The Meisels’ Grand House.
Rediscovering the New Mystic Lake Estate Part 1 of 3
The New Mystic Lake estate, just southeast
of The Basin Triangle in what is now part of the Dandenong Ranges National Park,
was a failed real estate venture in the early 1950s. One of the problems with
the campaign to sell the land was the fact that the brochure didn’t quite match
the terrain. Hundreds of plots of land were mapped out in nice rectangular
blocks, but in reality, they were on the side of a mountain with an almost 30-degree
fall over some parts. It’s been recorded that some people bought land sight
unseen, only to come to view and break down in tears. Not many plots were sold,
but some purchasers saw the benefits of the area and decided to build. Mind
you, a few never even made it that far. Occasionally coming up and pitching a
tent, then eventually not returning.
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| The only known photo of Lot 158 Stella Patrone is on the far left. Andre Meisels to her immediate right and Gary Pope in front of her. |
However, there were some who embraced the area. I’ve already written about the Pope residence that was built by William & Yola Pope as a weekender and a permanent residence for Yola’s mother, Stella Patrone, an independent woman who enjoyed the simple pleasures and isolation of the area.
Lack of services such as electricity,
telephone, and sewer made permanent living a bit of a deterrent, but those who
did build made comfy weekender-style homes with tank water and kerosene fridges
& wood stoves. There was one house that stood out from them all, services
and location be damned.
That was the Meisels House. Owned by Ondre
(a.k.a Andre or Andrew) and his wife Jolly, it was used as their
weekender, where they loved to entertain.
This was on Mountain Highway, situated
between the bend where the bus terminates and Inverness Avenue. The house may
have looked like a modern and compact version of the grand old houses that were
built all over the Dandenongs around the turn of the century.
With a retaining wall adjacent to the
road with a six-foot-wide stairway leading some 25 metres up to the two-story
brick abode, the property frontage was set back from the road by such a
distance that cars could park at 90-degree angles to the road in front of the
retaining wall. As you entered the
property to the right and parallel to the road was an inground swimming pool,
complete with paving and another retaining wall.
The bottom part of the structure was a large games room, and above was an open entertaining area with a lounge and a kitchen. Facing the street was a huge verandah which could comfortably accommodate 40 people, looking up at the recently installed TV towers on Mount Dandenong. The house wasn’t so much a holiday house but more like a day retreat, as there was very limited space for overnight guests.
The house was also special in other regards, as it boasted two water tanks - one that had a heating system for hot water that
supplied the house, and something almost unheard of in the whole estate, a
flushing toilet. Mr. Meisels owned a very successful retail store in Bourke
Street in the city called American Tailors, named so because back in the
1950s, almost everyone associated style and fashion with the United States. You
only have to think of movie stars to get where that idea was formed. And it
worked; it allowed him to build this amazing house. The aforementioned Stella Patrone was the housekeeper for Mr Meisels, and
each Monday after he had large family/friend gatherings there. She would cut
through the back of the property from her home diagonally behind on Alamein
Avenue (now track), which proves she was a tough old lady, as the path was
extremely steep and uneven.
Ms Patrone also lived above and diagonally across
from the other constructed house on Mountain Highway. This was owned by The
Robinsons, whose home was of weatherboard and fibro construction, built so
that it also sat high on the block due to the steep gradient. Next door to
where their house once stood is a set of stairs on a flat piece of cleared land
that still exists today. This was done by Les and Shirley Yardley, who lived in the Robinsons’ house when they retired to
Upwey. They also lived/rented the Meisels’ home for a time while they were
intending to build. The cleared land and steps were all they managed. Now the
steps are the unofficial memorial of the failed venture, both theirs and the
New Mystic Lake Estate.
Mr. Meisels died in 1978. The business he started
still exists today in Bourke St., albeit in a new location and with new owners.
Behind the scenes, the estate was never going to
endure. After the 1968 bushfires, the Government was actively buying back
houses in the area, and this was completed in 1984. The Meisels house was on
the extreme boundary of the new Dandenong National Park, and by then all traces
of housing and non-native flora were removed. The bulldozers came in and
flattened everything.
Or did they?
One wonders if the pool was removed or just filled
in? As I have discovered in past explorations of the old housing estate, they
weren’t as thorough as I first thought.
I was going back up to Mister Meisels’ house and
seeing what I could find.
For previous New Mystic Lake history click HERE
originally printed in BBCN Issues 348-351
