Overwhelmed by Victorian Architectures

Georgian Court was built in 1860 as apartments. Beside it stood a converted post office, and also the home of Melbourne’s first surveyor, Robert Russell. Turning into Simpson Street, the magnificent Queen Bess Row stood. Built in 1886, it has since been converted into three private homes. Next to it is Sydenham House. It was built in 1856 as a girls’ school.

The Dorset Terrace has front doors unusually placed diagonally to the gates. Opposite the Dorset Terrace, stood the former 1880s Cairns Memorial Presbyterian Church, converted into apartments after a fire in the 1980s.

Turning right into the lane next to Dorset Terrace, I could see the back of the magnificent Canterbury Terrace. Built in 1878, it is Melbourne’s longest terrace with sixteen homes.

At No. 138 Powlett Street was a 1868 home that has an unusual opera-box-style balcony. Similar to all the houses along here, it looks like two-storied, but is in fact three storeys at the rear as it was built on a slope.

A few doors down, stood a 1873 mansion with the arched veranda Crathre. It has been a private hospital and rooming house. Saved from demolition, it is a restored private home.