Evolving Port

Port Melbourne and Fishermans Bend change. Houses are changed or demolished and new forms of housing take their place. Port Houses records some of these changes.

25 November 2016

143 Station & 367 Princes St, Port Melbourne

October 2020

143 Station St, October 2020 
25 November 2016 

A fire broke out in the house under construction in Princes St around 2.30am. It is being treated as suspicious. Little now remains of the newly built house in Princes St, where the fire started, but the charred, blackened framework. The fire damaged the houses on either side as well. The house, which has been built over the past 18 months, is part of the development that runs through to Station Street.

367 Princes St, after the fire

September 2016
Taking shape 
June 2015
143 Station St 15 06 2015
Princes St frontage 15 June 2015
29 August 2014
The VCAT decision
VCAT approved the development with some significant changes. The following points from the decision explain their thinking in relation to heritage:
  1. 'The purpose of the Heritage Overlay is to ensure the development does not adversely affect the significance of a heritage place. The character of Station Street near the subject site could mostly be defined by the infill housing stock built in recent years. Most of the precinct significance is derived from the railway reserve itself. The intact collection of small scale workers cottages in Princes Street on either side of the subject site are consistent with a defined fine grain and single-storey housing pattern from the late 19th and early 20th to centuries.
  1. Given the diversity of the housing stock in both streets, I consider that a different design approach is required for each dwelling. Both heritage advisors considered the existing dwelling to be of no contributory value and had no issues with its demolition, however they did diverge as to the style of the two replacement dwellings. Although there was some agreement that a contemporary design approach could be appropriate to both street frontages, that would be not possible particularly for Station Street if there was a more intact area with listed buildings.
  1. With 135 Station Street to the east having a maximum height of 6.2 metres and 141 Station Street to the west having a height of 5.8 metres to the ridge. Therefore, the considerable amount of the third floor will be visible from oblique angles looking along Station Street. Setting back the top level from both side boundaries would considerably reduce the visible bulk of this building from front on and oblique views and this is the mechanism that has been successfully adopted with a number of three-storey dwellings that have been viewed as part of the site inspection in the surrounding streets. 
  1. Now that the design of Unit 2 (Princes St frontage) has been reduced to two-storeys, the issue of height and its relationship to the adjoining buildings is not as critical. Princes Street is considered to have a highly consistent streetscape in terms of building scale, era and detail. There is only one exception in this part of the street, being No. 369 that contains a single-storey brick cottage with a single carport in a side setback.'
06 03 2014
Read more of the decision here

6 March 2014
Agent Frank Gordon’s pitch for the property was that ‘Once in a while, a superb allotment becomes available in one of Port Melbourne’s best positions, fronting Station Street’s picturesque parkland, city light rail, bike path, and just a stroll to Bay Street’s cafes and the sandy beachfront’.
The property has frontages to Station and Prince Streets. The property was sold for $1,140,000 on Saturday 22 September 2012. A planning application to demolish the existing dwelling and construct two, three-storey dwellings was refused on 29 11 2013 and is now at appeal to VCAT.