Historical information

17 Fellows Street Kew was originally owned and occupied by the architect Henry Kemp. Kemp had arrived in Australia in 1886 and this was therefore one of the first of the many buildings he was to design in Melbourne. While late Victorian in date, the house is an interesting precursor of the Edwardian architecture produced by Kemp. Somewhat awkwardly composed with steep gables, a rectangular castellated tower and slated single storeyed verandahs projecting from the overall box-like form, the house contains features common to the 1880s such as the use of polychromy in the brickwork and slates cladding the roof. (Sanderson 1988). The historian Dorothy Rogers established that at one stage it was the home of Dr John Dale - Chief Medical Officer of the City of Melbourne. This photograph predates later renovations to the rear of the property.

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

17 Fellows Street, Fellows Street frontage.

Inscriptions & markings

"17 Fellows St. Also residence of Dr. John Dale, Melbourne City Medical Officer"

Subjects