Above: "Dandenong Ranges from Beleura" painted by Eugene Von Guerard and commissioned by James Butchart. Left: Charles Edward Bright, owner of Beleura 1870 - 1888.
mooted during the nineteenth century, gave rise to the building of houses with pretensions of grandeur. The need to be “of a place” was strong. Accordingly, James Butchart set about building Beleura, presumably on the site of a cottage belonging to the previous owner. The twelve-roomed Italianate villa he built reflected his considerable wealth. Constructed in Free Classical style by Italian workmen using local hand-made bricks, Beleura was built on a granite foundation with stuccoed brick walls. The main feature of the single-storey house is the Corinthian colonnade verandah and balustrade parapet. It had a large garden and carriageway, as it still has today, and a vineyard which no longer exists. Strangely, for such a significant building, there has been a degree of uncertainty as to the identity of the architect. However recent research indicates it was Joseph Reed of the firm Reed and Barnes, the same architects who designed, amongst many other buildings, the Melbourne Town Hall, the Royal Exhibition Building, the State Library and Melbourne Trades Hall. James Butchart had little time to enjoy Beleura which was completed in 1865. His infant son died early that year and his wife died on New Year's Day of the following year. James Butchart died, it is said, on the front steps of Beleura in 1869. Prior to his death he commissioned illustrious Austrian born colonial landscape artist Eugene von Guerard to capture the view from the front of Beleura. This painting titled “Dandenong Ranges from Beleura” was completed in 1870 and is on display in the National Gallery of Australia. A second painting, “Schnapper Point from Beleura”, was also completed but its whereabouts are unknown.
Subsequent Owners
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Charles Edward Bright acquired Beleura after the death of James Butchart. He was an enterprising and successful Melbourne business man January 2017