Originally 176 Young Street (prior to the renumbering which occurred in the late 1880s), this house was built somewhere between 1875 and January 1878. William Thomson owned and lived in the property from January 1878 and was a blacksmith. It is difficult to find out much about William Thomson due to his common name and potential misspellings.
In 1880 Thomson left the colony and this advert was run to sell the property he had acquired (14 Jan 1880):
Frank Simmons, a Clicker, was resident in November 1881, and the residence was recorded as a shop in the Rate Books. This is the only reference that I found to it being a shop. By 1885, William Joyce was resident (Sands & McDougall) but I couldn’t find a record for him in the rates books. I think he was probably renting as William Hoggan is recorded as owning the house in 1883. It appears that Hoggan sometimes lived in the house and at other times rented it out, for example in November 1883, Richard Spotter, a grocer is recorded as the resident.
William Hoggan was born in the colony in 1856. He was recorded often as a ‘dyer’ and later in his career as a silk designer. In 1890, the house is recorded as a four room brick residence. While in Fitzroy, William married Caroline Atton (Acton / Alton) and they had two daughters, both born in Fitzroy. I believe around 1909 they moved to Elstonwick where he lived until 1943 when he died aged 87.
Another renter during this period was Mr Samuel Dudley who was resident in 1895. But he decided to leave Fitzroy following the death of his wife on 7 August 1885 (The Age, 8 Aug 1885 and 15 Aug 1885).
According to Sands & McDougall, the house was lived in by a John Wood in 1910 and a James Todd in 1915 and then Mrs Todd in 1920.
From 1925 to 1950, a farrier by the name of Thomas Turner lived in the property, but I haven’t researched him as yet.
