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The Houses of Richmond Walk
The following walk is based on a brochure produced by the City of Yarra, which was created in conjunction with the Richmond and Burnley Historical Society.
Richmond is known for its cosmopolitan atmosphere. It is home to a wonderful diversity of people: long-term residents and new migrants, successful professionals and people looking for work, the well off and the not so well off. All these people come together to give Richmond its life and character.
Richmond has always enjoyed a rich mixture of residents. In the 1840s many of its residents worked in what would now be classed as noxious industries, processing livestock, while others were prominent merchants and bankers. At least one of the early subdividers, the Reverend Joseph Docker, consciously encouraged a mix of residents when he developed the area around Gipps Street in 1853, by providing a range of block sizes and building a range of houses that people could afford. Larger houses were built by people who purchased land from Docker. The houses Docker himself built were not large by today's standards: many were only three or four rooms, but at the time, they were average-sized houses. In 1861 roughly one quarter of all Richmond houses contained only one or two rooms. These small houses provided homes for workers in the expanding local industries, and for many refugees from an impoverished Ireland.
Docker's aim of building a diverse community was achieved, judging by an 1869 petition to Council complaining about the state of the streets on the land he subdivided. Among the 43 petitioners were three solicitors, a General Practitioner, a carpenter, a painter and a boot maker. In the same year, the family John Monash moved into Church Street. Two years later, the family moved to 34 Clifton Street in the heart of Docker's subdivision. Part of Monash’s success as a leader of Australia's troops during the first World War might be traced back to a childhood spent among the people he was later to lead.
Not all developers had Docker's ideals. Many of the original subdivisions were re-subdivided and new streets, some no wider than lane-ways, were created. Many timber houses were built because the building regulations which required fire-proof construction in the City of Melbourne did not apply in Richmond. Although we now take timber-framed houses clad in weather-board for granted, this was a new building technology in the nineteenth century, made possible by the application of steam power to saw milling. One such sawmill operated on the comer of Bridge Road and Church Street. Properly maintained weatherboard houses are very durable, and Richmond has many examples of weatherboard houses from the 1850s and 1860s.
Although there are very few industrial buildings along the route of this walk, Richmond's character has largely been determined by its industrial and commercial heritage. Richmond's founders thought of it as a haven from the city, but with the active encouragement of the Council, it soon attracted heavy and dirty industry. The industry provided a livelihood for many people and wealth for some, but progressively, those who could afford it left for the newer, more fashionable areas. For most of the twentieth century, the rest of Melbourne has not recognised Richmond's attractions as a residential area, but for its residents Richmond has never lacked character or a sense of community. Now that manufacturing industry is leaving, Richmond has been rediscovered by the rest of Melbourne. The challenge for present-day planners is to preserve the things which give Richmond its personality. Not just the wonderful old buildings and the historic streetscapes, but the kind of diverse community which created them.
Elm Grove, Charles Street, Swan Street, Brighton Street
Elm Grove, originally known as Catherine Street, is distinguished by the quality of its street trees. It also has some very fine houses, possibly because a number of its early residents were either architects or builders.
The unusual gothic style house at number 3 was built about 1868 for Richmond builder and timber merchant, Robert Fitzgerald. The designer may have been the celebrated architect William Wardell.
Number 17 was constructed about 1872 as the home of another builder, James Bonham. The building, now painted, seems rather austere, but would have been much less so when it’s polychrome brickwork was visible.
Another architect, James Miller Robertson, lived in the Georgian style number 19, which dates from 1863.
The timber cottage at number 21 is believed to have been prefabricated and erected in the 1850s.
Lesney Street, Mary Street, James Street
The weatherboard house at 36 Lesney Street was built prior to 1855 and was possibly prefabricated. 
Around the corner in James Street are three bluestone houses. The stone probably came from the quarries a few hundred metres away, between Barkly Gardens and the Yarra River. The gothic pair at 13 and 15 James Street were constructed for Enaes McKenzie, Richmond's first post-master in 1857.
The house at number 14 James Street is also built of local bluestone, but has been rendered. This house was built in 1864 for James Dickson, cordial manufacturer and patentee of Victorian Eucalyptus Wine.
Shamrock Street, Church Street
The cottages in Shamrock Street were not home to anyone famous and were not architect designed, but they are pleasing examples of what are often referred to as miners' cottages. Along the route of this walk, there are many small cottages which may appear unremarkable, but which are important to understanding the history of working people in Richmond. They also form the backbone of many streetscapes. 
By way of contrast, Church Street has many grand houses. 'Helenville', at 377 was the home of John A.B. Koch, the architect of 'Labassa' in Caulfield.
