The Jenkins homestead stands on a hill at the corner of Blackburn and Reynolds Roads. From these roads, only the slate roof can be seen, for the verandah with its cast-iron lace and walls of hand-made bricks are hidden by the surrounding fruit trees.
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| Jenkins Homestead 1875 |
Richard Serpell, who built the house, was still a boy when his family came to Australia. Jane Serpell, the mother, had one daughter and six sons, Richard being the youngest. They had come from Cornwall and bought land in Glenferrie in the vicinity of Swinburne College.
In 1853, the family bought twenty acres in East Doncaster at the corner of King Street and Tuckers Road. During the first three years, they used to walk across to this land out in the bush for weekends and holidays. They built a hut, cleared the land, and planted fruit trees. As the orchard prospered, members of the family bought more of the surrounding land.
Richard Serpell's land was at the corner of Blackburn and Reynolds Roads. In 1875, Richard married Annie Beeston. They came he live in a four-roomed brick house that he had built as the top of the hill in his orchard. The walls were hand-made bricks. Clay, which was quarried from the land, was baked into bricks in a portable kiln set up on the site.
When their first child was born, Richard's wife died in childbirth. His sister Jane took the baby Annie and reared and educated her. When Annie Serpell grew up she married William Goodson, the head teacher of the Doncaster School. They lived in Doncaster Road near the corner of Williamsons Road.
A few years later, when Richard Serpell was visiting his brother on Phillip Island, he met Alice Jane Reid, the daughter of a retired sea captain. In 1879, they were married and went to live in the brick homestead. After a tragic drowning in their dam, the whole family decided to leave the area and move to the corner of Doncaster and Williamsons Roads. Mrs. Jane Serpell built a house in Doncaster Road where she lived with her daughter Jane and the baby Annie. Richardës house and orchard was around the corner in Williamsons Road.
Richard Serpell sold his homestead to Mr. Scorfield, of the firm of Scorfield and Coulton, one of Melbourne's leading Collins Street tailors. He was acting for his sister Jane Jenkins of Bridgend in Wales. The Jenkins family, David and Jane with two boys and three girls, left Wales in September 1882. They sailed in the "John Elder" to start a new life in a new country. However, the voyage ended in tragedy. A few days before Christmas, their two and a half year old daughter Margaret died. She was buried at sea as the ship approached Fremantle. On New Year's Day 1883, the Jenkins family arrived in Melbourne. They were met by Mr. Scorfield who took them out to their new home. The handsome house was in a wonderful position at the top of a hill with a magnificent view across the distant bushland to the Dandenongs. Jane and David Jenkins were able to look down on their own land stretching on either side to Blackburn Road.
David Jenkins improved the house. He built a verandah on the north and across the front. Cast iron decorative lace lined the roof and, unlike other houses in the area, the verandah posts were cast iron with elaborate mouldings. On the south, the verandah led into the coloured glass door of an additional room. The eldest Jenkins boy, William, and his sister Martha went to the Deep Creek School. They used to walk through the orchard to the corner of Reynolds Road and then it was only a short distance to the little school at the corner of Andersons Creek Road. When this school was moved to East Doncaster, the children attended the Templestowe School.
After the death of David Jenkins, the land was divided between the two boys. The house went to William and his wife Anne. William had married Anne Rassmussen, the daughter of a neighbouring family. The Rassmussens had come from Denmark and lived in Serpells Road.
In 1922, additions were made to the house. The rear of the building was changed. Brick rooms and a new kitchen were built and the verandah was continued around the house. These alterations did not change the character of the building, it was merely enlarged.
The Jenkins Homestead is now one hundred years old. Much has happened since Richard Serpell built this fine house at the top of his land, but today standing on the verandah of the home one can look on a view that is still rural in character.
Irvine Green writing in 1975 02 DTHS Newsletter
23 Hemingway Ave . Templestowe VIC 3106. GoogleStreetView Jan2015
Homestead 23 Hemingway Avenue, Templestowe.
