Enmore was named after Enmore House, built in 1835 by Captain Sylvester Browne, a master mariner with the British East India Company.[citation needed] Browne named his house after the Guyana estate of a business associate, the head of James Cavan & Co, which in turn took its name from Enmore in Somerset, England. Browne's son wrote several Australian classics, including Robbery Under Arms, under the name of Rolf Boldrewood.[citation needed]
In 1836, there was a report of snowfall in the suburb. Weather observer T. A. Browne stated, "the years 1836, 1837 and 1838 were years of drought, and in one of these years [1836] a remarkable thing happened. There was a fall of snow; we made snowballs at Enmore and enjoyed the usual schoolboy amusements therewith".[4]
Enmore House was the home of the Josephson family from 1842 to 1883, when it was demolished. After Josephson's death, his son Joshua Frey Josephson lived there until 1883. Joshua Frey Josephson had four sons and nine daughters from three marriages. One son, Joshua Percy Josephson, was Mayor of Marrickville in 1901. Five streets are named after five of the daughters: Clara, Laura, Marian, Pearl and Sarah.[5]
Enmore is primarily residential, although there is a commercial strip along Enmore Road, which turns off the more famous King Street, Newtown. The now disused, former Enmore Post Office (built 1895) on the corner of Enmore and Stanmore Roads, is listed on the Register of the National Estate as an example of Federation Queen Anne architecture.[10] It was designed by the government architect, Walter Liberty Vernon.