Buda, Castlemaine

Buda, the feather in Castlemaine's cap, was built in 1861, and from 1863 was the home of noted silversmith Ernest Leviny and his family. Leviny was born in Szepes-Szombat (Hungary during the Empire, now, as far as I can make out, Spisska sobota in Slovakia) and trained in Vienna as a watchmaker and jeweller. Leviny settled in London in 1846, where he established a successful goldsmithing business in partnership with Frederick Boocke, with whom worked as a jeweller between 1851 and 1852 at 86 Newman Street and in Oxford Street, London, before settling in Castlemaine in the late 1850s. He first worked as a jeweller in Castlemaine, and exhibited successfully at the international exhibitions.

Two generations of the family occupied Buda for a period of 118 years (1863-1981). This makes it a unique survival from the early days of central Victoria. Family possessions, the result of their own artistic endevours and of the collection of contemporary arts and crafts are on display here.