Tuesday 24 November 2015

House names



Naming houses is a tradition which a long history, from Roman villas, to the castles and manor houses of the nobility. In the days before street numbers were common, many more humble abodes received names.

I have been walking my local area collecting names. Thee's such a great variety, ranging from the humorous, to flora and fauna, lots of place names from afar (mainly, but not exclusively from the UK), to deeply personal ones.

One thing I've noticed is the vast majority of named houses are from the Victorian or Federation [Edwardian] periods - around 1900 to 1920 - but not always - some are later, some are clearly whimsical. Sometimes you can see where a name plate once adorned the front wall, but is now gone.

Do houses get named where you are?

Names I have collected: 

Abingdon, Agrinion, Allambe, Alpine, Antikythera, Arcadia, Assety, Attercliffe
Bayview Cottage, Betonville, Boheme, Bonnie Jean, Bowood, Braeside, Bredbo, Brightampton Caloola, Capricorn, Carinya Lodge, Casa Albanese, Casa Nostra, Cerisy, Chateau "D" Oex, Cpburra, Coorawong, Cruden
Dallas, Dappeto, Dawn, Delhi, Dew Drop Inn, Dunnview
Edelweiss, Elouera, Elysium, Fairfield, Fairview, Florida, Franenstein, Freestone, Frenvilla
G & N Paladino, Gables, Gladstone, Glenara, Glenview, Grosvenor
Hadley, Hickman, High Per Area, Hornby, Humming Bird Cottage
Ivyvale
Jacaranda, Joyful
Kia Ora, Kyeema
Lidsdale, Lilyvale, Linden, Lipari, Loganview, Lorna Doone
Maroomba, Maurig View, Maxgate, Menton, Milfordhaven, Mill Cove, Millthorpe, Mimosa, Missabotti, Moloha, Montrose
Nindethana
Often Inn, Oldenburg, Orana, Orwell, Our Happy Home
Pateena
Raynor, Ravon Cottage, Restalrig, Ridgeway, Rita & Nev's Cottage, Rivendell, Rose Cottage, Rose-Lyn, Rose Villa, Rossmoyne, Rossneath
Sarcherie, Stafford, St Kilda, Strathmore, Sydney Athens
Thame Cottage, The Rest, Travancore, Tullamore
Valpre, Vasanta
Waemel, Waya, Weamba, Wentworth, Wolumla
Yack
Zenobia

3 comments:

  1. Rose Cottage is a good name.

    It's a rarity in Canada to name properties, though the Prince Edward Island house that was a basis for Lucy Montgomery's writings is called Green Gables... that's one exception.

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  2. I wonder why the tradition didn't cross The Ditch?

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