This place looks fascinating – I actually had never noticed it from the street given how far set back it is and the brick front fence. In 1919 Richard Morrison Bowles, Minister for the Congregational Union of Victoria resided here. (http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/images/1919/V/general/124.pdf page 1877).
Some history of 101 Gore St.
Ann Walkley (nee Coggan) sister, Mary Coggan (b. 1811 and married to Thomas Walton), left for Australia with her husband in 1841 on board the Ward Chapman.
Mary Walton travelled back to England for a brief visit in 1869 and returned to Australia in January 1870 on the S.S Somersetshire with two of the Walkley children; Lucretia Theresa and Albion Theophilus.
Mary Walton and her husband Thomas, were very well established and had amassed a large portfolio of property in Melbourne and land in Victoria before Mary died as a widow in 1886. She was childless and left her entire estate to her niece, Lucretia Theresa. Lucretia, was still single and had been living with her aunt Mary according Mary’s will written in 1885. Ann Walkley, Mary’s sister, received a generous annual stipend for her natural life. There was a subsequent law-suit launched by Lucretia and Ann against the Executors of the Will who were accused of siphoning off some of the estate.
Lucretia then married a Methodist minister, Reverend John Hosking in Melbourne in 1887. He served in various parishes in Australia and New Zealand. Mary Walton’s large mansion in Gore Street Fitzroy was used by the Methodist Church as a venue for church social activities; much to the dismay of local residents who frequently lodged noise complaints. His unconventional religious views and his promotion of various medical treatments were criticised by the authorities of the Methodist Church.
Lucretia Theresa subsequently died in Adelaide in May 1918. She was buried there but in January 1919 her remains were moved and placed with her aunt Mary Walton in Kew Cemetery in Melbourne. She left her rather large estate to her husband Reverend Hosking. They had no children. The Reverend died a year later at Broken Hill, NSW, and left what had been the estate of Mary Walton to his two nephews. Mary Walton’s heritage listed large house in Gore Street Fitzroy was later in the hands of the Catholic (not Methodist) Church. It is unclear what happened to the other properties and land that the Reverend’s nephews received. In today’s terms the estate would have been valued at many millions of dollars. It is unlikely that this outcome would have met with the approval of Mary Walton.