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Ontario
44 Park Crescent, Alphington
"Ontario" is a residence on the corner of 44 Park Crescent and Arthur Street, Alphington.
C.H. James and Percy Dobson created the St James Park Estate and Extension in the 1880s from Vidal's Crown Portion 114. Surveyor, Thomas B. Muntz declared the Extension 'A' in December 1883.
Albert J. Thurgood - a champion Essendon football player, racehorse owner and merchant - had land in Gillies Street during 1902, but by 1903, he had Lot 38 in Park Crescent and had constructed "Ontario" there.
Thurgood's wife Ida's brother-in-law, the architect Horace MacKennal, desgined the house, which was named in deference to Ida's birthplace in Canada.
On the 8 May 1927 Thurgood was killed when his new eight cylinder Cadillac limousine overturned after crashing into another vehicle; the driver of the other car, Cecil Kenneth Shields, a 23-year old engineering student at Melbourne University was charged with manslaughter but later acquitted.
The Thurgoods later sold "Ontario" to George Lee.
Sources
Butler, Graeme (1982). City of Northcote urban conservation study. Alphington: City Of Northcote.(2008). Albert John ‘The Great’ Thurgood (1874-1927). Retrieved 20 June, 2012, from http://brightoncemetery.com/HistoricInterments/150Names/thurgooda.htm
