CHARTERISVILLE 77-79 BURKE ROAD NORTH IVANHOE, BANYULE CITY (original) (raw)

What is significant?

Charterisville was built c. 1840 by David Charteris McArthur, Melbourne's first bank manager. The house was built of sandstone quarried on the site and remains today as a partially complete dwelling with original cellar, enclosed rear verandah and panelled window and door openings.

How is it significant?

Charterisville is significant for historical reasons.

Why is it significant?

Charterisville is historically significant for its strong association with the artists of the Heidelberg School. In 1887, following the death of banker David McArthur, Charterisville passed into the hands of a dairy farmer who leased part of Charterisville to artist Walter Withers. Charterisville became an important centre and artists' colony within the Heidelberg School and went on to become the longest surviving artists' camp in Melbourne. Norman and Lionel Lindsay recorded the beauty of Charterisville and in 1893 Phillips Fox and Tudor St George started Australia's first Summer School at Charterisville.

Charterisville is particularly important as the first locale in which women artists painted and produced distinctive works.

Charterisville is historically significant for its association with David Charteris McArthur. McArthur arrived in Melbourne in 1838 and at the age of twenty-eight opened Melbourne's first bank, the Bank of Australasia. McArthur moved to Charterisville in 1840 and gave the property his family name. At the time of McArthur's occupation, Charterisville had extensive grounds and bore the mark of a home of an important citizen; the property also contained cottages, coachhouse, stables and vinery. McArthur was an important member of early Melbourne society and became President of the Trustees of the Public Library, a Trustee of the Botanical Gardens, a foundation member of the Mechanics Institute (later the Melbourne Athenaeum) and President of the Old Colonists Association.