Margareta Webber's House

Two brass plaques situated underneath the balcony and the stand and a stencil underneath the house all identify W. Godley  & Co. of The Burlington Prahran as the supplier of this Tudor style house. The house was acquired by the current owner without the original furnishings. Note the current Webber family plaque is a replacement of the original, which was retained by the family when the house was sold. The house has been furnished with settings bought via a dealer at the Camberwell Market, the furniture predates the house, probably 1860 -1890. 

The house was purchased for eight-year-old Margareta Louise Pitcairn Webber by her grandmother Mary Ann Fairbairn in December 1899 most likely for a Christmas present. Margareta went on to become a renowned bookseller on the fourth floor of McEwan House, 243 Little Collins Street, Melbourneii starting the business in December 1931. The famous London publisher Jonathan Cape visited the bookshop in December 1934 and even its infancy described it as ‘the best ordered and most attractive shop he had seen’. Her stock featured poetry, private presses, psychology, philosophy, cooking and gardening.  One third of the shop was set aside for children’s books, making her perhaps the first Australian bookseller to have such a designated section’. She sold the business in 1973 and died in 1983.