Cranlana
This article was first published in the White
Hat Melbourne Newsletter No. 214 on 19th April 2007
Melbourne after the gold rush saw a lot of �new money�. When this
new money came easily it was often invested in the McMansions of the time.
Melburnians often regard these demonstrations that wealth doesn�t always
mean taste as �examples of Melbourne�s grand heritage�.
Then there were those who with little or no money were through their own
enterprise able to establish sustainable businesses that employed many
people in the growing settlements. Numbers of them did not feel the need to
build showy mansions and, at the same time, helped establish Melbourne as
the undisputed philanthropy capitol of Australia.
One such was Simcha Myer Baevski. Arriving from Russia, he set up in the
schmutter trade in The Lane (as Flinders Lane was then called). Later, they
shifted to Bendigo and set up a small store but things didn�t go well. Now,
if Sidney had an MBA he would know that trading conditions were not
currently conducive to retail and that mail order catalogues were disrupting
traditional buying patterns and as a result he should write a new detailed
business plan or exit the industry. Sidney didn�t have an MBA but he had a
violin. And like any good Russian Jew, at night he could make it sing and
make it cry and make it give comfort and make it talk. Maybe it was the
violin that told him that if the customers would not come to him, he should
go to them. He obtained a hawkers cart and headed out door to door. He had
very little English at this stage but Mrs Bendigo, her face flushed and
hands red raw from scrubbing felt somehow quite special standing on the
front step draped in a piece of cloth that Sidney assured her �suited her
complexion�. She did have a little money which she was putting aside for
something else but he was such a well-mannered man - not the sort you
normally meet in the street - and, after all, it really did suit her
complexion.
Years later Sidney, who had dropped his last name and was just known as
Sidney Myer, would enjoy
spending time on the floor in his Melbourne department store and assist new
staff with their first sale. �The customer is special - without them you or
I don�t have a job - so we have to make the act of buying a special occasion
for them.�
But back to the Myer family home. Sidney�s first marriage had no issue -
although the matter of whether the divorce was legal under Australian law
was a different issue. He then married a certain Miss Ballieu - a name that
may ring a bell He was to die as (unknighted) Sidney Myer and she as Dame
Merlyn Myer - the honours and lack thereof being another issue for another
time. For the new family house, a house which had been built about 20 years
earlier in Toorak was purchased. Over time it saw a number of additions and
extensions but always remained understated compared with the Victorian
McMansions of an earlier generation. The department store in Bourke Street
was another matter. The crown of the art deco building was the wonderful
island windows with their sense of magic and something special inside. The
store might be flamboyant but the family home wasn�t. After all, it was the
customer who needed to feel special - not the proprietor. The art deco
windows have long since gone and successive restorations have left only
token facades of the original art deco building - but then Melbourne has
always valued facades over architecture.
Back at the family home, the most important creation was the addition of
a sunken garden. This remains as possibly one of the finest sunken gardens
of its type in Australia. The designer engaged for the work was Desbrowe
Annear. We have already mentioned his work in one of Melbourne�s Hidden Gems
for his design of the beautiful Springthorpe Memorial.
The garden was important not only for family activities but for informal
entertaining of staff of all levels from the department store. Today members
of the Myer family still live there and because the house does not make a
showy presence, the only indication is the Myer crest on the gate. As a
family home, you are unlikely to have a chance to look inside, but never
mind. You can head along to the Sidney Myer Music Bowl and listen to the
Sidney Myer free concerts - both bequeathed to Melbourne by Sidney and the
Myer family. If you do, listen closely to the solo violin and see if it has
a message for you.
___________________
___________________
BL
|
Copyright © 1995 - 2024
White Hat.
|
Other articles in the series Seven Mansions of Melbourne: