48 Cambridge Street just hit the market. The campaign is being run by Di Jones who write that it is "set on one of Paddington's finest streets, renowned for its elegant architecture, this grand 1890s Victorian Italianate terrace blends classical finesse with creative design." Not bad. Although I think the 1890s sells it short, from my research it was built c.1888/1889. This is out of the 1889 Paddington Council rate book, the group 46 through 52 were built by the same firm (Allum Bros.) and in 1889 the council charged rates for dwellings at 48 through 52 and just for land at 46. I really liked how, despite a contemporary renovation to the main living room area, the original decorative corbels (photo below) still flank the arch from the entrance hall - they are classics.
Now can we answer the question 'who's been sleeping in my house?'. We'll have a go. The Sands Directory is a great place to look, here is the link we have previously posted to 1894. As you can see Captain Robert Mailler lived here, and with Sydney being such a martime centre back in the 1800s I am pretty sure we will be able to discover something about him on trove ... and I am not to be disappointed. Hundreds of articles on the good captain ...
One of them reminds us of the house's name - "Perim" in the death notice for the Captain back in 1895 at the ripe old age of 81. A lot more of his life story is revealed in an article on his wife Agnes who lived to be 103. Captain Mailler apparently held the mail contract to New Zealand "until the wreck of his vessel" which was the 'William Denny'. More on the boat here and here, apparently you can dive the wreck it is just off Auckland.
In other 'who's been sleeping' links this house was also owned by Rebecca Cooper, the old Paddington landlady that was featured in the ABC tv documentary who owned over 100 Paddo terraces back in the day. We'll post a feature on Rebecca in the coming weeks.
