ens. Portr­aits of John and Helen Brown still hang in the Billiard Room.

Gardens

In 1853 Edward Brown started landscaping the grounds. Como's gardens soon came to be associated with William Sangster, a prom­in­ent early Melb­ourne gardener, land­scape designer and nursery man, who was responsible for the design of the grounds between 1857-64. Only William Sangster’s bankruptcy forced a mortgage to the Bank of Aus­tralasia and ended the landscape dream ... for a while. The even more famous Baron von Mueller, for many years Director of Melb­our­ne's Royal Bot­an­ic Gard­ens, designed their gardens after 1864.

In 1864 wealthy pastoralist Charles Armytage bought Como as a town house for his family, for £14,000. The Armyt­ag­es' weal­th, as with many of the early colony's prom­inent famil­ies, was built on a past­oral emp­ire. Wealth was important, but a classy house in town was essential. As well as the house and the receptions, it was the grand­eur of the garden and the hill-top siting of the house that rein­forced the Armytage family's high social status. Summer garden parties must have been a delight.

The huge extension on the east side was built in 1875. Sadly Charles died in 1876, leaving Car­oline with 9 children and the property. The oldest son was sent to Cambridge while Carol­ine, the other children and ser­vants went to Egypt, India, China, Japan, Russia and through Europe.

Charles commissioned his brother-in-law Arthur Johnson to design the 1870s additions. The Ballroom wing was added in 1874 with the child­ren's wing above. Johnson was one of Melbourne’s most talented arch­itects; his other most famous buildings were the General Post Off­ice, Melb­ourne Church of England Grammar School and the Law Courts.

The internal wood work was cedar and the central block floors were teak. In 1878 Carolyn went to the Paris Int­er­national Exhib­it­ion and bought a large ebonised door for the Drawing Room. During this tour, Caroline also sent crate-loads of mir­rors, chandeliers, vases and furniture, and asked the exhibitors to have the pieces all ship­ped to Melb­ourne!

After the addition of the ballroom, which was sprung on chains for easier dancing, Como became a social centre of Melb­ourne's elite. The Armytage family became renowned amongst Melbourne high society, famous for the many elegant dances, dinners and receptions. Despite the severe economic depression of the early 1890s, the Arm­y­t­age family continued to enjoy an elegant lifestyle with their weal­th derived from wool. Dame Nellie Melba sang opera at their soirees in the ballroom, and Baron Ferdinand Von Mueller often joined the social activities. This social history spanned Melb­our­ne's colonial elite for a century, from the Gold Rushes to WW2.

Charles and Caroline’s surviving children, Constance and Leila, sold Como to the newly formed National Trust of Vic in 1959. The family had been there for 95 years, their home being the first house accep­t­ed by the Trust. The acquisition of the complete cont­ents of the house was significant, especially the impressive collection of ant­iques, solid oak furniture and decorative arts. If Como was to surv­ive as an expression of family and life­style, it had to remain int­act as a Museum Home. The family's diaries, letters, journals and photos were archived.

The ordered social relationships typical of C19th soc­iety were easily detected in the house’s layout, with its original out-build­ings designed to keep servants separate from the family. And preserved.

The Armytages' lounge room

The Armytages' ballroom,
perfect for modern wedding receptions

The house and out-buildings were subject to few alterations since the 1870s extensions. However af­t­er Caroline's death in 1909, the property was subdivided. Daught­ers Laura, Cons­tance and Leila purchased some land and the house, and spent most of their adult lives at Como. Daughter Ada purch­ased a family property in Beaconsfield, and lived there.

Although the estate has been greatly reduced from its original 54.5 acres, the general garden layout and vistas from and around the house have changed little. From when Charles Armytage died in 1876, the property was managed and maintained by the women for 85 years.

"The Armytage Family of Como" was written by Ad­rea Fox for the pub­lication The Australian Family: Images & Essays (Scribe Publications, Melbourne 1998), a project in­volving 20 Victorian museums and galleries. Edited by Anna Epstein, the book comprised specially commissioned essays with beautiful images from each participating institution.