The Canterbury (Flats): 236 Canterbury Road, ST KILDA

Building Profile

Location

Construction Details

Built in the Edwardian period in the Queen Anne style

Notable features

The Canterbury, built in 1914, is one of Victorias earliest surviving examples of flats in the modern sense of the word, with fully self-contained residences, each on one floor, within a multistorey building. Previously only older American and English models of flats, more akin to hotels or boarding houses, had been adopted in Melbourne. A nearby example is the Majestic Mansions of 1912 in Fitzroy Street. The design of the Canterbury appears to have been influenced by a number of the contemporary stylistic fashions. Suggested influences include Queen Anne, American Romanesque, Arts and Crafts and English Free Style. The simple main mass of the building is finished in plain red brick and white painted plain stucco, with simple timber windows with expressed white frames. Several have stained glass decorative patterns at the centre of the lead light glazing. The angled front facade is formed of three main element, a narrow strip of plain red brick on the front boundary with a single window at each floor, a projecting octagonal turret with onion top cap, and a series of curved concrete balconies supported on squat ionic columns. Foliage patterns decorate the turret spandrels and the leadlight windows. The common staircase is not visible or expressed on the facade, as at this time flats with external staircases were associated with insalubrious lower class housing.

History

• National Trust (B7010)


• Victorian Heritage Register (H1836) - The Canterbury (Flats) is protected by state law

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