The Old House, Levendale

Here's a really interesting one!!!

Whilst surfing the internet looking for sites to visit, I came across a page from the site www.think-tasmania.com which refered to an old house in the back blocks of Levendale. Photographer Richard Todd had taken some photographs of this interesting old building and raised some questions as to its background and history. Turns out this building used to be a house and shop and was built in the late 1800's.
The questions about the history of the house were also posted on the think-tasmania facebook page and this elicited some further background information from a number of contributors

"The building is on Back Levendale Road, Levendale and is part of the property called Levenbanks owned by the McConnon family. It used to be a shop and the picture is the rear of the store and shop I believe. The front entrance was on the road side just around the corner from where the photo was taken. The “Levenbanks Shop” belonged to the McConnon Family…it operated from the late 1800′s until closure in the early 1900′s. There is a rear view showing living quarters… the front of the shop had a verandah, now falling down, but still storefront is visible. The McConnons were also early ‘pioneers’ of the Levendale District."

The photographs looked very interesting and I put this site down on my list of places to visit myself. As it turned out, recently I happened to visit Levendale and after taking some shots in the town, was heading out of town towards home when I stopped to photograph an old barn. Only then did I realise that the barn was on the corner of Back Levendale Rd. This jogged my memory regarding the article on the "Old House" and I took the opportunity to see if I could locate the site myself. Sure enough the house was only about half kilometre from the turnoff, right beside the road. I was able to take the photographs posted here.

A fascinating example of colonial life. Buildings like this one are part of the beauty of the tasmanian colonial past and tell a story that we can only begin to wonder about. Once again, this is one of the hidden historical gems that you can find off the beaten track!

Original website post: http://www.think-tasmania.com/old-house/