Jocelyn Plate at Carl Plate’s art exhibition in the 1950s.Following Jocelyn’s death at the ripe old age of 100 in February, the three-bedroom cottage is now up for auction via BresicWhitney’s Maclay Longhurst and Emily Davidson with a $2.2m price guide.But it was the weatherboard cottage’s convenience to St Vincent’s Hospital that had led to Jocelyn buying it in 1957 on behalf of her mother, Clarice Zander, also an artist, who curated the first exhibition of modern art in Australia.
“My grandmother bought it because she was in and out of hospital at St Vincents,” said Cassi, who treasures the Christmas card illustration that Clarice did of the Paddington house she’d named “Bloomfield Cottage’.The cottage retains its charm.Since that time, it’s been home to four generations of the Plate family, with it also being rented out to family and friends, including art curator Daniel Thomas and actor Pamela Stephenson.These walls were made of money.
In recent years, after Jocelyn moved out needing extra care, Cassi based herself at the house to write a large portion of her latest novel, Monster and Colossus, which is based on letters between Costas Taktsis, one of Greece’s most important post-war writers, and Cassi’s father, Carl Plate. “Nearly all of the 10 great grandchildren have stayed or lived in the Paddington house at various times,” Cassi said.