22 December 2020:

Almost next door to me in Dalgety Street, one of those very grand terrace pairs that seem to be particular to St Kilda. Earliest mention I can find is 1880. By 1901 at least one was a #privatehotel, and in 1917 they were sold together and called Subiaco and Glenroe. In 1951 they were sold as an ‘apartment house’ called El Dorado, and the rather elegant nameplate is still there.

Like lots of St Kilda #boardinghouses it eventually became a home for low income tenants, and it seems to still be a boarding house – the rear wings are single rooms with external access with a lot of steel fire escape stairs, and it’s never advertised. There’s still some old single men (and a bunch of young Italian guys). A bit of St Kilda still hanging on un- gentrified.

Update 2025:

There’s now one less older single man, replaced by another Italian. But there’s a Frenchman too, and now some women.

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