Introduction & How-To Hints
Catch the Route 19 Tram (Flinders Street - North Coburg line) along Royal Parade, alighting at stop number 13, Gatehouse Street.Welcome! Here a few how-to hints to help you use this tour.MapThe map provides you with a bird's eye view of the tour, including the location of the next Stop.Press the Map icon to display the map, and navigate around the map by swiping and pinching. Each Stop has a designated number.If you device has GPS signal you can locate yourself via the GPS symbol on the map.ImagesEach Stop is accompanied by photographs and images which will help to familiarise you with key features at each location. Swipe the images to see more.ListPress the List icon to display a full list of Stops for this tour.WALKING SAFELYPlease prepare for this tour by wearing appropriate clothing for variable weather conditions, as well as comfortable walking shoes.Take care when crossing roads, and keep an eye out for cyclists.The following public toilets are available along the route:1. in Royal Park north of the intersection of Gatehouse Street and Park Drive.2. on the east side of Royal Parade, opposite Leonard Street3. on the east side of Royal Parade, opposite The Avenue (near Park Street and Princes Park pond)
Stop 1
Royal ParadeFrom Tram Stop 13, take care crossing Gatehouse Street to the north. Take in the structure of the wide tree-lined Royal Parade boulevard as you approach the statue near the church.The Sydney to Melbourne stock route in use from the 1830s originally ran through land now occupied by the Melbourne General Cemetery and Princes Park, and was known as Sydney Road. Relocated to its current location in 1878 and given the name Royal Parade, it acquired its most distinctive feature, the English Elms, in 1913.Housing construction in the area now known as North Parkville commenced in 1868, and shortly after was made subject to a Crown covenant that dictated building heights and orientation, as well as the materials that could be used in construction. When this covenant was annulled by the Liberal State Government in 1972, many of the suburb’s grand mansions were demolished and replaced by architecturally undistinguishedapartment buildings.Heritage listing: Victorian Heritage Register, National Trust (Vic)
Stop 2
Parkville Diggers MemorialCorner Royal Parade & The AvenueErected by the people of Parkville to honour soldiers of the district who were killed in World War I, this 1925 memorial features an Australian soldier carved from Cararra marble.The monumental mason was local artisan Peter Jageurs. It wouldn’t have been an easy job, as Jageurs’ 21-year-old son John died at Pozières and is listed among the fallen. John’s decision to enlist was made against his father’s wishes – Peter was a well-known Irish Nationalist – but he joined regardless, being wounded at Gallipoli before being sent to the Western Front. He was killed on 28 July 1916.Heritage listing: Victorian War Heritage Inventory
Stop 3
Former Presbyterian College Church149 Royal ParadeInaugurated in 1898, this Gothic Revival-style church constructed from red brick and sandstone was designed by architect RA Lawson and is notable for its crown tower (now in urgent need of restoration), the only example of this type in Victoria and possibly unique in Australia. Inside, its timber ceiling and stained-glass windows are particularly attractive.The building is now owned by the Reformed Syriac Mar Thoma Church, which is based in Kerala, India. The church’s original hall and Sunday School building (1888) at 188 Gatehouse Street in South Parkville is currently being converted into a private residence.Heritage listings: Register of the National Estate, Victorian Heritage Register, National Trust (Vic)
Stop 4
Former Police Station155 Royal Parade, walk north along Royal Parade past the tennis courtsThis single-story, triple-fronted building with its slate roof extending over the veranda was the main building in a police station complex built by the Public Works Department in 1878. Its design was unusual in Melbourne at the time, being similar instead to the design of police stations constructed in Victorian country towns. Sold in 2012, it has been converted to a private residence.Heritage listings: Register of the National Estate, Victorian Heritage Register, National Trust (Vic)
Stop 5
Trinity Terrace & Park TerraceContinue north to 157-165 & 167-175 Royal ParadeThese two Victorian terrace rows are now occupied by the Jesuit College of Spirituality. The ornate Trinity Terrace at numbers 157-165 was built in 1887 by builder Herbert Hart, who subsequently resided here. It features arched windows and doorways, opera box style balcony ironwork and elaborate frieze and parapet decoration. The more restrained Park Terrace at 167-175 was built in 1877-78 for local real estate speculator Robert C Brown.Heritage listings: Register of the National Estate (Park Terrace), National Trust (Vic)
Stop 6
