I think I once photographed Melbourne's smallest house in the past but it wasn't this one. I think it was the same suburb, Collingwood. It may have been Melbourne's narrowest house.
This house is Melbourne's smallest, the Doll's House. There doesn't seem much dolly about it to me but I get the point about being small. It has been a long time since anyone lived here, and who would want to.
While the house was moved, it still has its original address. It badly needs some maintenance. Two rooms, one I suppose a bedroom to sleep a family and the other, a rudimentary kitchen and table.The toilet would have been outside and I think laundry would be just done in tub outside. There would have been one tap outdoors for water. I'm sure there should be a chimney but there isn't the evidence.
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That window design looks a bit like the epsilon symbol. Professor G tells me that is used in algebra to denote the smallest quantity.
ReplyDeleteThere... I just made all that up!
JayCee, I always appreciate your reliable and educated contributions. That is except for the 1% that is shite.
DeleteJust trying to help 😉
DeleteIt looks like the home of a very sad little doll ...
ReplyDeleteBob, I have a sad image in my mind now. Thank you, I think.
DeleteIn the Tiny House world, this might be a serious property. It would need indoor plumbing though.
ReplyDeleteBoud, and an electric connection to charge devices.
DeleteSadly I suspect that in our current housing crisis there would be more than one person/family prepared to give it a go.
ReplyDeleteEC, you are right. A little fix up and a student or homeless person would treasure it.
DeleteIt looks like a miner's cottage. Special photo of it though.
ReplyDeleteRoentare, I'd forgotten about tiny miners' cottages. Good one.
DeleteThank you for sharing this. I've considered extreme downsizing but only in my dreams as my husband has other ideas. lol
ReplyDeleteDarla, just not downsizing not quite to this size though.
Deletelol
DeleteAmazing how we used to live but as Elephant's Child says in today's housing crisis some would like to live there.
ReplyDeleteDiane, I suppose it was much the same around the world with slum housing. I suppose you are aware of the gorbals in Glasgow.
DeleteAmazing to me is how people raised families in those tiny little houses.
ReplyDeleteThree or four kids to a bed Debby. The parental bed in the same room where even more children were conceived, quietly.
DeleteThe idea of small houses is an excellent one, especially for tertiary students and retirees whose children have gone. But by small, I was thinking of a large bedroom and a large living room, not a toilet and shower outside.
ReplyDeleteThis is more like it:
Deletehttps://www.habitusliving.com/architecture/sustainable-house-gardiner-architects
An outdoor shower Hels? Luxury. It would have been a weekly tin bath with hot water boiled on a hard fuel stove. The last one in the bath had the dirtiest water.
DeleteThe hall into the small house is a dead ringer for our Balaclava house. My bedroom was closest to the front door and R's was the next one.
There is a very small house somewhere in St Kilda. Can't remember the address but it would have been very dark.
ReplyDeleteCaro, I expect I should but I don't know about that house. You like big big houses now.
Delete"This tiny two roomed cottage was built in the mid 1870s at 130 Islington Street to house local workers and their families..."
ReplyDeleteOne tiny two roomed cottage. For how many local workers and their families? (tongue in cheek here people!)
I can't imagine living in anything so small with all the belongings I have, but for someone who has very little it would be far better than living homeless.
River, the plaque text is ambiguous. People who were class equals would have lived similarly. I would certainly have to downsize to live in such a house.
DeleteSince today it's something along the lines of a museum piece instead of an actual residence, I wonder if the public is ever allowed inside.
ReplyDeleteI don't imagine so Kirk. I expect something will be done with it in the future. A volunteer group could do it well.
DeleteInteresting little house/home, I bet a few slept in it once.
ReplyDeleteMargaret, I am sure at times it was very crowded. The history of the residents would be interesting to know.
DeletePeople made the most of what they could afford and were grateful for a roof over their heads. I'm surprised it hasn't been turned into a tourist attraction, with entry fees.
ReplyDeleteJB, it certainly has potential to be a pay to see tourist attraction. It would need to be appropriated fitted out and a small back yard added.
DeleteWell Australia officially has the largest houses in the world . My mother lives in a very small stone cottage in Geelong which was built in 1850 . It is very similar to Captain Cooks Cottage in the treasury gardens. I suspect that houses got bigger as money became more available in the gold rush era . Before that money and building materials were in short supply and a house was constructed bit by bit
ReplyDeleteIts so interesting to see the very substantial villas which went up in Melbourne in the 1880s and 90s until the economic collapse happened . They were so much bigger and sumptuous compared to those of the 1850s and of course gold was the big difference .
Mem, the Geelong cottage sounds so interesting. So we do have the largest houses in the world. No one I know lives in one. I am a little familiar with Geelong but I can't say I've ever seen such a house. Post gold rush, property speculation made money too, kind of fake money as it all went bust in the 1890s. Inner Melbourne suburbs can be so interesting with beautiful two storey terrace houses standing next to modest worker's houses.
DeleteMy paternal grandparents' house wasn't much bigger. they had the luxury of two bedrooms and raised 6 children, no indoor plumbing, outside luxury loo (NOT!) and a tin bath. I thought it wonderful though.....huge open range and pots hanging from it, one always a boiling kettle.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
WWW, from today's perspective it is rather amazing to imagine how so many people could live in such a small place.
DeleteI would happily stay in The Doll's House if it comes complete with a doll. I would prefer Marilyn Monroe but Kylie Minogue will do. A puncture repair kit may also be necessary.
ReplyDeleteYP, I can't possibly imagine what the puncture repair kit might be used for.
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