GINGERBREAD HOUSE HISTORY
Hawley House has a sister in the town of the
same age, architect and builder. Hawley, built in 1878, is a
respected country matron known for good food, good
accommodation and beautiful gardens. Hawley House, the elegant
country matron, has all the trappings of respectability
tempered by the whimsical bath atop her roof, and an owner
considered by many to err on the eccentric.
Down on the Devonport docks, just up from
the ferry terminal, somewhat overdecorated and a tad
tasteless, can be found Hawley House s younger sister by five
years. She started life as the Methodist Parsonage and a
dazzling girl she was in the thriving town of Pardoe . . . a
landmark of elegance. But over the ensuing century the
importance of Pardoe, now East Devonport, declined, eclipsed
by Devonport's western shore. Her church was pulled down, and
the area became a semi dockland backwater where Fagan could
recruit an entire cast for his Oliver Twist
establishment. The lady on the street corner lost her
looks, the gardens became overgrown and she became known as a
house of ill repute. It is little wonder that her country
sister severed ties with her increasingly dishevelled town
tart.
In the late 1970s the derelict girl was
under threat of the ultimate insult condemned for demolition.
John Houghton, one of the owners of Hawley House and his
recycled countess wife, Dee, recognised the qualities of the
place, purchasing the building and saving her from inevitable
demolition, and breathing new life into her, turning her into
No.71 antiques which specialised in superb Georgian antiques.
In 1988, Renato Delfatti, a restauranteur escaping Melbourne,
purchased the property and converted it into the well-regarded
and highly decorated Olde Rectory Restaurant . Renato stamped
the make-up she still wears upon her cheeks. Once again in
late 2003, her gardens overgrown, her paint peeling and the
ever-aging girl found no-one to keep her warm, stood
derelict. Her tinder dry wooden frame beckoned to a
population renowned for arsonists to send her the way of many
of East Devonport s landmark early buildings. She was in
jeopardy.
In late 2003, Hawley House sent her
owners to the rescue of her ill-fated sister, still standing
cold on the edge of East Devonport docklands, and there has
been the happiest of family reunions. The Houghtons have once
again taken possession.
The country matron, Hawley House, has put
aside her judgemental views of her younger sister s errant
ways, and embraced her. Newly outfitted, new gardens and a new
name to befit a refreshed image, the lady on the corner is no
longer the Olde Rectory but in keeping with her Carpenter
Gothic decorations, is called Hawley s Gingerbread House
. However she is still spirited and demands to continue
in what has become her trade. She welcomes allcomers from the
new ships, Spirits I and II and caters to their every
need.
She stands proudly as ever on the corner,
her sign of the witch, Hansel and Gretel, helps excuse her
painted lady look and makes her less intimidating to
passers-by. The town and country sisters are back
together. Hawley House remains a little aloof, while little
sister, Hawley s Gingerbread House, engages without hesitation
with all the passers by on the corner of Wright and Murray
Streets, East Devonport.
Phone: +61 (03) 6428 6221