International HouseContinue north along Royal Parade, crossing Cemetery Road at the traffic lightsOne of Melbourne University’s residential colleges, International House comprises an architecturally and historically disparate group of buildings including the former Carlton College at 217 Royal Parade, a two-storey Renaissance Revival mansion dating from 1881.Designed by prominent architects Henderson and Smart, the building originally housed a school owned and operated by Alexander Sutherland, who had arrived in Melbourne in 1870. After his retirement from teaching in 1892, Sutherland became a well-known journalist who wrote for the Argus and Australasian newspapers. His daughter Brenda converted the building into the Grey Court guesthouse in the 1920s, eventually selling it to the Royal Melbourne Hospital in 1948, which used it as a nurses home. The property was acquired by the university in 1953. Other notable buildings in the college compound include a redbrick house with distinctive Art Nouveau detailing at number 197; the twelve-sided, six-storey Scheps Building, built in 1972 when women were first admitted as students of the college; and the Wadham Wing at number 241 designed by Modernist architects Raymond Berg, Leighton Irwin and HL (Hub) Waugh in 1956-57. The latter features distinctive pre-cast pebbledash-finished panels. The 2005 addition of a five-storey residential building and an academic resource centre by Peter Elliott Architecture & Urban Design is attractive and sympathetic.Heritage listing: The former Carlton College is listed by the National Trust (Vic)
Stop 7
Hilda Stevenson HouseTurn left at Leonard Street and walk halfway down to 1-31 Leonard Street. After this stop, return to Royal Parade.Part of the International House residential college, this charming 1886 Gothic Revival residence was built for stained-glass merchant James Ferguson and was originally called Ayr Cottage. Featuring carved timber barge boards and dormer windows, it also has impressive interior and exterior stained glass produced by the owner’s company, Ferguson and Urie – note the panel at the eastern end of the front veranda and those around the front door.The house was sold to the Victorian Neglected Children’s Aid Society in 1901 and the building to the east of the house was built in 1904-05 as a dormitory, schoolroom and kitchen. The wing closest to Royal Parade dates from 1907, after the complex was designated as a state school.Heritage listings: Register of the National Estate, Victorian Heritage Register, National Trust (Vic)
Stop 8
Former Whitley College BuildingContinue north along Royal Parade, crossing Leonard Street to 263 Royal ParadeDesigned by architectural firm Mockridge, Stahle and Mitchell and built between 1962 and 1965 for the Baptist Union of Victoria, this distinctive donut-shaped building incorporates an enclosed courtyard. Sold in 2017 for $20 million to British property development company GSA, its conversion into rooms and apartments for students was sympathetic to the original design and incorporates new features such as a rooftop entertainment area.
Stop 9
Park Court283 Royal ParadeThis Moderne-style block of 22 flats designed by architects Gordon and Bruce Sutherland is one of a number of similarly styled 1930s blocks in North Parkville. Built in 1936-37, it was originally marketed as meeting the requirements of tenants who were seeking modern facilities at moderate rentals. Facilities included 14 rear garages and a communal laundry. In the 1950s, the entire block was used as a residence for nurses at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Stop 10
Medical Association War Memorial293 Royal ParadeLocated in a small entrance courtyard on the north side of the Australian Medical Association Building, this 1922 bronze by Australian sculptor Charles Web Gilbert, who was an official Commonwealth war artist in World War I, shows an army doctor tending to a wounded soldier. It was originally sited in the Anatomy School at Melbourne University.Heritage listing: Victorian War Heritage Inventory
Stop 11
Lisa Bellear House303 Royal ParadeBuilt as the Zebra Motel in the early 1960s, this 11-storey building designed by Buchan, Laird and Buchan was sold to the Salvation Army in 1979, and operated as a training college until 2014.Now owned by Melbourne University, it was converted into student housing and named in honour of the Indigenous Australian poet, photographer and broadcaster Lisa Bellear (1961-2006).
Stop 12
Royal Court311 Royal ParadeAnother well-preserved Moderne-style block of flats from the late 1930s, Royal Court was almost certainly designed by Gordon and Bruce Sutherland, who were responsible for the very similar Park Court at 283 Royal Parade. This block is thought to have been constructed around 1939.
Stop 13
Mayfair House351 Royal ParadeNow part of the CSIRO’s Parkville campus, this extensively altered Victorian-era villa was built as a private residence. During the Great Depression (1929–late 1930s) it and many other residential mansions along Royal Parade were converted into guesthouses. This one could accommodate 35 guests at a tariff of £2 2 /- each per night.
Stop 14
Tudor style flats361 Royal ParadeThis 1933 block of flats was designed in the briefly fashionable Tudor style by builder Bernard Evans and was marketed as embodying the latest American ideas of houseplanning.Each flat originally overlooked a landscaped garden with lily pond and rustic summer house (now sadly replaced by an unattractive building that blocks light to the original block). Six bachelor-style studio flats featured fold-out beds; the remaining flats were larger.
