Investigator – Sept 2022 Barwon Bank

BARWON BANK

In 2021 the then sale of the 1850s house, ‘Barwon Bank’, in Newtown, overlooking the Barwon River, piqued my interest in both its first owner and also its architect. I already had a fair bit of material on J.A. Gregory, a Geelong solicitor, but T.R. Yabsley, the architect, was new to me.

‘Barwon Bank’, at 35-43 Riversdale Road, Newtown, was recently sold after a three decades’ rescue and renovation, and extensions to the original buildings. Described in the National Trust database (B2802), the statement of significance reads, in part:

‘Between the years 1853-56, Geelong solicitor, John Alexander Gregory, built the 18 room stone mansion, Barwon Bank, in extensive gardens on the high northern bank overlooking the Barwon River, at Marnockvale, Geelong. T.R. Yabsley was the architect for this colonial regency style, single storey attic house, built of basalt with contrasting Barrabool freestone dressings and dominated by a massive doric portico and battlemented bay windows.’

First owner – J. A. Gregory

John Alexander Gregory (1814-87) was born in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, son of John Gregory, a banker, and his wife, Hannah nee Smith (who, after her husband’s death married, secondly, John King). He was educated at the Hyde Abbey School, a private school in Winchester. He was then articled to the legal firm of Messrs Riches and Woodbridge, Uxbridge, and was admitted a solicitor in England in 1838. On 12 May 1834, at Brighton, East Sussex, John married Martha, daughter of Robert King.

The family arrived in Port Phillip (now Victoria) in October 1848, aboard the Tasman, and John was admitted as a solicitor in the colonial jurisdiction in December of that year. Soon after his arrival in Geelong, he was briefly in partnership with Charles Sladen. The partnership was dissolved in August 1849 and Gregory commenced his own practice in the Market Square, Geelong. He practised in Geelong for a further 16 years, either alone, or at different times in partnership with George King (a relation), George Stavely, Allan Fraser and Richard Maley.

He was solicitor to the Geelong and Melbourne Railway Company, the Geelong Town Corporation and the Geelong and Western District Fire and Marine Insurance Company. He was also a member of the Geelong Chamber of Commerce. Socially, he was honorary secretary of the Geelong Botanic Garden Committee and secretary of the Geelong Rifle Corps.

Twice insolvent during his time in Geelong, he moved to Queensland where he was admitted as a solicitor in that jurisdiction in 1866. He invested in pastoral properties in Queensland, partnering with his son, John, and also with Charles Sladen. He continued his practice as a solicitor in Bowen, where he died in December 1887.

Architect – T.R. Yabsley

Thomas Richard Yabsley (1830?-70) was born in Plymouth, England, son of John Yabsley, cabinet maker, and his wife, Mary Ann nee Tall. Details of his training are unknown. Already described as an architect, he was living in the family residence at Plympton St Mary, Plymouth, Devon, at the time of the 1851 English census.

He arrived in Victoria in January 1853, aboard the Wandsworth. In October of the same year, he married at Geelong to Charlotte Elizabeth, daughter of Fitton.

It would appear that he was connected with Geelong architects, Snell and Kawerau, soon after his arrival in 1853 – perhaps as an employee. The first tenders he advertised, in his own right, were not until 1855 – and related to ‘Barwon Bank’ – described below. He had six other known commissions in 1855, after which there was largely silence.

A clue to his stalled career was evident in a court case in December 1855, when Yabsley sued a Mr Knight for professional fees not paid. Knight’s defence was ‘that owing to the irregular habits of the plaintiff, who was not sober on any one occasion’, he had to supervise the erection of the building – not Yabsley! There were few commissions publicly reported after 1855 and Yabsley was insolvent in 1858.

Things got worse when, in December 1859, his wife took him to court claiming proper maintenance for the family. It did not appear that they were estranged at this point; more that he spent whatever money he had on drink and the family was not provided for. Later in same month, his wife took him to court for assaulting her, whilst under the influence. Yabsley was fined and ordered to pay 20 shillings a week for his wife and daughter’s support and maintenance.

Throughout the 1850s, Yabsley was living in Chilwell: at first near the Cremorne Hotel; later near St Peter’s Church, Percy Street; and by 1858, in Sharp Street.

At some stage in the early 1860s, Yabsley left Geelong. A ‘Missing Friend’ advertisement in the Geelong Chronicle in 1863 sought information on his whereabouts. By 1864, he was back in Geelong, having applied for a valuator position with Newtown and Chilwell Council. He continued haphazardly in his profession and was an occasional expert architectural or surveying witness in court cases.

