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| A standard Italianate villa, unusually elegantly carried through with metal ridge cresting and finials, patterned slate roof, double-curved verandah roof, and stuccoed front with label moulds to the windows and statuary niches flanking the door. (VHD-B2986) |
At the age of 14, Martin Selius left Norway as a seaman on a sailing ship. His ship reached Melbourne at the height of the gold rush. The crew deserted to go to the gold fields leaving Martin stranded. He found a job washing dishes in a restaurant in William Street. A few years later, Martin Zelius owned the restaurant.
He bought the famous steamer "Lady of the Lake" and traded along the Gippsland coast. Zelius built a house at Bairnsdale, but the railWay was coming, so he sold the steamer before trade slackened off.
In 1888, Martin Zelius bought land in Doncaster Road. Brick stables with a high pitched roof were built first, and here the family lived while the house was being built. Zelius used the same design he had used at Bairnsdale, only altering the plans to perfect details. The house was built slowly, care being taken at every stage.
The facade has delicate symmetry from the steps with their decorative urns, the slender cast iron verandah posts up to the slate roof topped off with fine ridge decoration. There is a magnificent cut-glass chandelier in the sitting room, and right through the house there is a wealth of decoration, all used with restraint and good taste.
During its day "Plassey" was the most elegant house in Doncaster. It still remains our finest example of a house of the eighties.
Irvine Green A.I.A.P. writing in 1971 05 DTHS Newsletter
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| Stables at the rear of 'Plassey,' cnr Doncaster Rd and Dehnert St, Doncaster. Built in 1886 for Martin Zelius. DTHS-dp0244 |
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| 'Plassey', the house built in 1886 for Martin Zelius at 891 Doncaster Road (DTHS-dp0217) |
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| A fine and particularly intact Italianate house of regional architectural significance. It has all of the characteristics of the style, albeit in a symmetrical disposition, including residual garden elements and former conservatory basework. The unusual plan is also of significance. VHD-22478a |
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| VHD-22478a |
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| A standard Italianate villa, unusually elegantly carried through with metal ridge cresting and finials, patterned slate roof, double-curved verandah roof, and stuccoed front with label moulds to the windows and statuary niches flanking the door. Classified: 14/09/1972 Update August 2, 2005 (VHD-B2986) |
Plassey - The Zelius home, Doncaster Road
Plassey, the Zelius home in Doncaster Road, has been classified by the National Trust of Australia.In the citation, the house has been described as:-
A standard Italianate villa, unusually elegantly carried through with metal ridge cresting and finials, patterned slate roof, double-curved verandah roof, and stuccoed front with label moulds to the windows and statuary niches flanking the door. Classified: 14/09/1972
Classifications are no longer divided into A, B, C or D. To achieve uniformity throughout Australia, all buildings previously classified as A, B, C are now called “Classified”. Those listed as D are named “Recorded”.
Plassey is the eighth house in our area to have been classified by the National Trust.
The eight are:
- Finn's Upper Yarra Hotel (demolished by fire 1967)
- Friedensruh, the Thiele homestead.
- Glenfern, Amberley Court,
- Holy Trinity Anglican Church.
- The Finger homestead.
- Pastor Schramm's hose.
- Springbank. Now known as "Claredon Eyre"
- Plassey, the Zelius home.
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