Richard Serpell, a pioneering district orchardist, who arrived in colonial Victoria with his parents and two brothers121 was the first owner of this property. He was associated with its site from 1864 or earlier.122 Early maps show an 160 acre allotment south of Chivers (now Reynolds) Road between Serpells and Blackburn Roads owned by the brothers, Richard and Henry Serpe11.123 Titles Office records confirm that in 1872, Richard Serpell became the registered owner of a selection of 82 acres, the northern portion of this allotment.124 Henry held the southern portion125
The earliest front part of the present brick house in Hemingway Avenue, which was built for Richard Serpell on his 82 acre northern selection, dates from 1875. In that year he was rated for house and land.126Listed in rate records as a farmer and gardener, Serpell and his family lived in the house for the next seven years. The house increased in value in the late 1870s and early 1880s suggesting some increase in its size.127
Titles Office records confirm that in January 1883 Serpell's property was sold to Robert Scourfi el d,.128 acting on behalf of Jane Jenkins.129 From that time, the house was occupied by the family of David Jenkins, fruitgrower and orchardist130 who became the registered owner in 1898.131 In 1890, the Jenkins home had been described as a brick house occupied by ten people on 80 acres of land between Serpens and Blackburn Roads132 During the Jenkins ownership, the house was substantially extended. Its increased size was reflected in the increased rating from 80 pounds in 1883 to 140 pounds in 1887 and 245 pounds in December 1890..133
Of regional historical significance as an early building associated with Richard Serpell, one of the major pioneering orchardists in the area, and for its continuing associations with the Jenkins orcharding family for more than 110 years.
121 Irvine Green, The Orchards of Doncaster and Templestowe, 1985,p.7.
122 Templestowe District Board RB 1864 No.164.
123 Plan of Bulleen,Parish of Bulleen Map 526 B, 1874.
124 Crown Title vol.735 fol.146844 (Allotment 14A3, Parish of Bulleen).
125 Parish of Bulleen. Directory Maps of the County of Bourke, 1892.
126 Shire of Bulleen RB 1875 No.244 (NAV 40 pounds).
127 Shire of Bulleen RB 1879 No.228 (NAV 50 pounds); 1883 No.242 (NAV 62 pounds).
128 Crown Title vol.1421 fol.284011.
129 Jane was reputedly Scourfield's sister. Scourfield, it has been suggested was the Jenkins' solicitor.
130 Shire of Bulleen RB 1883 No.193 (NAV 80 pounds).
131 Shire of Doncaster RB Templestowe Riding No.166.
132 Shire of Doncaster RB 1890 Templestowe Riding No.149.
133 Shire of Bulleen RB 1883 Templestowe Riding No.193; 1887 No.221; 1890 No.149.
Doncaster & Templestowe Heritage Study . Additional Historical Research. 24
http://images.heritage.vic.gov.au/attachment/3878
Templestowe's Jenkins Homestead up for sale for third time in 138-year history
RESTORATION boffins with an eye for history need not look further than Templestowe for their next project.
The Jenkins Homestead, a heritage-listed property in Hemingway Ave, is set to change ownership for only the third time in its celebrated 138-year history.
The house has connections to some of the area's best-known pioneers.
Orchardist Richard Serpell, the youngest of seven children, built the house from handmade bricks and clay in 1875.
The house was sold to David and Jane Jenkins, another pioneering orchardist family, who moved into the house in 1893.
Mr Jenkins improved the house by building a veranda at the front and adding cast iron latticing and posts.
Further improvements were made to the house in 1922 with an extension of the veranda and a new kitchen.
The property remained in the Jenkins name throughout last century and the early 2000s, until the family tried to have the homestead demolished in 2010.
The proposal was rejected by Manningham Council and later the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Fletchers real estate agent Maurice Walters said the owners - who declined to speak to the Manningham Leader - hoped to find a buyer wishing to restore the building to its former glory.
He said the property, which has several heritage restrictions, had created some interest, but remained on the market.
"The old homestead is probably the single best land site in Templestowe, it just needs the investment," Mr Walters said.
"We just need someone with that passion and interest in heritage to restore it."
Doncaster Templestowe Historical Society president Judith Leaney said the old building was historically significant.
"If it were was to remain and the real estate agent found someone who would restore the home to the standards of its early days, we would be very happy," Ms Leaney said.
Mr Walters said the 1450sq m property was being sold for $880,000.
The Jenkins Homestead, a heritage-listed property in Hemingway Ave, is set to change ownership for only the third time in its celebrated 138-year history.
