Shaw House

Shaw House is a house built in 1793, with extensions from 1839 to 1842, and minor later alterations. It is constructed of stuccoed brick with stone dressings and red brick, set within a plot in the parish of Melbourne. The front range, dating to the early 19th century, is three storeys high and has four bays. The rear wing is from the 18th century and has two storeys and three bays. The main elevation features a Tuscan-columned porch with a panelled door and a traceried overlight. Above the door are three glazing bar sashes, each beneath a cambered rusticated wedge lintel, two to the south and one to the north. To the north of the main section is a large, late 19th-century conservatory with a long ridge lantern topped by iron cresting, and two 20th-century glazed doors. Above the original sashes are four more glazing bar sashes below similar lintels, and above those again are four smaller sashes without lintels. The rear wing has a central segment-headed doorcase with a panelled door and divided overlight, now covered by a 20th-century rustic wooden porch. To either side of the doorcase are segment-headed windows; the western window comprises two adjoining glazing bar sashes, and the eastern window a small-paned casement. Above the doorcase is a central, segment-headed glazing bar sash, with pairs of glazing bar sashes to either side, set in segment-headed openings. The interior includes an early 19th-century Gothick stone fireplace in the southern room and a wide 18th-century fireplace with a moulded mantelshelf in the eastern room of the 18th-century wing. An 18th-century staircase runs through three floors in the rear wing, and there are two early 19th-century fireplaces in the western rooms of that section. Records from Melbourne Hall indicate the house was built for Samuel Robinson in 1793 and extended between 1839 and 1842, partly funded by the Robinsons. Samuel Robinson is known as the founder of the market garden industry in Melbourne.