Emslee (1857)

Emslee is a two-storey symmetrical residence, stucco, with a timber shingle roof, double gable, timber verandah brackets, with a stone and iron picket fence.

Smith notes “it combines the breadth and simplicity of the post-Regency with a “Gothick” note – the use of twin gables into which two small round-headed windows have been inserted. The carved valance board is another colonial survival, the use of which was soon to be replace in the 1870s by cast-iron lace work, not to return until its revival… in the Federation style.”

The viewer might contrast the more sophisticated style of Emslee with the simplicity and rural air of Tranby (13 Mansfield Street), built some 20 years earlier and where George Mansfield and his wife lived for a time.