Woonsocket (Demolished) 43 Barkly St

An early owner was Robert Smith, from 1865, when it was called Berochah. He sold in 1873, when the house was described as 'commodiuous', but 20 years old.

In 1873 it was then bought by Francis Boardman Clapp, the American born transport entrepreneur who introduced horse trams and then cable trams to Melbourne. His wife, Isabella Pennock Pierce, had been born in Woonsocket, Providence Rhode Island, and the house was renamed after her hometown.

The Vardy plan of 1873 shows a house of similar layout to the later MMBW plans, but shows the front part of the house to be timber. A later newspaper reference states that Hallenstein built or rebuilt the house in 1874, so it is likely the timber section was replaced then by a larger two storey brick house on a similar layout. 

Isaac Hallenstein bought the property in approximately 1877. His son Rupert Hallenstein married Lucy Michaelis, daughter of his business partner Moritz Michaelis, who lived Linden in Acaland Street. After Isaac's death in 1897, they continued to live at Woonsocket into the 1930s. Lucy worked hard to establish the Soldiers’ Lounge in St Kilda. She also fundraised for the Alfred Hospital and received an OBE in 1934.

The property was put up for sale in 1941, advertised as suitable for subdivision into 12 lots. These were not sold until 1949, the subdivision including the new cul-de-sac of Woonsocket Court. Many blocks were bught by the same developers, hence the matching style of the small cream brick apartment blocks that now line the street. No 1 was developed by noted architect Ernest Fooks as flats and to house his office, completed in 1955, but is the most altered.