Certainly it is an unusual building. Perhaps it is better described as Venetian Gothic Revival -- one of the many architectural revivals of the last century. Its builder, Gawler businessman William Faulkner Wincey, had an Italian family history which went back to the 14th century. The family claims kinship with Leonardo Da Vinci, the famous painter and sculptor.
The graceful house was built as a family residence by Mr. Wincey about 125 years ago. The exact date is uncertain.
William F. Wincey was born in 1837 in Falmout, Cornwall, sailing for Australia with his parents at the age of two. They settled in Adelaide, and Wincey was educated at St. Peter's College. He was one of the school's first students.
In 1852, at the age of 15, he left home with his father to make his fortune searching for gold at Bendigo. In 1859 his father died and he was left with his blind mother, who came originally from the island of Tortola in the West Indies.
She was born in 1800, and between 1822 and 1825 worked as a teacher and Methodist missionary among the island's negroes and slaves. She campaigned against slavery, and in London worked with William Wilberforce in the abolition of slavery.
In 1859, William Wincey married Mary Jane Weaver, and in 1862 became a business partner with a Mr. James Pearce. They purchased the Gawler business of Padman and Co. and became successful in Gawler and Kapunda as timber and hardware merchants. This firm, in turn, was later purchased by William Dawkins & Co.
For some years, with his wife and blind mother, Wincey lived in a cottage in Tod street, and in about 1872 built over and around the cottage the existing Tortola House. The architect is not known. Perhaps with his family's artistic heritage from Italy, he designed it himself.
In any event, the unusual building was an immediate talking point, and with the years has become more and more interesting to architectural historians. Today it is listed by the National Trust as an historically significant building, not to be demolished.
The original grant for the land on which it stands was taken up in Gawler's first year -- 1839 -- by a Mr. Andrew Jones.
It is believed the bricks for the front of Tortola House were imported from Florence, Italy. The walls at the back and sides were built with stone blocks up to 76 cms. long. The cavity walls are 45 cms. thick, and the cavities are filled with sawdust for insulation. At the rear were the stables, coach house, and an ostler's room. Wincey died in 1894 after becoming a leading citizens of Gawler. Among his many public positions were those of chief magistrate, Mayor of Gawler, chairman of the Gawler School Board of Advice and, after 28 years, treasurer of the Tod street Wesleyan Church.
After his death Tortola House was sold to Alfred May, a director of the famous May Bros. Gawler foundry, who lived there until 1911. During Mr. May's residency he added the unique cast iron railings on the walls, which were made at his foundry. In October 1911 the building was sold for 1,000 pounds to the Methodist Church Trust as a parsonage. Methodist ministers (later Uniting Church) and their families lived there until December 1994 when the building was sold.
The building is extremely sound and will be good for at least another hundred years.