Sometimes a casual comment on a post can lead me to action.
During Covid lock down I got into the habit of an afternoon walk for maybe ninety minutes with a take away coffee stop along the way, an iso (isolation) walk. I haven't maintained the walking but every normal afternoon I get out and about which does involve walking. Sometimes I struggle to think where I would like to go but the comment I am referring to was a stimulus no brainer for me and it turned out to be rather interesting.
So, let us take a look at Merton Place. It is a short street in the inner southern suburb Albert Park running between Richardson Street and Merton Street. It has a dog leg at one end. I was specifically looking for a single storey house, they all are, with a tin roof. That only eliminated one.
This is unusual for Australia. While there is the standard council street name on a post, this original street sign is mounted on a house and has been protected.
Across the street is number 1.
3, 5, 7 & 9
9 & 11.
Back on the other side, 12 just sold, 10 & 8.
14 & 16. 16 has a tiled roof but that could be recent. Write off 18 as it has an old concrete tile roof.
As you can see, 11 is very hard to see and sits beside another nightsoil lane now called Rankin Lane.
The next two photos show the street dogleg. While the houses after the dogleg look newish, they are not. The are just extended houses from older times, and have a Richardson Street address.
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Gobsmackingly expensive.
ReplyDeleteI was also taken with the nightsoil lane references - a euphemism which may not be known to everyone.
I may be wrong EC but I believe that nightsoil means shit in common parlance. I would rather live on Nightsoil Lane than Shit Street.
DeleteEC, maybe they were once called the dunny can lanes. I can't remember now, but I do remember them being called nightsoil lanes. Toilets with collection cans sat against the back fence and a inbuilt gate was opened to remove the pan or there was a fence gate for the dunny can men to come and go.
DeleteYP, no one actually lived in such lanes as they were at the back of properties. But yes, merde was their raison d'etre.
DeleteFlippin' Nora! I must tell His Lordship!
ReplyDeleteJayCee, he should have bought. Does he know which one it was?
DeleteYes. He and his first wife bought number 8. It was a heck of a lot cheaper back then.
DeleteYep JayCee. We should have bought there too. Who would have thought property would become so expensive. Even so, he should have done ok at the time. Interesting to look at Street View and see firewood piled up on the front verandah.
DeleteWeird to see street signs on residents' houses. My old house in Hawthorn East was sold for 3.8 million during pandemic.
ReplyDelete*0* !!
DeleteRoentare, what a shame no money went to your pocket.
DeleteGeez. I can't imagine. Andrew, we own 8 houses. We buy fixer uppers. Even fixed up, the value of all of those properties do not total anywhere near the price of that one house.
ReplyDelete8???
DeleteDebby, it is rather absurd. I know the US has really good properties in nice areas that cost so much less. Perhaps we need to think of it as a modest apartment in Greenwich Village, NYC.
DeleteRiver, we buy run down properties and bring them back to life. The house itself dictates whether it we resell it, or keep it as a rental. We pride ourselves on having affordable, nice properties, and we are blessed to have tenants who move in and stay there. We've sold 7. Since we do the work ourselves, it maximizes our profits. We are turning 66. We're renovating our last house, and beginning work on our retirement home.
DeleteI have never seen the attraction of those places other than their proximity to the city. The workers who originally lived in them would be gobsmacked indeed.
ReplyDeleteCaro, we had a similar house in Balaclava, without car parking. We enjoyed it at the time but our place now is much bigger and a whole lot more easier living, hot water not withstanding.
DeleteWith prices like that for such tiny places, no wonder people are living in their cars! It's outrageous.
ReplyDeleteRiver, outrageous and absurd. Keep in mind though, it is such a nice quiet area, a short walk and a ten minute tram trip to the city.
DeleteI love the single-storey Victorian cottages with small verandas and wrought iron decoration, small front gardens, and short picket fences. As long as the houses are ever-so-slightly detached. I loved Carlton as a young child, and the ones you showed in Albert Park also look gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteHels
DeleteHels, it mostly where they are. That is close to the city that make them so desirable. I expect property pricewise, Carlton now wouldn't be too far behind Albert Park.
DeleteThat is a bit expensive.
ReplyDeleteSomewhat of an understatement TP. I have no idea of prices where you live.
DeleteYour prices are as bad as ours. Reading real estate listings is always an amazing activity.
ReplyDeletePat, while we didn't pay attention to property prices in Toronto in 2015, we were quite shocked by property prices in Vancouver.
DeleteYikes! That's outlandish! And I thought it was bad here.
ReplyDeleteStrayer, for us US property out of the major cities seems very cheap. R watches a US house flipper show and so many are just so cheap.
DeleteGood God. That's insane. For that little house?
ReplyDeleteI'm intrigued by the phrase "nightsoil lane." I guess that's like a service alley, where they would have taken away rubbish (and nightsoil, presumably) in the old days?
Oh, I'm now seeing the comments above about "nightsoil lanes."
DeleteHey, my first comment went to spam!
DeleteInsane prices for sure Steve. Not rubbish though. Just nightsoil/shit cans. All three of your comment went to spam.
DeleteWow!
ReplyDeleteI shouldn't have been surprised Darla. It is quite depressing really. The gap between the haves and have nots grows ever wider.
Delete