The City of Port Phillip honours Carlo Catani

In the past few months, the City of Port Phillip have erected three interpretive signs connected to Carlo Catani - one in the Catani Gardens in St Kilda, one at the Catani Archway and the other at the site of Carlo's now demolished house in Blessington Street in St Kilda.  Well done to the City of Port Phillip for recognising and celebrating their history!

This is the sign in the Catani Gardens

This is the wording - the photo was supplied by the Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society, of which I am President. Ironically, there is no memorial for Carlo on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp unless you count the Swamp town of Catani, which is of course, named for him. However, some sort of memorial is on my list of projects for this year!

This is the Catani Archway in the Catani Gardens - the plaque, mounted on a bluestone plinth, is on the left.

This is the Catani Archway plaque

The Catani Archway plaque includes, the text, above and the image, below.

In 1912, the Catani family home, Glenluce, in Elm Street in Armadale was demolished to make way for the duplication of the railway line between South Yarra and Caulfield, read about this here, and the family moved to Wyndham, 39 Blessington Street,  St Kilda. The house was sold by the family after Catherine Catani died in August 1925. The house has been demolished, the street has been re-numbered (that's why the plaque is at No. 61) and  a block of flats was built on the site, maybe in the 1930s.

This is a close-up of the plaque at Blessington Street.

The Argus, August 21, 1926

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3803792

Wyndham was put up for Auction on Saturday, September 18, 1926. If only I could go back in time, I'd buy the house and make it a permanent shrine to Carlo. Sadly, we don't have  a photograph of Wyndham but this auction notice has a description of the house -  very nice brick villa containing nine rooms, including large dining room. All the rooms are in perfect order. The house is particularly well built and on good foundations...there is also a brick garage with cement floor for 2 cars. Seems too good to have been pulled down and have flats erected on the site however I guess the location situated  in one of the best positions on St Kilda, being near the tram and a splendid shopping centre, sealed it's fate like so many other beautiful houses.

Images: The two photos of the Catani Gardens interpretive sign were taken by me. The four images of the Catani Archway and the two images of  the Blessington Street sign were taken by Isaac Hermann, thanks Isaac!

Carlo's house is removed for rail duplication

Even being the Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department could not protect Carlo's home in Elm Street in Armadale from being removed to make make for some public works - in this case the duplication of the railway line between South Yarra and Caulfield, from December 1911 to December 1915. I have written more about this project, here. 

The family had been at Glenluce, 4 Elm Grove, Armadale since at least 1899, as their last child, Enid, was born at the property. After Glenluce was removed, they moved for a very short time to Orrong Road in Elsternwick and then to Wyndham, 39 Blessington Street in St Kilda. I wonder where Glenluce ended up?

 

Birth  notice of Enid in The Argus of November 18, 1899. 

Interesting that they have the address as Toorak and not Armadale. Did the boundaries change between 1899 and 1912 or, as the property is very close to the Toorak Station (which is actually in Armadale), was the area was locally known as Toorak? Or did Carlo and Catherine think Toorak sounded posher than Armadale?

The removal of Carlo's house in Elm Grove, in May 1912.

The Australasian May 11, 1912 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article143331306

This is  the text from the article - 

CAULFIELD RAILWAY.

Since the work of duplicating the railway line between South Yarra and Caulfield was commenced there has been a good deal of speculation as to which properties would be affected. In one case two fine Queen Anne villas nestled in extensive grounds which abutted on the railway boundary have to be shorn of some of their beauties. From rose gardens and lawns in front a strip of 40ft. has been cut off, leaving the residences within a few feet of a narrow pathway, the charm and value of situation having vanished for ever. No compensation was at first offered. The owners, however, intend leaving no stone unturned to maintain what they claim to be their rights. In the majority of cases the compensation suggested would seem to be about one-third of the value set upon land by owners: in only very few instances have the ideas of both parties to the transaction coincided.

Property-owners contend, and with some reason, that the circumstances are entirely different from those where a new line of railway is being constructed, with an immense consequent improvement in values. In connection with the duplication work, it is claimed that the effect on property will be scarcely perceptible.

From Caulfield to Malvern stations no resumption will be necessary, as the line runs between the Dandenong and Normanby roads, with room for extension on both sides. (The Australasian, May 11 1912. See this article and seven other photos on Trove, here.)