East Melbourne, Simpson Street 158, 162

A pair of double-fronted two-storey brick houses

A pair of attached double-fronted houses of two-storeys built by Martin Hood for himself in 1870.  Hood was born in Ireland and was a devout member of the Irish Catholic community.  He joined the St Patrick’s Society from his first arrival and was its president on many occasions.  He was also a teetotaller making him an unexpected manager of a brewery.  [For further on Martin Hood’s life see links to obituaries below]. Previously he had built a pair of houses on the neighbouring block in 1862.

The houses were built as an investment and tenanted. In the early 1920s Nurse Ida Dempsey ran the Willoughby Private Hospital at No 162.

At the time of his death in 1909 the inventory of assets compiled as part of his probate described the houses as:- 
158. Brick, 2 storey dwelling. 2 rooms upstairs. 5 downstairs, kitchen, washhouse, bathroom.
162. Brick dwelling. 7 rooms and 2 small rooms upstairs with low bent ceilings under one roof (slate) attached to 158.
All sewered.
Each building is in a very bad state of repair and requires immediate attention. 

After his death the houses remained in his estate until approximately 1937 when Edith Isabel Murray became owner and both houses became rental properties. Charlotte Sweet was the next owner.  

About 1960 the property was bought by Central Neger Properties Pty Ltd and the houses were demolished two years later along with the neighbouring properties at Nos 174 and 172 to make way for the existing small apartment block currently known as Birches.