Stop 15
Victorian College of Pharmacy381 Royal ParadeNow part of Monash University’s Parkville campus, this complex of glass curtainwalled buildings linked by an elevated walkway was designed by Cowper, Murphy and Associates in 1959-60. It incorporates a hall named after David Cossar, a co-owner of the Henry Francis chain of pharmacies who had made a large donation towards the cost of the building’s construction.
Stop 16
Former Park Royal Motor Inn441 Royal ParadeAs the end point of the main Sydney to Melbourne driving route, Royal Parade was a logical place for local entrepreneurs to construct examples of the American phenomenon of motels (motor hotels). The now-demolished Carvilla Motel de Ville at number 459 opened in 1958, followed by a Travelodge at number 539 (demolished for a townhouse development) and this motor inn, which opened in 1962.Designed by architect Theodore Berman, it was highly fashionable, featuring a restaurant, coffee shop, basement disco and outdoor swimming pool. High-quality interior finishes included teak panelling and marble cladding. Architecturally, its most distinctive feature is the projected canopy over the main entrance, a 20m-wide parabolic concrete arch. The Choice Hotels chain purchased the property in 2019 and has regrettably erected unsympathetic signage on the iconic canopy.
Stop 17
Fender Katsalidis apartment block459 Royal ParadeA Victorian villa called Falkirk occupied this site until it was demolished and replaced by the Carvilla Motel de Ville in the 1958. Designed by architect Peter Jorgenson, this was Melbourne's first inner-city motel.Its current occupant is a 2005 apartment block designed by architects Fender Katsalidis, who also designed the Arcadia apartment tower behind it at 228 The Avenue.
Stop 18
Deloraine Terrace499-507 Royal ParadeBuilt in 1886-87, this handsome row of five Boom-style terrace houses features polychromatic brick work and slate roofs topped with distinctive chimneys. It was designed by architect TJ Crouch of prominent firm Crouch and Wilson. The middle house (number 503), which is larger than its neighbours, was originally occupied by Samuel Storey, the developer of the terrace.Threatened with demolition in the 1970s at the time when many of Royal Parade’s grand villas were replaced with apartment developments, it was saved after a public outcry and restored under the direction of the Historic Buildings Council.Heritage listings: Register of the National Estate, Victorian Heritage Register, National Trust (Vic)
Stop 19
Auld Reekie511 Royal ParadeDating from 1910, this Federation-style villa has a tiled roof decorated with tall chimneys, terracotta chimney pots and dragon finials. Other distinctive features include a shingled belvedere, a recessed first-floor balcony and attractive stainedglass windows. The unusual front fence features a metal gate in the shape of a shield, which is flanked by pink and white marble castellated octagonal posts resembling chess pieces. The property’s front garden is substantially original in form, with a charming pergola. A new addition including a basement is currently being constructed in the rear garden.Heritage listings: Register of the National Estate, Victorian Heritage Register, National Trust (Vic)
Stop 20
Nocklofty551 Royal ParadeAnother grand Federation-style villa, Nocklofty was designed and built by its owner, retired mining and construction engineer Kenneth Munro, between 1906 and 1908. Munro was a talented amateur woodworker and carved distinctive exterior and interior decoration for the house featuring Australiana motifs such as gum leaves and gumnuts. Other features include terracotta columns on the veranda that were cast locally at Cornwall Potteries in Brunswick; the distinctive belvedere with its conical roof; and windows with stained glass featuring Art Nouveau designs.Side and rear additions dated 2014 were sympathetic to the heritage building.Heritage listings: Register of the National Estate, Victorian Heritage Register, National Trust (Vic)
Stop 21
Park Keeper’s Lodge369 The Avenue. This is the northernmost point of the walking tour. We will now return southwards along The Avenue.One of four caretaker's cottages built in Royal Park, this brick Edwardian-era bungalow has simply carved timber bargeboards and a small porch roof with a timber finial and carved timber brackets.
Stop 22
Stepped Victorian terraces294-310 The AvenueThis terrace of nine Victorian houses constructed in 1884-85 is unusual due to the fact that it was constructed on a street curve, with each house set back from its southern neighbour. The architect is thought to have been Norman Hitchcock, who also designed the former Jewish News Building (now Criniti’s) at 198-294 Faraday Street, Carlton. The extensively rebuilt house at the northern end, ‘Dunfelan’, is the only one with a polychromatic brick exterior.Heritage listings: Register of the National Estate, National Trust (Vic)
Stop 23
Brentwood Court292 The AvenueBuilt in 1939, this Streamline Moderne block of eight flats with its distinctive upperstorey front balconies was designed by architectural firm Taylor and Soilleux. It incorporates detached rear garages and a car-turning circle, which would have catered for the growing incidence of private car ownership at the time of its construction. The same architects worked on the Kennethmont flats at 104 The Avenue.
