Art Deco St Kilda flats

12 February 2025

I had the impression this big block of Art Deco flats in Robe Street St Kilda was covetable, but now I look closely there’s only a modicum of nice original features; the fancy ironwork is I think all 1990s. The flats themselves are spacious, with a hall, room for a table in the kitchen, and north facing sunroom too, my favourite thing, and just as well since they face south over the heavily planted driveway, so might be cold and dark in winter (but cool in future hotter summers). Still, very nice, and good location.

The 90s ironwork is much more elaborate than it might have been originally, using a stepped motif not on the actual building, and they even did the letterboxes to match. Not sure about the fence. They don’t feature in the heritage study and I couldn’t find anything on Trove, so I can’t give you date or architect but it’s definitely 1930s. Update : 1938, builder and possible designer HC Grigg.