Buda Historic Home & Garden facts for kids

Buda is a special old house and garden in Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia. It's a "heritage-listed" place, which means it's important to history and protected. In 1970, the Trustees of the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historic Museum bought Buda. They now look after it.

Since 1981, Buda house and garden have been open to everyone. You can visit Monday to Sunday from 12 PM to 4 PM. It's closed only on Good Friday and Christmas Day.

The Historic Buda House

Women in summer dresses in front of Buda, an Italian-style house in Castlemaine, 1920s

From Delhi Villa to Buda

A retired missionary named Reverend James Smith built this house in 1861. He first called it Delhi Villa. His plan was for a six-room brick house with a porch all around it. He thought this "Indian Bungalow" style would be perfect for Australia's weather.

But after only two years, Reverend Smith decided to go back to India. So, he put the house up for sale.

Ernest Leviny Buys Buda

In 1863, a successful businessman and jeweller named Ernest Leviny bought the property. He wanted it to be the home for him and his second wife, Bertha Hudson. They got married the next year and raised ten children in the house!

Ernest Leviny made many changes to the house and gardens. Most of these changes happened between 1890 and 1900. Around this time, the house got its new name, Buda. It was named after Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, where Ernest was from.

The Beautiful Buda Garden

The Leviny sisters in the garden of Buda villa in Castlemaine, looking west, around 1910

Buda house sits high up, giving amazing views of the town to the south and southwest. The property is quite large, about 1.2 hectares, and has beautiful, old gardens. A famous plant expert, Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, visited Buda. He helped design the Castlemaine Botanical Gardens nearby. People believe he also helped plan Buda's garden and gave the family some of its biggest trees.

Buda's garden is one of the most important old gardens in Victoria. It's special because it has different "rooms" or sections. It also still has two important old garden buildings: an aviary (for birds) and an old tennis pavilion.

In 1984, the garden was restored. This work was funded by the Victorian government. A group called "Friends of Buda" also helped a lot. They worked to keep the garden beautiful. In 2011, a large cypress hedge was removed. This brought back the original wide view from the house. Twelve new trees were planted in its place.

The Creative Leviny Family

The Buda house is filled with amazing artworks and items made by Ernest and his daughters. You can see jewellery, enamelwork, decorated fabrics, woodwork, and old photographs. One of the daughters even decorated the ceiling edges in a bedroom!

Ernest Leviny's Story

Ernest Leviny was born in Hungary in 1818. He trained to be a silversmith and jeweller in Budapest. In 1853, he came to Australia and went straight to the goldfields near Castlemaine. There, he started a very successful watchmaking and jewellery business.

By 1863, he was able to stop working and buy Delhi Villa. In 1864, he married Bertha Hudson, and they made Castlemaine their home. Ernest was a skilled clock maker, goldsmith, and silversmith.

The Talented Leviny Children

The Leviny family doing craftwork in the sitting room of Buda villa in Castlemaine

Ernest and Bertha had ten children between 1865 and 1883. They had four sons and six daughters. Sadly, two of their sons passed away when they were very young.

The Leviny daughters were encouraged to follow their artistic dreams. This was a time when women were starting to have more chances to study art and have careers. They worked with many different materials. These included painting, woodcarving, metalwork, photography, and needlework. Their mother, Bertha, was also very good at making clothes by hand, which inspired them.

Each of the daughters was creative in her own way:

• Mary, the oldest, helped a lot with running the house. She also made many of the family's clothes, adding embroidery and decorations.
• Hilda loved embroidery. Three of her works were shown in a big exhibition in 1907. One of these, a beautiful screen with embroidered panels, is still at Buda today.
• Gertrude was a talented woodcarver.
• Kate was a skilled photographer.
• Dorothy won awards for her fine art and photography. She was especially good at metal and enamel work.

Buda's Lasting Legacy

After Ernest passed away in 1905, his daughters continued to decorate the house. They used a style called "Arts and Crafts." This meant they made many of the house's items themselves. This included light fittings made of metal and embroidered soft furnishings. Most of these were made by the Leviny women.

The last surviving sister, Hilda, was very thoughtful. She wanted Buda to be saved as a house and garden museum. So, in 1970, she sold the property to the Trustees of the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historic Museum. Hilda's mother, Bertha, had even helped the gallery when it first started in 1913. Her sisters, Mary and Kate, were among the gallery's founders. Kate was also a keen art collector. Some of the artworks she bought, by artists like Margaret Preston and Mildred Lovett, are still at Buda.

Buda Today

The Leviny family lived in Buda for a very long time, 118 years, from 1863 to 1981. When Hilda, the last daughter, passed away at 98 years old, the house and garden were opened to the public. This happened on Boxing Day that same year.

Buda is still a popular place for visitors. It's also a major spot during the Castlemaine State Festivals, which happen every two years.

Many volunteers from the local community help manage Buda. They do all sorts of jobs, from gardening and maintenance to guiding tours and helping in the office.

The house shows Ernest Leviny's idea of a "gentleman's villa." It was a house fit for a successful businessman from the Victorian era. It has an Italianate front and a lovely garden. Buda still has its special "parsley" green trims and shutters. These were common on country homes in Europe, where Ernest Leviny came from.

Displays and Exhibitions

Buda often has special displays and exhibitions. Here are a few examples:

• 1984: Tableau of 18th Century Dress – a display of old clothes.
• 1987: Sketches and paintings by Ernest Leviny and his daughters.
• 2005: Contemporary Australian Silver & Metalwork Award – showing modern silver and metal art.
• 2018: Buda's special Textiles Exhibition, which happens every two years.