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Gascoigne Estate Precinct

Location Finch Street MALVERN, Stonnington City Level Included in Heritage Overlay

Statement of Significance

The area comprising the former Gascoigne, Gascoigne Extension and Waverley estates is of regionaI significance as a substantial and important example of Federation and inter-war suburban development in Melbourne. Initially subdivided in the late nineteenth century, it experienced its greatest growth in the first decades of the twentieth century. The area therefore exhibits a mixed character typical of land subdivided during the land boom of the 1880s, with generous allotments often backing onto narrow lanes occupied with houses often built as much as forty years after the initial subdivision. The area is one of the least altered and most easily interpreted examples of this sequence of development in Melbourne's inner suburbs.

This significance is enhanced by the area's integrity, with a high proportion of buildings remaining first to be build upon their individual allotments, and by the quality of the building stock. The overall character of the area, a mature Federation and inter-war area with broad tree-lined streets, has for many years been seen as quintessential Malvern. The area's associations with Central Park are contributory to its significance. The land upon which Central Park is sited was part of the Gascoigne Extension estate, and its development as a park by Malvern council can be sees as a notable intervention adding significantly to the verdant character of the area as a whole.

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

Residential Precinct