East Melbourne

Parliament House, Spring Street

East Melbourne is home to many famous Melbourne landmarks.

Treasury Place is notable for its government buildings on Spring Street, including Parliament House of Victoria (built in 1856 to the design of Peter Kerr) and the old Treasury Building (built in 1857 to the design of John James Clark). Treasury Place forms Australia's finest Renaissance revival streetscape, combining the facades of the Premier's Department and Treasury, State Offices, now occupied by the Education Department, the former Government Printing Office and Commonwealth Government Offices (built 1912–1914 to the design of John Smith Murdoch), all overlooking the Treasury Gardens. The rear of these offices is a feature of St Andrews Place.

St Patrick's Cathedral

Nearby Cathedral Place is home to St Patrick's Cathedral, Catholic Theological College and many other former religious buildings now serving mixed use. The Anglican St Peter's Church sits opposite the Catholic cathedral.

The former Baptist Church House, built between 1859 and 1863, although substantially modified during conversion into an office building, is one of the finer classical styled buildings in East Melbourne and was designed by Thomas Watts.

On the corner of Hotham and Powlett Streets, the large Cairns Memorial Presbyterian Church, which was built in the 1880s was subject to an innovative apartment conversion after the church was gutted by fire in 1988, leaving only the exterior sandstone shell.

Victorian Artists Society, Albert Street

Orica House, Nicholson Street

Other notable buildings include the Arts & Crafts style of the Victorian Artists Society (1892) by Richard Speight and Harry Tompkins, the Eastern Hill Fire Station (1893) and the East Melbourne Synagogue (1877) by Crouch & Wilson.

Orica House, built on the edge of the Melbourne CBD on Nicholson Street between 1955 and 1958 and designed by Bates, Smart & McCutcheon, is notable as being one of the first curtain wall glass skyscrapers in the world and the first skyscraper to break Melbourne's strict height limits. Until 1961, it was also Australia's tallest building.

The Dallas Brooks Hall, one of Australia's finest examples of the "stripped classical" style, was completed in 1969 and has served as a major events venue for many years. The building caused controversy after 2001 when it owners, Freemasons Victoria announced that it was to be sold and demolished to make way for multi-purpose commercial development. Despite the building's architectural and cultural significance, its heritage protection status remains unknown. The building has since been demolished and is home to the Eastbourne Apartments.

Victoria Brewery (1882), between Albert and Victoria Streets, is notable as an early work of William Pitt. Its castellated facade has since been partially restored and converted into the TriBeCa apartments.

Tasma Terrace

19th-century three-storey Victorian terrace houses in East Melbourne.

East Melbourne is home to some of Melbourne's earliest houses. While notable terrace housing is predominant in the area, the suburb also has some fine remnant mansions, the oldest and largest in East Melbourne being the blue stone colonial mansion Bishopscourt (designed by Newson & Blackburn), which dates back to 1853, was used as Victoria's Government House in 1874–1876 and has been the residence for all of Melbourne's Anglican Bishops and Archbishops since its completion. It is on the Victorian Heritage Register. The two-storey house at 157 Hotham Street, built in 1861, is notable as a rare example of bluestone gothic applied to residential architecture. The house is often attributed to Joseph Reed and considered one of his early residential works. Accordingly, it is also listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

Several terrace houses are notable, including Tasma Terrace (1878), by architect Charles Webb, arguably Melbourne's finest terrace home and headquarters of the National Trust in Victoria, Clarendon (the home of the Her Place Women's Museum), East Melbourne Terrace, Annerley in George Street and Cypress Terrace (1867) in Hotham Street.

The large Queen Anne styled townhouse building known as Queen Bess Row is also notable. Completed in 1887 and designed by architect firm Tappin, Gilbert and Dennehy, this impressive red brick building dominates a main residential corner. Another landmark is Eastbourne Terrace, an eclectic Edwardian terrace, on the corner of Simpson Street and Wellington Parade.

East Melbourne is also characterised by Art Deco houses and apartment buildings. One unique example of the architectural legacy is the 'Dorijo' apartment building, located at 458 Victoria Parade. Designed by the distinctive hands of architect I.G Anderson in 1934, Dorijo's significant aspects include a reduction in the size of the three balconies that progress up the facade of the building structure and the unmistakable tower at the top of the building, with links to his other, more controversial site, Lonsdale House.

In the 12-month period to January 2020 East Melbourne reported a median house price of A$820,000 for a two bedroom unit.[5]

English Elm Tree avenue, Fitzroy Gardens

East Melbourne has many impressive Victorian era gardens with well established plantings, the largest of which are the Treasury Gardens and the Fitzroy Gardens. Yarra Park in Jolimont is used for picnicking and, controversially, car parking for the MCG. Parliament Gardens, a small square with a fountain adjacent to Parliament House, was granted public space by the City of Melbourne in 1934 and a modern fountain feature was later constructed.

Historically, East Melbourne was also the original home to a number of prominent Melbourne's schools including: Scotch College, St Patrick's College, St Kevin's College, Catholic Ladies College, Presbyterian Ladies' College and Parade College. Catholic Theological College is currently located in the former Parade College building.