A prefabricated cottage from c1854 built by or for George Watson of Cobb & Co, the Melbourne Hunt Club, and the VRC, and his family lived there into the 1920s. The verandah and bow windows are somewhat later, with the bow windows removed at some point then reinstated when it was restored and reconstructed in the 1980s. The stables in the rear are original to the 1850s.
William (or Patrick) Cleary; George Watson and family
A timber cottage that was reportedly prefabricated and imported from England c1854. The ground level has shallow bay windows under the verandah, and there is a small dromer window with fretted bargeboards for an attic room above. In the rear garden a simple weatherbaord stables building from the 1850s survives.
Land was originally bought by F.G. Dalgety in 1846, and was part of his estate known as Dalgety’s Paddock. The land was subdivided in 1854 before Dalgety soon moved back to England.
This particular block was bought by Henry Langlands, iron founder and politician. Along with Thomas Fulton, Langlands established the first foundry here in 1851. He sold off the block at 7 Burnett Street as he owned many other properties.
It was bought by William (or perhaps Patrick) Cleary, and by 1855 there were a number of small buildings on the land, with the first St Kilda ratebook in 1857 listing it as “a seven-roomed timber house and stables”. George Watson (of Cobb & Co; Melbourne Hunt Club, and the VRC) was listed as the occupant, who then himself bought the property in 1858 and lived there until he died in 1906. His family is recorded as still living in the property in the 1920s, and
It is unclear as to whether it was Cleary or Watson who “brought in sections” of the house from England. Watson (1829-1906) was born in Ballydarton, County Carlow, Ireland. Fenagh is a village in County Leitrim, Ireland, but it is unknown what connection Watson had to it.
Fenagh Cottage originally had a much larger site, with a croquet lawn at the left side and a tennis court at the right and a driveway leading to the coach-house and extensive stabling across the rear boundary. Geroge Watson and his wife raised a family of 11 including nine boys in the house, which remained in the family until at least 1940, when son William Watson died there aged 85. A news report describes the house as full of racing memorabilia, and that the house was 'imported from Ireland'.
The property appears to have remained intact into the 1950s, with Burnett Lodge to the north built on the tennis court land in 1953, and another block of postwar flats replacing the south lawn. The stables and tennis court are no longer there, however the coach-house and one other small building are still existing at the property.
Sold as a development site in 1973, it instead remained a private house, with some alterations made that year, possibly creating the current verandah which is not original. Some repairs and restoration was funded by Heritage Victoria in 1987, when the bow windows were recreated. The Heritage Victoria listing from 1986 notes that "until recently, Fenagh Cottage retained some of its original Morewood and Rogers galvanised iron roof tiles.", but it now has corrugated iron.
Between c2008 and 2024 it was the home of radio personailty Kate Langbroek and family.
Richard Peterson, A Place of Sensuous Resort: Buildings of St Kilda and their People, Chapter 25
Miles Lewis Melbourne Mansions Databse 4553