Pics 2024, words from 2019:

Marion Terrace in Burnett Street St Kilda, 1883, always a fave, and a bit of a surprise in a street of Vic and Edw villas and postwar flats. Presumably the developer here thought just being grand 10 room #terracehouses in #StKilda wasn’t enough, they needed something extra – they’re up the hill so maybe you could see the bay from up there ? At some point in the 1970s someone bought two of the 8 at the far end to replace them with a rather mundane block of flats ☹️ Surprisingly the architect isnt known. Might be #NahumBarnet, might be #MichaelEgan, or neither.

2021: Great pic from #stkildahistoricalsociety from the 70s perhaps when the verandahs still glassed in, and a plan of no 18 when it sold in 2012, looks like it was at least two flats; other interiors from more recent sale of no 22. Relatively plain inside given the grandeur outside. Sorry no pics of tower room, can’t even see the stair. 1st 4 pics 2024:

June 2026

I’ve posted about Marion Terrace in Burnett Street St Kilda (1883) only a couple of years ago, but I’m posting again because I’m excited to share that I’ve confirmed that the architect was – Michael Egan.

Who I only know from two other projects, neither of which are remotely like these highly pretentious houses. One is the former Lands Department at 2 Treasury Place (1870-74, pic 3), which is very chaste by comparison. The other is also govt offices, and very similar looking, the Torrens Building in Adelaide (1879-81, pic 4).

Marion Terrace is great though, with those unexpected towers rearing up. The St Kilda Historical Society recently got pointed to a photo from 1927, a bit vague, but it shows the far right end pair that were demolished in the 60s or 70s for some flats. Update : a former resident tells me that the two end terraces burned down in the early 70s, so the flats are after that. By the time of the 1978 colour photo (above) all of them had had the verandahs infilled.

That’s been reversed since then, but another blurry photo shows that only the cast iron at the south end (pic 5) is original – about 4 of the others use a very lace-like cast-iron, possibly in aluminium (pic 9).

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