Aug 11, 2016

Tour of the Exterior, 1985

This week I happily jumped at the chance to go through one of Q’s old photo albums (on loan from his family) and scan some photos of Holly Lodge. The album is great as it contains a collection of photo highlights of the house dating from when Q first acquired it back in 1985 through to the early nineties, showing the renovation projects that he embarked upon during that time. Apparently there is a sack full of photos of the house still somewhere in storage — I hope it turns up one day!

As I have mentioned in an earlier post, when Holly Lodge was bought by Q (which was in fact the first time it was ever sold; and when we bought it, the second) the place was a bit ramshackle, with wonky floors, weatherboards falling off and other symptoms typical of decades of neglect — not to mention a collection of grumpy and/or disreputable incumbent tenants who had to be turfed out! Or so the story went, anyway. The legend sounded interesting, so to finally get to see photos actually showing it is a real treat.

The first photos I will go through are of the exterior and date from 1985, which was when Q first bought it:

The Drummond St frontage looking very overgrown

The front steps and porch, looking a lot nicer than they do now

*A great photo of the tower, with a glassed-in balcony and missing support posts. It is precipitously overhanging the hill, and looks like its about to tumble into the neighbouring property!*

*Another view of the tower — it really was in a bad state*

*Not sure I’d trust that fire escape, but it was required by law when Holly Lodge was a boarding house*

*The old wash-house at the rear of the property, now demolished. It had been converted into bedrooms and housed some grumpy old men tenants who were very hard to evict by the sounds of it!*

The Tasman St boundary and delapidated old garage

Over the next couple of weeks I will post more old photos of the house and interior, and run through some of the various renovation projects that Q completed over the first 7 years or so that he owned it.

Originally published November 2013