Historical information

Clutha was the home of John Carson, the second mayor of Kew. Leonard Terry designed the house for him in 1856. Terry was the architect of the Melbourne Club (1858), the former London Chartered Bank (1861), Lothian Terrace in Carlton (1865), and the ES&A Bank in Hawthorn (1873). The commission for Clutha was won three years after Terry’s arrival in Victoria.

Significance

An extremely rare photograph of a major residential architectural commission of Leonard Terry. The photograph of the house has statewide significance as the home of the Victorian pioneer and businessman, John Carson.

Physical description

A rare, nineteenth century photograph of ‘Clutha’ in Studley Park Road, Kew. The sepia-toned photograph is of the front of the house, with its bluestone foundations and its second storey balcony. A real estate advertisement in 1875 described the house as:
'First-class family mansion, and about 8½ acres of pleasure grounds and fruit garden. The house, erected under the plans and supervision of Mr. Leonard Terry, is most substantially built of brick, stuccoed, on solid bluestone pediment, forming a noble basement story, large entrance hall, and lobby, with conservatory on the left. *** A wide verandah and balcony, erected on cast-iron columns, runs round the house, the views from which are perhaps unequalled in extent and beauty in the neighbourhood of the city, commanding the bay, shipping, Mount Macedon, and Dandenong Ranges. Th e whole forming a most complete gentleman's residence, no expense having been spared in its erection and comfortable finish.'

Inscriptions & markings

"Clutha West Side Studley Park Road Kew / Clutha West Side"