Phryne's World: Miss Fisher's Residence

When Phryne first moves to Melbourne she stays at The Windsor Hotel but having decided to stay on and set up as a Lady Detective she acquires a property at 221B The Esplanade, St Kilda (The B she adds to the address as a homage to Sherlock Holmes who lived at 221B Baker St). The house is described in Flying Too High as

"a neat bijou townhouse, faced with shining white stucco so it looked like an iced cake. It had two storeys and a delightful attic-room with a gable window which Dot had claimed."

The address itself is entirely fictional and in the TV series Wardlow at 114 Park Drive, Parkville is used for the outside shots of the house.

The inside shots of the house are filmed on a sound stage and the rooms are meticulously designed to match the descriptions in the books. Which is explained more in the video below:

1 comment:

  1. Blew me .. this did. Reading came before viewing and 'bijou town house' always meant small, jewel like, elegant. Then this! This huge monstrosity could not be the home of The Hon. Phryne Fisher on The Esplanade, St. Kilda. Then I re-read the first few books .. *laughed so, very, hard* The number of rooms, the parlours, the bed rooms, the Butler's rooms, the step-daughter's room, the spare rooms, the bathrooms, the hallways, the ... well, you get it. Of course, this is the only size house that could accommodate the spaces told of in the story arc. Wardlow is hardly 'bijou' though. :D

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