It would appear that he and his wife were reconciled upon his return to Geelong. On several occasions in 1865, Yabsley and his wife sued her parents, the Fittons, for property detained by them.

Yabsley died at the Geelong Hospital, on 31 May 1870, and is buried at Geelong’s Eastern Cemetery.

‘Barwon Bank’ – beginnings

The site of ‘Barwon Bank’ was vacant land from 1850 until 1852, when a shed was erected. The town rates assessed on the land were £15 (1850); £15 (1851); and £25 (1852).

In mid-1852, Gregory commissioned a three-roomed stone cottage, with garden, vineyard and out-buildings, consisting of a brick out-house, coach-house and stables. The dimensions of the stone cottage were 30 feet by 20 feet. The works were not completed until early in 1853, owing to a scarcity of both workers and also building materials. Gregory, who had been leasing the St Helen’s estate, overlooking Corio Bay, belonging to the squatter, G.F. Read, took up residence at the cottage early in 1853.

Yabsley was not the architect of this stone cottage, as he did not arrive in the colony until January 1853.

It would appear that the many rooms of ‘Barwon Bank’ were built around the nucleus of the stone cottage – with it forming part of the completed mansion. It is possible that the drawing room, described in 1855 as having the dimensions of 30 feet by 20 feet, may have been the original stone cottage. At the very least, it would seem that the dimensions of the cottage established the plan for rooms in the larger house – and the original three rooms of the cottage re-purposed.

It is plausible that Yabsley’s connection with Geelong architects, Snell and Kawerau, brought him into the orbit of the solicitor, John Gregory. The firm had been commissioned to build a new office for Gregory in town, in 1854. Lorraine Huddle, in her excellent treatise, ‘Architects in Geelong in the 1840s and 1850s’, makes the case for Yabsley, as architect of ‘Barwon Bank’, by drawing parallels with his bluestone and freestone treatment of the George and Dragon Hotel, corner Moorabool and Maude Streets – a known Yabsley commission.

Over the next two years, extra rooms were added to the mansion, possibly in stages – as the Gregory family continued to reside at the property. As late as January 1855, Yabsley called tenders for finishing [my emphasis] the plastering at Gregory’s house on the Barwon. Presumably, this was plastering of the last rooms of the new build, rather than the entire house.

According to a contemporary sale notice, the fittings were ‘specimens of good workmanship, having been imported from England, regardless of expense’. A tender for fixing and hanging a bell-ringing system for the house was issued by Yabsley in February 1855.

Gregory was not to enjoy his residence for very long at all. Money was tight and the cost of building a mansion may have stretched Gregory’s finances too thinly. The estate was offered for sale, by public auction, set down for 15 May 1855.

The detailed sale notice of the estate, with the usual rich description by a real estate agent, appeared in the Geelong Advertiser. It is set out, in part, below:

‘The house contains in all TWENTY-ONE ROOMS and has a grand entrance hall, opening under a massive porch of freestone. The drawing room is 30 feet by 20 feet; the dining room 29 feet by 17 feet, with library, bath room, and all modern conveniences. The whole of the rooms are lofty and well ventilated; the mantle pieces of the best white marble; and the stoves of the most modern style. There are capacious underground cellars, large cistern on the roof, and a force pump conveying from the river a sufficient supply of water to irrigate the whole of the garden. Adjoining the dining-room is an extensive and highly ornamental conservatory. There are also gardener’s lodge, wash-house, stabling, servants’ rooms, enclosed yard, piggeries, sheds, forcing grounds and pits etc.’

In July 1855, a different architect, Andrew McWilliams, no doubt commissioned by the new owner of the estate, John Noble, advertised tenders for completing various works at the property, described as the ‘late residence’ of Mr Gregory, on the Barwon.

Noble sold on to Robert Adams, the squatter, within the year. In May 1856, Cecilia Timms, wife of wool merchant and squatter, William Timms, of Pine Villa and Mount Hesse, sat down to lunch with Mrs Adams at Barwon Bank. Writing to her sister-in-law, Julia Anderson, she reported that Mr Adams had bought, “… Mr Gregory’s fine new house on the Barwon. It is now all finished and looks beautiful.”

Photo Credits

The Heritage Council Victoria – https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/2934#timeline-titl
realestate.com – https://www.realestate.com.au/news/newtown-hidden-riverside-gem-on-the-market-for-7-million/