A residence built in the Renaissance Revival style for Thomas and Margaret Alston. It was later used as a boarding house for St Michael's Grammar School students.
1845 Crown land sale Allotment sale to J Anderson in area between Barkly Street and Brighton Road https://stkildahistory.org.au/our-collection/resources/parish
1873 Vardy Map NW5 listed in area Alma Barkly Inkerman High and Chapel Street House Number 17 Indexed as owned by J Alston https://stkildahistory.org.au/our-collection/resources/vardy-plans
Thomas and Margaret Alston; Emilie Margaret King
To come
Built for Thomas and Margaret Alston. Thomas Alston was a partner in the company Alston & Brown, silk mercers..The property passed to their children.
1912 brought by Emilie Margaret King. The house was renamed 'Karkoola' and a second storey verandah &c added
1918 Auctioned. Acquired by St Michaels Grammar School who used it as a boarding house until 1964.
1964 it was demolished for the construction of three blocks of flats at 54-8 Barkly Street.
Images on St Kilda Historical Society database - to come
Melbourne Mansions Data Base 3332 & 7126
St Kilda Historical Society. (2019, August). St Kilda's Lost Mansions: Braemar 56 Barkly Street, St Kilda. St Kilda Times, (228), 9 - 10. Retrieved from https://stkildahistory.org.au/news-and-events/newsletters
S&M 1863 (1st entry) Alston, Thomas, Waterloo St, St Kilda S&M 1866 Alston, Thomas, Waterloo St, (north side bet Barkly St & High St)
S&M 1867, 1875 Alston, Thomas, Barkly St (east side bet Alma St west & Waterloo St) Annotation by Raggatt identifies this as Vardy plan No. 5 NW , lot 17.
TS Note: This is the same site but differently defined) S&M 1885 Alston, Thomas. 'Braemar' Barkly St, St Kilda, (east side bet Alma St west & Waterloo St)
S&M 1895, 1900 Alston, Thomas, JP, 'Braemar', 56 Barkly St, St Kilda S&M 1910 Alston, Miss Elizabeth, 56 Barkly St, St Kilda
S&M 1914 King, Selwyn [Resident Sec, Mercantile Mutual Insurance Co Ltd], 'Karcoola' , 56 Barkly St, St Kilda.
Allan Willingham, 'Marylea Flats' (former Alston villa), 3-5 High Street,. Mordialloc 3195, &c (Melbourne 2002), pp 12-15:
Thomas Alston, partner in Alston & Brown, silk mercers, & director of various companies, bought the site in Barkly St on 28 October 1864, and built a 2 st Italianate mansion which he called Braemar. Margaret Alston died at Braemar in 1905 and Thomas in 1907. The property passed to their children, and then on 16 January 1912 to Emilie Margaret King. The house was renamed 'Karkoola' and a second storey verandah &c added, then offered at auction in 1918.
Subsequently E M King offered it to St Michaels Grammar, who retained it until 1964, when it was demolished for the construction of thee blocks of flats at 54-8 Barkly St.
The History of St Kilda, i, p 233. A photograph of the house of Thomas Alston was among those sent in 1873 to the Vienna Exhibition illustrating palatial homes of the borough. Raggatt, 'St Kilda', 1873 Vardy plan 5 N W, lot 8 is 'Braemar'
. MU Archives, Sydney Arnold & Co real estate leaflet collection, book Feb 1918 - Feb 1920, p 79. Auction 15 Oct 1918 leaflet a/c Mrs E M King,sale of 'Karcoola', 56 Barkly St, St Kilda, 2 storey house with masonry columned ver & balc. There is further scope for improvement & Messrs Oakden & Ballantyne have plans & can furnish full particulars of the building.
TS Note: 'Karcoola' is obviously 'Braemar' but with an added balcony. Peel, St Michael's Grammar School, pp 87-9. House offered as gift by Mrs Selwyn King to St Michael's school. Became a boarding school; sold in 1964 & demolished.