Cleves was built in the 1850s by Charles Blaxland and his wife Elizabeth. It was located in the wedge between Charles Street and Waterview Street, Putney. A house of the same name built by John Bayley Darvall had existed on the site previously.
In 1917 the estate was sold to the Inter Colonial Building Company and the area around the house became the site of the Kidman and Mayoh shipbuilding enterprise, the house being occupied by the mill manager.
The house was demolished c.1926. The site is currently occupied by housing.
