The Meisels Grand House Part 2
In Search of the Meisels' House Part 1
Last issue, I wrote about the majestic
Meisels (pronounced My- sells) house and how I was going to see
if we could find any trace of its existence. We picked our day to perfection. A
midweek day on a pleasant spring morning. I had my trusty assistant, Madelyn,
who has the sharpest eyesight of anyone I know; her ability to find birds and
animals in the bush is uncanny. I was
hoping she would find some treasures on the overgrown plot in our quest for
suburban archaeology.
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| The only known existing picture of the Meisels property. This picture has been edited to remove people. Photo courtesy Gary Pope Archives. |
This is not my first trip into this
estate, but I was surprised by how easy it was to enter the block. Most of the
land on this side of the park has steep batters rising from the road. As we
walked further into the site, there was evidence of the removal with pieces of
brickwork and bits of slate embedded in the dirt. One thing I discovered with
other site explorations I had done, the clearing of the houses was far from
absolute.
Lucky for us, there weren’t many gum
trees to navigate, so it was an easy walk. I did notice a flat section to our
right and made a note to check that area out. There was still hope we might
find evidence of the inground pool in our journey. We continued to follow the
path upwards, and within a few minutes, we hit the jackpot. About 25 metres up
from the road, we found several complete stairs under a copse of trees. Judging
by the ground cover, they had not been disturbed for some time. I honestly felt
like I was the first person to discover them. Gary said that the original stairway
path had landings about every 3 metres, and each one would have a concrete
bench where people could enjoy the view. He recalled how he would see people
seated up and down the path, drinks in hand, socialising. The path itself was
only one brick course per level high with segmented flat rocks (which I will
refer to as slate) on top. Each tread was about a man-sized step & half
wide.
Madelyn and I cleaned them up to get a
better view, and kudos to the workman who laid them. These steps looked
beautiful and wouldn’t look out of place in an Edna Walling garden. They made
it easier to imagine Gary’s recollection of all the people enjoying their
afternoon gathering as I looked towards the highway below.
While clearing the steps, I also noticed a moss-covered section of brickwork, which, when we consulted our photo, we surmised may be part of a brick pillar that rose up next to the steps close to where they passed the house. It was then that I saw a flat area eight to ten metres behind us. Gary said the pathway went all the way to the back of the house, and that is where the main entrance was. At first, I thought it was a place to park a car, until I realised that the block had no driveway. Everyone parked in the street or across the road. This flat area must have been where the back of the house ended. There was a section three metres by 10 metres with a stacked stonework retaining wall with a partial brick structure, which could only be a BBQ. As it had been laid and had rotating brick courses, there was no way this was built after the house was demolished.
A small terrace for smaller gatherings, perhaps? This is also, according to Gary, where his Nana, Stella Patrone, cut through from her house on Alamain Avenue to do her housekeeping work on weekdays after the weekend gatherings. The area looked like it hadn’t had any human visitors for years.
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| Close up of the BBQ |
I was starting to think the location
of the block, so close to the corner and having no real area to walk, was not
used by many people to trek through. I also noticed there seemed to be a lot
less general rubbish on this block compared to others I’d visited.
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| The area where the BBQ is situated |
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| pieces of the BBQ grate |
Another thing that stood out was the
ease it was to move around on foot, though it still had the steep gradient in
places, mainly where the house stood, and other parts towards the front next to
the creek and the rear area. Where the BBQ was, it was very level and with a
mow, could easily be transformed into lawn. The area to the right was
comparatively less dense with tree growth than the creek side, but there were lots
of wild grass and small bushes. Despite the ground cover down in this area, it
looked surprisingly level.
Where most of the National Park side
of the road heading up to Sassafras was steep, I think I had figured out why
there was a flat, relatively easy-to-access entry point on the Meisel block.
Especially for a plot that had no original driveway.
To be concluded.......
