Know Your Place #7 Ravenswood

This Rose Series panoroma from around 1920 shows Ravenswood on the RHS. This some 30 years after the mansion was built on 16 acres of land for financier R. W. Kennedy.

The Mount Eagle sign - of "Hollywood" style and size - is just below the tree-line left of centre.

Lower Heidelberg Road passes diagonally across the lower RH corner.

The extent of the Ravenswood tree-ed "house garden" is still evident among paddocks.

Also evident is the "Rangeworthy" house - built 1910 - with its prominent tower.

The TJ James-owned Rangeworthy quarry for sands and gravels operated uphill from there.

Ravenswood was built in 1890, just as the Depression was starting. Adding a ballroom in 1895 suggests the owner skated through the Depression rather well, as does erecting a first floor suite of rooms above the ballroom in 1910-14.

Mr. R.W. Kennedy remained a man of means. He owned the first motor car in the district.

In 1917 he purchased 2 blocks of land in Noel Street Ivanhoe, one then gifted to the Presbyterian Church, the other on-sold to them at a reduced price.

Ravenswood was a private residence to 3 successive families until after WW2.

One sale by auction in 1937 attracted media attention -

Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Saturday 20 November 1937, page 3

IVANHOE MANSION TO BE SOLD

One of the few remaining mansion homes built in the 1880-1890 boom period, in Ravenswood, Lower Heidelberg road, Ivanhoe, will be offered at auction this afternoon

The house, which contains 16 main rooms and a large ballroom, cost about £30,000 to build, and is a typical example of the architecture of that period. It is being offered, with four acres of ground, by J. J. McGee and Co, auctioneers.

It's early days were noted for its use as a fundraising venue for charities. Garden parties, concerts and dances were held. Special cab services shuttled guests from the railway station.

That era ended when the land was subdivided. Goodbye to the lantern-lit gardens, the fountains and the conservatories.

There was a failed attempt to use the homestead as a childcare centre.

In 1950 the Melbourne Benevolent Society purchased the building and used it as a home for elderly women. An annex added in 1957 allowed 40 women to be accommodated.

The current private owners have undertaken a lengthy and authentic restoration of the house.