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ELLIS HOUSE BAYSWATER WESTERN AUSTRALIA Ellis House situated at 116 Milne Street Baywater was purchased by the City of Baywater in 1995 and is now a Community Arts Centre and Gallery.[1] The house is a typical example of an early settlers weatherboard cottage except for its distinquishing feature a cupola reached by a staircase from the front passage. Legend has it that this provided a viewing platform for the occupants to view the races at the Ascot Racecourse across the Swan River. The house was built in stages by the Ellis family English migrants who arrived in 1911 and established a dairy. The property previously known as 17 Neville Street originally extended from Neville Street to the edge of the Swan River foreshore and consisted of one and three quarter acres. It was purchased in 1962 by Stephen and Janet Meszaros for one thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds. At that time the house was derelict and under a demolition order from Bayswater Council and had to be purchased back from the demolishers for the sum of fifty pounds. The purchasers set about restoring the building by installing French doors, windows in the two sides of the front rooms, taking down the wall between the passage and the front living room (now replaced), installing a new fireplace with wood burning stove over the existing fireplace in the living room (now removed), demolishing the old stone fireplace at the end of the kitchen and replacing it with a new wall and window, installing a laundry and bathroom previously non-existant and repairing the iron roof. They rebuilt the front steps and built a retaining and used a wooden outbuilding on the side (now demolished) as a workshop.[2] The Council offered to fill the front section but this offer was refused as the owners wished to retain the original wetlands and this has enabled the building of the new board walk from the house to the foreshore. The Neville Street section of the property has been sold off for private dwellings. After purchasing the property in 1995 the Council restored the house and gardens and it is now a popular tourist attraction.[3] In 1968 the Meszaros family sold the property and moved to Cottesloe. Citations.wa.gov.au/sl 1.trove. hla.gov.au/version/43149025 2 Daily News Article “The House With a Tower and Future” Sept 26 1963. 3.slwa.wa.gov.au b36546701