Stop 24
Victorian terrace272-278 The AvenueThis four-house Victorian terrace constructed in the mid 1880s is unusual in that the two end houses, ‘Cambridge’ (number 278) and ‘Oxford’ (number 272), have facades that are more ornate than their central neighbours, with distinctive projecting bay windows topped by a small balustraded parapet.Heritage listings: Register of the National Estate, National Trust (Vic)
Stop 25
Marilyn Rowe House262 The AvenueA mix of the Federation and Californian Bungalow styles, this early 20th-century house with its distinctive recessed front entrance was purchased by the Australian Ballet in 2014 for $4.875 million. It subsequently underwent an $8 million refurbishment and extension designed by MGS Architects before being opened as the ballet school's boarding house in 2016.The house is named after one of the Ballet’s prima ballerinas and former directors, Marilyn Rowe.
Stop 26
Women’s Dressing PavilionOld Poplar Road (western side of Poplar Oval)This 1936-37 brick pavilion on the western side of Poplar Oval was one of the first sporting facilities purpose-designed in Victoria for the use of women.Constructed close to the Royal Park Golf Course, one of the oldest public courses in the city (1903), and near the Royal Park tennis courts constructed in 1929, the pavilion and a cinder running track around the oval were used by athletes in the Australian Women’s Championships, selection trials for the 1938 Empire Games. These games were the first international event at which Australian women competed in athletics.Heritage listing: Victorian Heritage Register
Stop 27
Yalala and Maudina192-198 The AvenueConstructed between 1886 and 1890, these two double-fronted houses – originally called Yalala and Maudina – feature unusual upper-storey cast-iron balconettes supported by brackets. Their design is an interesting compromise between detached mansion housing and terrace housing, with relatively large front gardens. In the 1990s the houses were divided into four residences and an entrance foyer to a rear modern apartment development was inserted into the ground floor of number 198.Heritage listing: National Trust (Vic)
Stop 28
St Andrews Hall182-190 The AvenueBuilt in 1892, this late-Victorian double-fronted villa has a particularly lovely castiron veranda with delicate columns and a frieze featuring a fern pattern. The leadlight around the front door is also very fine. Originally called Wannaeue, the villa was sold to the Church Missionary Society of Australia in 1965 and is used as a training facility.The property is currently (2020) undergoing a major redevelopment, with the villa undergoing partial demolition and restoration. A new three-storey building designed by Jackson Clements Burrows Architects is being constructed at the rear.Heritage listings: Register of the National Estate, National Trust (Vic)
Stop 29
Ridley College170 The AvenueThis Anglican evangelical bible college, once a residential college for Melbourne University, underwent a $4.2 million facelift and expansion designed by architects Ashton Raggatt McDougall in 2019.
Stop 30
Cumnock160 The AvenueNorth Parkville’s most opulent mansion, Cumnock was built in 1888-89 for George Howlett, a successful stock and station agent. After Howlett’s death in 1919, the property was purchased by Ridley College.It is now owned by Melbourne University and is used as the Vice Chancellor’s residence. Designed by prominent architect Charles Webb, who also designed the Royal Arcade and Windsor Hotel in the city centre, the house has a distinctive Italianate tower, elaborate cement-render detail on the exterior walls and fine veranda decoration. It was one of the first properties in Melbourne to have bathrooms and toilets connected to the new Melbourne sewerage system, which began functioning in 1897. The cast-iron fence is original but there have been changes to the main building, including rear extensions in the 1920s and 1940s.Heritage listings: Register of the National Estate, Victorian Heritage Register, National Trust (Vic)
Stop 31
Garvey House & Kelty House126-156 Royal ParadeNow part of the Treacy Centre operated by the Christian Brothers affiliated Edmund Rice Organisation, these two Renaissance Revival mansions were built as private residences in the 1870s. They were purchased in stages from 1918 by the Catholic Church to be used as St Mary’s Hall, a female-only Melbourne University hall of residence; this moved to a new building on College Crescent in 1966.The extensively altered Garvey House (originally called Barbiston), closest to Walker Street, is set in a garden characteristic of the period and was constructed slightly later than its less-ornate neighbour Kelty House (originally called Les Buissonnets). The entrance hallway of Garvey House features a particularly handsome staircase.Heritage listing: National Trust (Vic)
Stop 32
Whitley College50 The AvenueSadly, this austerely elegant Victorian villa with its wooden columns and frieze work has been subjected to unsympathetic additions on its southern and rear sides. It was originally sited on a large block with a formal lawn, tennis court and fernery.
