Hardy Mount Albert Estate

I have updated this posting to reflect some new information on the houses that were contained in the Mount Albert Historical Society Newsletter which was kindly provided by Jill Hardy. This newsletter includes two photos dated 1920 and 1933 respectively providing views at those dates of the three houses at 30, 34 and 36 Mount Albert Road.

The three houses in 1920. From left to right number 30, 34 and 36 Mount Albert Road. Kitenui Avenue does not exist at this date. The fence that can be seen just beyond number 30 is possibly the border of the Hardy land.

The newsletter identifies number 30 as the Hardy house known as Montana. It states that when a half story was added in the 1980s the chimneys were demolished and the bricks were used to make a wall seen today. The large villa at number 34 is said to have been "removed bodily" from its site in the 1990s and replaced by a tudor style home. Number 36 is now two storied, a flat having been added in the 1980s. The property is surrounded by a beautiful stone wall. The above photo indicates that a stone wall may have run along the frontages of all three houses.

I recently visited Mount Albert Road to view the remaining houses. Only 30 and 36 Mount Albert Road still exist largely in their original form. I had the pleasure of meeting with the current owners of 36 Mount Albert Road. They were keen to learn about Charles Hardy and to establish more about the history of their own house.

1933 view of the Hardy houses. Kitenui Avenue now exists and more houses have been built. At this date the Hardy Estate subdivision has been partly sold.

From researching the titles and receiving some very helpful information from the current owners of 36 Mount Albert Road we have established that Charles Hardy built houses on 30 and 34 Mount Albert Road. We have not found any evidence that he owned 36 Mount Albert Road. Some confusion was created by the changes in numbering the houses on Mount Albert Road. At one point what is now 34 was number 36 Mount Albert Road. The villa at 34 Mount Albert Road must have existed by the early 1920s if the above photo has been correctly dated.

I am currently doing more research to identify exactly when 34 Mount Albert Road was built and when it was occupied by the Hardy family. It is the house where Alice Hardy lived in her later years and it was left to Florence Hardy in Charles Hardy's Will- subject to being available to Alice for so long as she was alive.

A further blog will be published on this topic in due course.