Fitzroy history – art deco street in North Fitzroy
I adore this row of art deco buildings on Pilkington St, North Fitzroy. After doing some research I found two photos from 1948 and discovered that the external metal staircase was not an original feature of the corner building, which is described as ’slums’, but I am not sure this is accurate. The middle building, ‘Beryl Court’, is not so stigmatised.
Courtesy of the Fitzroy local history collection / ID: 8744 / photographer: unknown / copyright: expired – image is in the public domain / c1948
Courtesy of the Fitzroy local history collection / ID: 8745 / photographer: unknown / copyright: expired – image is in the public domain / c1948
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December 1st, 2009 at 8:04 am
This is one of my favourite buildings too – just gorgeous! The older photograph is fascinating, especially the absence of the stairway.
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December 1st, 2009 at 10:02 am
The staircase looks circa 1950s-1960s, probably installed as a fire escape for Health & Safety, etc.
Only reason I can think it might be referred to as “slums” ( for what would have been a relatively new-ish building) is possible over-crowding due to the Post-WW2 lack of available housing and building materials.
Lovely streetscape!
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December 1st, 2009 at 10:24 am
That’s a good theory – with possible internal changes to accomodate more people perhaps requiring an external staircase.
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December 1st, 2009 at 4:51 pm
What is also interesting is that there appears to be tram cabling on the corner of Pilkington and Barkly Streets in 1948.
In 1925 (24 March), according to Yarra Tram’s website, a connecting line was opened from Lygon Street to St Georges Road via Brunswick Road, Holden Street, Pilkington Street and Barkly Street.
The tram line is not shown in my 1962 Collins Street Directory. The East Brunswick line opened in 1956 – maybe the line wasn’t considered necessary after this time.
Apropos the slum description from 1948, according to the City of Yarra Review of Heritage Overlay Areas 2007: Appendix 7, the land in Pilkington Street was owned by the MMTB until 1939/40. Construction of Beryl Flats (and presumably Bali Bali Flats and Berkely or Barkly Flats) was occurring in 1940/41. Only seven years from brand new to slum is a bit harsh! Oswald Barnett obviously had very exacting standards – or the government wanted a freeway or power-line through the area.
Cheers,
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December 1st, 2009 at 7:03 pm
I would not read too much into the Picture Victoria description about it being a slum – I have used the site a lot and it is inconsistent at best. That would have been such a handy tram line! It is so hard to go east-west sometimes in the inner north.
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December 2nd, 2009 at 10:43 am
A description of the tram line Mark is referring to here -
Lost North Fitzroy Cable Tram line
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December 2nd, 2009 at 11:43 am
Thanks Jayne!
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