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EMERALD HILL ESTATE
CLARENDON STREET PARK STREET CECIL STREET DORCAS STREET MARSHALL STREET FISHLEY STREET LAYFIELD STREET PERRINS STREET BANK STREET SOUTH MELBOURNE, PORT PHILLIP CITY

All information on this page is maintained by Heritage Victoria. Click below for their website and contact details.

Victorian Heritage Register

EMERALD HILL ESTATE SOHE 2008

1 park street/1 emerald hill estate south melbourne 256-264 park street front facade oct1995

1 park street/emerald hill estate south melbourne 242-244 park street front view oct1995

1 park street/emerald hill estate south melbourne 248-256 park street front view dec1984

1 park street/emerald hill estate south melbourne 256-264 park street facade detail oct1995

1 park street/emerald hill estate south melbourne 268-286 park street front view oct1995

1 park street/emerald hill estate south melbourne 270-286 park street facade detail oct1995

1 park street/emerald hill estate south melbourne 292 park street corner view nov1995

On this page:

Statement of Significance
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Statement of Significance

What is significant?

The Emerald Hill Estate encompasses a block that was occupied by the Melbourne Protestant Orphan Asylum from 1855 until 1877, when it sold the freehold of part of the land for new municipal buildings and the leasehold of the remainder for a term of 50 years. This unusual method of sale has resulted in an essentially intact precinct of mainly two storey, 1880s, brick, commercial and residential buildings. The majority of buildings on the estate were purchased by the state government in 1974, some time after they had returned to the control of the by now Melbourne Family Care Organisation. Many of the shop verandahs have since been reinstated and the residences refurbished for use as public housing.

How is it significant?

Emerald Hill Estate is historically, socially and architecturally important to the State of Victoria.

Why is it significant?

The Emerald Hill Estate is historically and socially important for its extraordinary development as a leasehold rather than freehold precinct. This is a direct manifestation of its associations with the Melbourne Protestant Orphan Asylum that insisted on this form of development, thereby ensuring its survival as a unique and homogeneous precinct. The commercial buildings in particular collectively represent an extraordinary example of an 1880s shopping precinct with a high degree of intactness unmatched in extent anywhere else in Victoria.

The Emerald Hill Estate is architecturally important as an extraordinary example of municipal planning during the 1880s boom. The symmetrical and mannered arrangement of commercial and residential blocks around a municipal precinct is unique in Victoria. While the architectural importance of the Emerald Hill Estate lies mainly in its cohesion as a precinct, the former Harcourt and Perry drapery (1885), 256-264 Park Street, is notable in its own right for its unusual Gothic treatment and its Oamaru limestone facade.

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- Permit Exemptions
  
  EMERALD HILL ESTATE - Permit Exemptions
  
  General Exemptions:
  General exemptions apply to all places and objects included in the Victorian Heritage Register (VHR). General exemptions have been designed to allow everyday activities, maintenance and changes to your property, which don’t harm its cultural heritage significance, to proceed without the need to obtain approvals under the Heritage Act 2017.
  Places of worship: In some circumstances, you can alter a place of worship to accommodate religious practices without a permit, but you must notify the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria before you start the works or activities at least 20 business days before the works or activities are to commence.
  Subdivision/consolidation: Permit exemptions exist for some subdivisions and consolidations. If the subdivision or consolidation is in accordance with a planning permit granted under Part 4 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 and the application for the planning permit was referred to the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria as a determining referral authority, a permit is not required.
  Specific exemptions may also apply to your registered place or object. If applicable, these are listed below. Specific exemptions are tailored to the conservation and management needs of an individual registered place or object and set out works and activities that are exempt from the requirements of a permit. Specific exemptions prevail if they conflict with general exemptions.
  
  Find out more about heritage permit exemptions here.
  Specific Exemptions:
  General Conditions:
  1. All exempted alterations are to be planned and carried out in a manner which prevents damage to the fabric of the registered place or object.
  2. Should it become apparent during further inspection or the carrying out of alterations that original or previously hidden or inaccessible details of the place or object are revealed which relate to the significance of the place or object, then the exemption covering such alteration shall cease and the Executive Director shall be notified as soon as possible.
  3. If there is a conservation policy and plan approved by the Executive Director, all works shall be in accordance with it.
  4. Nothing in this declaration prevents the Executive Director from amending or rescinding all or any of the permit exemptions.
  Nothing in this declaration exempts owners or their agents from the responsibility to seek relevant planning or building permits from the responsible authority where applicable.
  
  PERMIT EXEMPTIONS
  
  1. Interior painting or papering to walls and ceilings, provided the preparation work does not remove evidence of the building's original paint or other decorative scheme.
  2. Removal, replacement or installation of carpet or flexible floor coverings (for example vinyl or lino)
  3. Installation of window coverings, curtain tracks, rods and blinds.
  4. Refurbishment of kitchens, bathrooms, toilets and laundries including removal, replacement or installation of sanitary fixtures, piping, wiring, mirrors, benches, fittings, fixtures and appliances.
  
