October 2025

Seem from the tram, finally had a look – a very unusual flat development in Balaclava Road, East St Kilda, called Greyfriars, which has a gravelled central carpark area accessed through a simple brick sort of classical screen.

It was built 1949-50, early in the pickup of postwar flats, and was touted as the first ‘own your own’ via what we now call Company Share.

The style is very plain, which you could call modernist, or maybe ‘austerity’, with linked blocks, access galleries looking a little like a motel, but with lots of great gardens that the big windows look out onto, plus some fun angles. The architect was Bernard Evans, who was also one of development company directors, and had done flats before the war, and more after this, and was Lord Mayor of Melbourne 1959-61, very busy !

It occupies the site of an Edwardian house on a large block that had become a convalescent home – in fact it was built around the house, which was ultimately demolished creating the large central space, perhaps they meant to build more flats.”, but happily, didn’t.

Info from the Glen Eira heritage review 2020.

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