Initially built in 1856 by JTC Ballerstedt, Fortuna Villa was a somewhat humble double-front, two-storey villa with eight rooms and a semi-basement. Ballerstedt built the villa close to his quartz-crushing mill, the first on the Bendigo goldfields.
Between 1858 and 1869, substantial construction work was carried out on the home and crushing mill. Local architects William Charles Vahland and James Getzelman added a further three rooms to the south wing of the villa while incorporating some of their own romantic classical style, and the ballroom/dining room was also added.
However, the real story begins when Fortuna Villa and the mine were sold to George Lansell, later to be known as the “Quartz King”, in 1871 for the sum of £30,000. Originally from Margate, England, George moved to Bendigo in 1853 with his brother. The two were infected by the entrepreneurial bug and an intense desire for wealth. They opened several businesses together, including a butchery, a soap and candle factory and