Koch also designed 384 Church Street on the corner of Gipps Street. The house, with consulting rooms, was designed for Dr. Druidin in 1885.
Gipps Street, Tanner Street
‘Howlands’ at 37 Docker Street on the corner of Gipps Street was built in 1889 for George Alexander the founder of Alexanders stores. Its Classical Revival style provides an interesting alternative to the elaborate cast iron decoration of most houses of the boom period. 
The converted warehouse at 29 Gipps Street built about 1880also uses Classical Revival style to dress up a prominently located but utilitarian structure.
The old drill hall on the other side of the road was the home of the Richmond Rifle Corps, founded in 1859 to defend the colony from Russian aggression. It has been converted into a residential use.
Further down the hill, where Gipps Street becomes Tanner Street, industry starts to take over from housing.
The two storey house, built about 1860, on the corner of Botherambo Street reminds us of a less crowded past when people still grazed animals on nearby vacant land.
Montgomery Street, Walkway, Richmond Terrace
The government sold most of its land in Richmond in lots of about 25 acres to provide 'a rural retreat for gentlemen.' However, the new owners were then free to subdivide and re-subdivide without any planning controls so that streets created by one owner did not always align with those created by a neighbour. The result has been some of the most interesting streetscapes anywhere in Melbourne, especially for pedestrians.
The short walkway between Montgomery Street and Richmond Terrace provides an element of surprise as it connects two very different streets. Montgomery Street is a narrow street of workers' housing, while Richmond Terrace, east of the dog-leg, almost has the atmosphere of a square. Some of the houses are large and obviously built for well-off people. This is unusual for a flat site at the bottom of a hill, because in the days before sewerage and proper stormwater drains, the wealthy had a strong preference for elevated sites.
1 Montgomery Street
106 Richmond Terrace
Alfred Street Rotherwood Street, Union Street
What the tiny house on the corner of Loughnan and Alfred Streets lacks in size, it makes up for in character. It is another Richmond house which seems to owe its design to the rules of thumb used by country builders, and not to architects or even the then popular pattern books which provided plans for houses.
Further up the hill, there are some much grander buildings. 'Rotherwood,' at 33 Rotherwood Street, was built prior to 1861 when it was occupied by J.F. Mathews, an architect and surveyor. Its style, Gothic Revival, was usually reserved for church buildings.
Built about the same time, the bluestone house at 12 Union Street with its white corinthian ornament and its tower has been described as "An innovative, original classical revival design without parallel in Victoria”. It was built for pioneer Melbourne surgeon James Robertson and financed by the Union Benefit Building and Investment Society.
Opposite, at 9 Union Street, is an unusual two storey timber house built about 1879, in largely original condition.
Lennox Street, Rowena Parade, The Vaucluse
207 Lennox Street was built prior to 1855 and in the spirit of Richmond as a gentleman's retreat from the crowded city, it is well setback from its neighbours. Its neighbours were the mansions 'Richmond Hill' (1851) and 'Pine Grove' (1844) which were both demolished in 1928 to allow construction of the Pelaco factory and its famous neon sign.
The sign is now listed on the Victorian Heritage Register as a piece of modern history.
Further down the hill the much more modest 'Orwell Cottage' 221 Lennox Street may have been built in 1848, in which case it is the oldest intact building in Richmond. The unusual red brick building on the corner of Rowena Parade is a hybrid between Victorian and Federation styles.
The Vaucluse is a private street created in the early 1860s to connect Rowena Parade to Church Street. The leafy environment was always intended by the original subdividers. There are a number of fine houses in the street, three of which were erected by W.A. Brinsley Tobin, Inspector of Distilleries. Tobin built the terrace 'Brinsley Place' at 12-14 The Vaucluse, in 1878. At one time, Herbert Strong, Professor of Comparative Philosophy and Logic at Melbourne University lived at 'Brinsley Place,' as did Francis Head of the Shamrock Hotel in Collingwood.
As a government road on a hill with good views and good drainage, Church Street was always seen as an attractive place to build a house and the size of many of the houses reflect this. Their size and main road location mean that many are now used as commercial premises.
Lalor House at 293 Church Street was erected in 1888 for local doctor, Joseph P. Lalor, son of the celebrated Eureka Stockade leader and politician Peter Lalor. The residence and surgery was designed in an original and exaggerated boom classicism style by American-born architect William George Wolf. Peter Lalor died at the house in February 1889.
If you would like further information about the history of Richmond visit:
Richmond Library
415 Church Street, Richmond 3121
Richmond and Burnley Historical Society
Lower Level 415 Church Street, Richmond 3121
Further information
Strategic Planning Richmond Town Hall
333 Bridge Road Richmond
Telephone 9205 5373
Email info@yarracity.vic.gov.au
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