‘Eliza’, at 23 Albert Street, is an important piece of Windsor’s rich history. It has witnessed and contributed to trends that have characterised the economic, social and cultural shifts of Melbourne/Naarm's inner suburbs over the past 170 years.

Built in 1887 by Alfred Spurr, a prominent local builder, ‘Eliza’ was one of the largest and grandest houses in Windsor at the time. The house is named after his wife, Eliza, and it served as their family’s ‘forever’ home during their retirement, where they lived for two decades until 1906. In the following years, several young families, including the Owens (1912-1920), the Rosengartens (1920-1926), and the Davis (1930-1939), lived and raised their families at this residence.

At the start of WWII, in 1939, Eliza was converted into several apartments by adding new entry doors, kitchens and bathing facilities, as well as a large closed-in second-storey verandah on the front. The conversion to apartments reflected a broader trend where large houses were transformed into shared accommodations, expanding the range of socially acceptable living arrangements for single women, recent migrants, and LGBTQ+ community members. Eliza’s proximity to Chapel Street, Prahran, and St Kilda likely made her apartments highly sought after, contributing to the neighborhood's diverse character.

Eliza resisted modernizing slum clearance and housing improvement efforts of the 1950s and 1960s, although her outlook changed when Queens Way was built in the 1960s. In 1983, the Shepherd family purchased and renovated Eliza by reconverting her to one house, restoring the original Victorian front verandah and adding a new second story to the rear. Forty years later, in the 2020s, a significant renovation was undertaken by the current owners, opening it to the north-facing backyard garden and completely updating the kitchen and bathrooms while preserving original features.