You are viewing a past event.

Large historic building with diverse architectural styles, featuring a stone building with white columns around the entry, and a red brick house on the right amidst lush greenery.
Historic building with a prominent stone facade and tall rectangular tower. White ornamentation around the windows and entryways. red brick buildings are seen to the sides of the main building. lush green lawn and trees surround the building under a clear blue sky.
Historic building with a prominent stone facade and tall rectangular tower. White ornamentation around the windows and entryways. lush green lawn, hedges and a tree sit in front of the the building under a clear blue sky.
A historic stone building with white details, featuring a prominent tower to the left, and arched veranda around the ground level, set in lush gardens under a bright blue sky and gravel driveway leading to the building entry in the foreground.
Large historic building with diverse architectural styles, featuring a stone building with white columns around the entry, and a red brick house on the right amidst lush greenery.

Bishopscourt East Melbourne

James Blackburn and Walter Butler 1853

Description

Bishopscourt is owned by the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne and is of historical and social importance as the oldest house in East Melbourne and the last intact urban estate in the City of Melbourne. In June of 1847, Queen Victoria’s Letters Patent declared Charles Perry as the first Church of England Bishop (and now Anglican Bishops) of the Diocese of Melbourne, thus conferring on Melbourne the status of being a City with what was then the Cathedral Church of St James as the seat of the bishop. Since its first occupants in 1853, Bishop Charles Perry and Mrs Frances Perry, Bishopscourt has been home to all the Anglican bishops and archbishops of Melbourne. During the 1870s it served briefly as the Viceregal home for two Governors of Victoria.

Its architectural significance reflects a span of styles and building techniques from the time of planning in 1850 to the present day. The oldest part of the building features an Italianate design in bluestone while the 1903 Walter Butler wing reflects Federation Queen Anne domestic style. Various improvements have been made since that date.

What's On

Learn more about Bishopscourt and its part in the development of Melbourne with a tour through the foyer, the formal rooms and the chapel. Welcomed in by an actor dressed as Frances Perry, the wife of the first Bishop Charles Perry, visitors will be given information on the overall history of the house, descriptions of each room and the garden.

Images: (1-5) Bishopscourt East Melbourne. All photos: Graham Shephard.

Important Details

Time & Date

Saturday 27 + Sunday 28 July
Open access 10am-4pm
Tours run every 30 minutes starting at 10am. Last tour departs at 3.30pm
Running every 30 minutes in groups of 20

ACCESSIBILITY

Partially wheelchair accessible

Location

120 Clarendon St, East Melbourne VIC 3006

Stay in the loop