The house has connections to some of the area's best-known pioneers.
Orchardist Richard Serpell, the youngest of seven children, built the house from handmade bricks and clay in 1875.
The house was sold to David and Jane Jenkins, another pioneering orchardist family, who moved into the house in 1893.
Mr Jenkins improved the house by building a veranda at the front and adding cast iron latticing and posts.
Further improvements were made to the house in 1922 with an extension of the veranda and a new kitchen.
The property remained in the Jenkins name throughout last century and the early 2000s, until the family tried to have the homestead demolished in 2010.
The proposal was rejected by Manningham Council and later the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Fletchers real estate agent Maurice Walters said the owners - who declined to speak to the Manningham Leader - hoped to find a buyer wishing to restore the building to its former glory.
He said the property, which has several heritage restrictions, had created some interest, but remained on the market.
"The old homestead is probably the single best land site in Templestowe, it just needs the investment," Mr Walters said.
"We just need someone with that passion and interest in heritage to restore it."
Doncaster Templestowe Historical Society president Judith Leaney said the old building was historically significant.
"If it were was to remain and the real estate agent found someone who would restore the home to the standards of its early days, we would be very happy," Ms Leaney said.
Mr Walters said the 1450sq m property was being sold for $880,000.
Shaun Campbell, Manningham Leader July 31, 2013 12:00am
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/east/templestowe8217s-jenkins-homestead-up-for-sale-for-third-time-in-138year-history/news-story/5a2dc2c117fc94d2d37fb3eba9c6ee0a
Nov2012 https://www.realestate.com.au/property/23-hemingway-ave-templestowe-vic-3106
HEMINGWAY AVE, TEMPLESTOWE
The four-room brick house was built for pioneering orchardist Richard Serpell in 1875 using clay quarried from his land to for the locally-fired bricks. In 1883 the property was sold to the Jenkins family who retained the property until bought by our clients in 2014. The building has fallen into disrepair since the late-1970s and it is proposed to demolish the addition constructed by the Jenkins family in the 1930s and to construct a large, 2-storey addition at the rear of the original house. The original house, which is excellent structural condition, is to be restored, and the new work has been designed to appear to be physically separate but still related through the selection of complementary brickwork and pitched roof forms. The internal spaces and their relation to the rear garden are to be open and provide for contemporary living. The project had to respond to Development Guidelines specifically prepared for the property by Manningham Council under the Heritage Overlay applicable to the property.
http://colemanarchitects.com.au/hemingway-1/ JUL2017
SIGNIFICANT SLICE OF HISTORY WITH A DAZZLING FUTURE...
FLOORPLAN
Originally built for pioneer orchardist, Richard Serpell, in 1875 as a 4 roomed, double-fronted Italianate villa with bricks hand-made and fired on site and set amid 82 acres with a long driveway leading to Serpells Road, this historically-significant residence was deliberately sited to capture views of the Dandenongs from the front east-facing rooms.
In 1883 the property was sold to another pioneering orchardist family, the Jenkins, who added iron lace to the verandah and later sympathetically extended the floorplan at the rear in the 1920's.
The land was subdivided in the 1970's when it was decided to retain a significant parcel of land around the original homestead in recognition of its prominent role in the area's history.
Today the home remains in the Jenkins family and is in original, if faded condition and in need of complete renovation and restoration. However, it's inspiring setting, very generous, level allotment and stunning potential to be transformed into one of the area's most palatial and significant period properties lend it unparalleled appeal.
In a quiet street surrounded by a choice of parkland, buses and schools, this home is moments from The Pines, Westfield Doncaster, Ruffey Lake Park and an array of cycling and walking tracks.
Prime parcel of 1450 sq.m. approx.
North facing street frontage
Rare renovation opportunity
Large, level allotment
Quiet and convenient setting
Historic home with appropriate heritage overlays
Terms: 10% deposit, balance 30/60/90 days (negotiable)
Land: 1,450 sq m approx.
Source: https://fletchers.net.au/6342/23-hemingway-avenue-templestowe. Nov2022
GoogleStreetView Aug2019
Almost certainly Jenkins Homestead. Painting by Norman Thomas. Unknown date. DTHS knows owner as at Dec2022
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