Fitzroy North is an inner suburb of Melbourne just 3kms from the Melbourne CBD. One of Melbourne’s older suburbs the area is well known for its wide streets and terrace style housing. Many established houses in the area include late Victorian and Edwardian styles with plenty of iron fretwork and embellishment with a mixture of freestanding and semi or attached homes.
Many of the older houses in the suburb are under heritage overlay meaning there are strict limitations with what you can do with relation to development or redevelopment of the dwellings. This, in turn, maintains and protects the integrity and history of the suburb, which of course is one of its main attractions.
Property in Fitzroy North does not come cheap. In fact, the suburb is one of Melbourne’s most expensive inner city locations. This in part is due to the lack of commercial activity in the area as well as the wide and leafy streets that it is so well known for. Highly sought after amongst buyers are the stunning and grand terraces that grace the suburb, however not for the fainthearted as you most likely need to renovate after spending top dollar just to get into one.
Popular with the locals is Alfred Crescent (for its distinctive architecture), Fitzroy Bowls Club, football oval, children’s playground and Edinburgh Gardens. Walking distance from there is both Queens Parade shopping strip and Nicholson Street shopping strip. You will never be far from a café in Fitzroy North and transport is aplenty with trams, buses and trains servicing the area. Bikes tracks are also popular with the Inner Circle Trail running East/West through the suburb joining Merri Creek Reserve and Royal Park just North of the CBD.
Schooling is well provided for in Fitzroy North and includes Fitzroy High School, North Fitzroy Primary School, Fitzroy Community School, Meek Creek Primary School and the Deutsche Schule Melbourne.
Notable residents in years gone by include Alfred Deakin (2nd Prime Minister of Australia), the Harvey brothers (cricketing family), Bert Newton, Mary MacKillop and Sir Doug Nicholls to name a few.
All in all Fitzroy North oozes charm, everything you need is within walking distance and the pretty streetscapes provide a beautiful backdrop for easy inner city living.
Clifton Hill is an inner Northern suburb of Melbourne only 4kms from the CBD. Once perceived as the Bohemian centre of Melbourne the suburb has since undergone rapid gentrification in recent years. Bordered by Collingwood, Fitzroy North and Fairfield the suburb is now a family favourite with an abundance of parkland, sporting amenities, bike trails and walking tracks, just to name a few. The suburb today is a mix of families, professionals and young singles enjoying the inner city café culture and easy living lifestyle the suburb has to offer.
Once home to a basalt quarry, land sales were released in the mid 1860’s and became home to a more upmarket type of construction to that of its neighbouring counterpart in Collingwood. The new homes were built using red brick and terracotta tiles rather than weatherboard and tin iron roofs. Those houses still stand today and make up part of the architecture that is as we now know it.
Typical houses sought after in the area today include Victorian terraces that you might see in South Terrace, Hodgkinson Street and Wellington Street. Ramsden Street provides us with a good example of workers cottages and Victorian weatherboards that were and still are part of the makeup of Clifton Hill. And, as in all inner Melbourne suburbs the streets are dotted throughout with apartment blocks from the 50s-70’s, brick veneer homes, corner shops and now of course, modern complexes and apartment buildings. Houses in Clifton Hill will set you back a minimum of around $1m for a single front weatherboard home right up to the $4m-$5m range for a grand Victorian Terrace.
With close to proximity to Smith Street and Johnson Street the Bohemian lifestyle is not too far away, if that’s what you’re chasing, however with Fitzroy North and the CBD also nearby this area is also very popular with professionals and families alike.
Local attractions in the area include the famous Clifton Hill Shot Tower (built for the manufacture of lead shots), Ramsden Reserve, Merri Creek, the Collingwood Leisure Centre and of course the iconic McDonalds (Jazz Modern Architecture c. 1937) on Queens Parade – now known as the most beautiful McDonalds in the world! Local schools include Clifton Hill Primary, Brunswick Street College, Spensley Primary School and St Johns Primary. The suburb also has its own train station, unfortunately, made famous during the 1987 Hoddle Street Massacre involving a then 19 year old Julian Knight.
Clifton Hill is now a gentrified and safe suburb ranking number 11 as the most liveable suburb in Melbourne.
