Historical information

A National Trust (Vic) citation records that Ellesmore [sic] was: 'A late Victorian Villa in the grand manner but completed to a meaner standard in the Edwardian Period. Notable for the mannerist porticos surmounted by a sepulchre motif: the central vestibule at the intersection of the two major axes, with lantern lighting from above: and the art nouveau woodwork of the drawing room'.

Significance

This work forms part of the collection assembled by the historian Dorothy Rogers, that was donated to the Kew Historical Society by her son John Rogers in 2015. The manuscripts, photographs, maps, and documents were sourced by her from both family and local collections or produced as references for her print publications. Many were directly used by Rogers in writing ‘Lovely Old Homes of Kew’ (1961) and 'A History of Kew' (1973), or the numerous articles on local history that she produced for suburban newspapers. Most of the photographs in the collection include detailed annotations in her hand. The Rogers Collection provides a comprehensive insight into the working habits of a historian in the 1960s and 1970s. Together it forms the largest privately-donated collection within the archives of the Kew Historical Society.

Physical description

View of the front veranda of Ellesmere in Princess Street (now demolished).

Inscriptions & markings

Ellesmere