  THE ATTENTION OF THE APPLICANT AND/OR OWNER IS DRAWN TO THE NEED TO OBTAIN ALL OTHER RELEVANT PERMITS PRIOR TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF WORKS.
  
  Installation of smoke alarms to nos239-255,259-273 &277 Dorcas Street, 159-199 & 203 Cecil Street, 2 marshall Street, 189-193, 190-198, 230-238 & 227-239 Bank street, 204-382 Clarendon Street, 3-11 & 6-14 Perrins Street and 244-292 Park Street South Melbourne subject to the following conditions
  
  1. The smoke alarms are not to be installed in decorative elements such as roses or cornices.
  
  2. any damage to ceilings or walls is to be made good in materials and finish to match existing.
  
  3. Wiring is not to be surface mounted.
  
  Approved works or activities are to be planned and carried out in a manner which prevents damage to the registered place/object. However, if other preveiously hidden original or inaccessible details of the object or place are uncovered, any works that may affect such items shall immediately cease. The Executive Director shall be notified of the details immediately to enable Heritage Victoria representatives to inspect and record the items, and for discussion to take place on the possible retention of the items, or the issue of a modified approval.
  
  If there is a Conservation Policy and Plan approved by the Heritage Council or Executive Director, all works and activities shall be carried out in accordance with the Policy and Plan.
  
  Nothing in this Declaration prevents the Executive Director from amending or rescinding all or any of the permit exempt alterations provided work has not commenced on the alteration.
  
  THE ATTENTION OF THE APPLICANT AND/OR OWNER IS DRAWN TO THE NEED TO OBTAIN ALL OTHER RELEVANT PERMITS PRIOR TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF WORKS.
  
  Permit Exemption Policy
  
  EMERALD HILL ESTATE - Permit Exemption Policy
  Pursuant to Section 66 (1) of the Heritage Act (1995) and in respect to the above-registered place/object, the Executive Director hereby DECLARES EXEMPT THE OWNERS NEED TO OBTAIN A PERMIT TO CARRY OUT ANY OF THE FOLLOWING CLASSES OF WORKS OR ACTIVITIES, SUBJECT TO ANY CONDITIONS PRESCRIBED HEREUNDER:
  * Installation of smoke alarms to nos. 239 - 255, 259 - 273 & 277 Dorcas Street, 159 - 199 & 203 Cecil Street, 2 Marshall Street, 189 - 193, 190 - 198, 230 - 238 & 227 - 239 Bank Street, 204 - 382 Clarendon Street, 3 - 11 & 6 - 14 Perrins Street & 244 - 292 Park Street South Melbourne.
- Show:
- BILTMORE (ALBERT PARK)
  
  Victorian Heritage Register H0475
- ALBERT PARK RAILWAY STATION COMPLEX
  
  Victorian Heritage Register H1558
- ROCHESTER TERRACE
  
  Victorian Heritage Register H0813
- 'ELAINE'
  
  Boroondara City
- -oonah
  
  Yarra City
- ..eld House
  
  Yarra City

All information on this page is maintained by Heritage Victoria. Click below for their website and contact details.

Victorian Heritage Register

Record Details

Place ID
4903
Location
CLARENDON STREET PARK STREET CECIL STREET DORCAS STREET MARSHALL STREET FISHLEY STREET LAYFIELD STREET PERRINS STREET BANK STREET SOUTH MELBOURNE, PORT PHILLIP CITY
Municipality
PORT PHILLIP CITY
Heritage Listing
Victorian Heritage Register
Level of significance
Registered
Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) Number
H1136

Heritage Overlay Numbers
HO30
Extent of Registration

AMENDMENT OF REGISTER OF HISTORIC BUILDINGS
Historic Building No. 1136.
Emerald Hill Estate, Clarendon, Park, Cecil, Dorcas, Marshall, Fishley, Layfield, Perrins and Banks Streets, South Melbourne, City of Port Phillip.
Extent:
To the extent of:
1. All the buildings known as 284-326 Clarendon Street, 328-362 Clarendon Street, 242-244 Park Street, 248-264 Park Street, 268-286 Park Street, 292 Park Street, 159-179 Cecil Street, 181 Cecil Street, 183-203 Cecil Street, 239-255 Dorcas Street, 259-273 Dorcas Street, 277 Dorcas Street, 2 Marshall Street, 3-11 Perrins Street, 6-14 Perrins Street, 189-193 Bank Street, 190-198 Bank Street, 227-239 Bank Street, and 230-238 Bank Street South Melbourne marked on Plan 603410 endorsed by the Chair, Historic Buildings Council, and held by the Director, Historic Buildings Council.
2. All of the land described in Certificate of Title Volume 10254 Folios 948, 949, 950, 951, 952, 953, 954, 955, 956, 957, 958, 959, and 960 and marked L1 to L13 on Plan 603410 endorsed by the Chair, Historic Buildings Council, and held by the Director, Historic Buildings Council.
[Victoria Government Gazette No. G47 30 November 1995 p.3351]
Year Construction Started
1880
VHR Registration
August 20, 1982
Amendment to Registration
October 12, 1988
Heritage Act Categories
Registered place
Category

Health Services

Residential buildings (private)

Retail and Wholesale

Commercial