Stop 33
St Finbar36-42 The AvenueOne of the most attractive Victorian terrace rows in North Parkville, St Finbar's parapet detail incorporates urns (some missing) and features an unusual circular motif.
Stop 34
Selvetta22 The AvenueBuilt in 1884-85, this grand Italianate house was originally surrounded by a large garden and stable block. It features four bays and a handsome two-storey arcade on its façade, as well as fine stained-glass panels around its front door.Heritage listings: Register of the National Estate, Victorian Heritage Register, National Trust (Vic)
Stop 35
James C Roberts MemorialCorner The Avenue & MacArthur RoadOne of a number of war memorials in and around Royal Park, this granite obelisk was erected in February 1900 in memory of Lieutenant James C Roberts, a member of the 1st Victoria Contingent who was killed in the South African (Boer) War. A former student of the Carlton College (Stop 6) and Melbourne University, Roberts had played in Royal Park as a boy, something that is stated in the affecting dedication plaque. The memorial was paid for by students and alumni of Carlton College.Heritage listing: Victorian War Heritage Inventory
Stop 36
Royal ParkFrom the southern end of The Avenue you can look across to Royal Park (you may be able to see the rocky Burke and Wills obelisk amongst the eucalypt trees). With no designated pedestrian crossing it may be dangerous to cross Macarthur Road here. It is safest to return to the traffic lights at Royal Parade to cross.On Wurundjeri land, Royal Park’s colonial history dates from 1854, when Lieutenant-Governor Charles La Trobe reserved it as parkland and public open space. It has been home to an Experimental Farm (late 1850s), a military camp and training ground for Australian soldiers during World War I and a camp for both Australian and American soldiers during World War II.Notable buildings within its boundaries include the Melbourne Zoological Gardens, opened in the early 1860s. It is the only Melbourne park that retains stands of remnant indigenous vegetation from the pre-colonial period.Heritage listing: Victorian Heritage Register
The End
Congratulations! You have completed this tour. You may stroll through the Australian Native Garden (part of Royal Park) and return to the starting point at tram stop no. 13 (corner of Royal Parade and Gatehouse Street).From here you can start another of our walking tours (Walk Number 1), or head south to Naughtons Hotel at tram stop no. 12 (approximately 300 metres) for a refreshment or to start Walk Number 2.For more information on the heritage of our wonderful suburb, see our website: http://www.parkvilleassociation.org.au/Sources for Walk Number 4 are as follows:Heritage Victoria; National Trust (Vic); State Library of Victoria; Nigel Lewis/Meredith Gould Parkville Conservation Studies for Melbourne City Council (1979, 1984, 1985); ‘Survey of Post-War Built Heritage’ (Heritage Alliance, 2010); ‘Australia’s Early Motel Boom’ (Simon Reeves, The Australian Motel Owners’ Journal, 2010); ‘Residential flats in Melbourne: the development of a building type to 1950’ (Terry Sawyer, 1982); The Encyclopedia of Australian Architecture (ed. Philip Goad & Julie Willis, Cambridge University Press, 2012); The Encyclopedia of Melbourne (ed. Andrew Brown-May & Shurlee Swain, Cambridge University Press, 2005)Photograph credits for Walk Number 4 are all Virginia Maxwell except:Stop 2, City of Melbourne Art & Heritage Collection.Stop 3, Photograph by John T Collins, 1978. State Library of Victoria collection.Stop 9, Article from The Herald (Melbourne), 13 January 1937.Stop 14, Article from The Herald, 20 December 1933.Stop 17, Rose Series postcard, State Library of Victoria collection.Stop 18, Technical drawing(s) by J Paliagiotakos, G Raniti & D Hettiarachi, 1980. State Library of Victoria collection.Stop 19, Photograph by John T Collins, 1981. State Library of Victoria collection.Stop 20, Technical drawing(s) by R Vincent, 1980. State Library of Victoria collection, and, ‘Nocklofty side view SLV’ Credit: Photograph by John T Collins, 1964. State Library of Victoria collection.Stop 23, Article from Building and Architecture journal, 6 June 1939.Stop 26, Article from The Herald, 1 February 1940.Stop 28, Photograph by John T Collins, 1964. State Library of Victoria collection.Stop 30, Photograph by John T Collins, 1967. State Library of Victoria collection.Stop 34, Photograph by John T Collins. State Library of Victoria collection.Stop 35, Photograph of James C Roberts. Credit: Australian War Memorial.Stop 36, Wood engraving 1862. State Library of Victoria collection.
