First look: Antipodean Land Developments plans heritage-led Fitzroy apartment project

Fitzroy is set for another apartment development in keeping with its cool, urban heritage.

The busy Antipodean Land Developments, which is also progressing projects in Thornbury and Surrey Hills, has plans for 14 new apartments at 11–13 Spring Street, near Johnston Street and the tram route along Nicholson Street. 

The proposal has been submitted through Victoria's Great Design Fast Track pathway and would see the retention and integration of two contributory heritage buildings on the corner of Spring and Argyle Streets, combined with a contemporary apartment development rising up to eight storeys.

Designed by award-winning Melbourne architecture practice Edition Office, the project would deliver 14 apartments across three distinct building forms. Rather than adopting a conventional tiered apartment form, Edition Office has broken the development into three separate volumes connected by a central void inspired by Fitzroy's network of laneways.

"Celebrating the fine grain of Fitzroy with simple, abstracted forms, three distinct built elements are proposed rather than a single monolithic 'wedding cake' tiered arrangement," the design report states.

The project is proposed on a 554 sqm corner site within the South Fitzroy Heritage Precinct. Existing buildings include a former two-storey warehouse fronting Spring Street and a former terrace house on Argyle Street, both identified as contributory heritage places. The proposal retains the heritage facades and visible return walls, integrating them into the new built form while introducing additional residential density on the site.

The development would comprise 12 three-bedroom apartments, one two-bedroom apartment and one one-bedroom apartment, reflecting a focus on larger inner-city residences suited to owner-occupiers and families seeking proximity to Melbourne's CBD.

Ground level would accommodate communal indoor and outdoor spaces designed to foster interaction between residents and the surrounding neighbourhood. Vehicle parking would be concealed behind the retained heritage buildings, while resident bicycle parking and rooftop communal landscaping are also proposed.

Edition Office said the design was heavily influenced by the area's industrial and residential heritage fabric.

"The proposal seeks to provide a new addition to this existing fabric emerging from the historic values and syntax of Fitzroy's architectural motifs, utilising contemporary design and construction techniques," the architects noted.

The design draws on the character of South Fitzroy's red-brick warehouses and Victorian terraces, with the architects seeking to create a contemporary building that responds sensitively to its heritage context through materiality, scale and façade articulation.

Antipodean Land Developments has established a reputation for design-focused residential projects across Melbourne's inner north. The family-owned developer's previous projects include Neighbourhood in Brunswick East with Breathe Architecture and Balfe Park Lane in Brunswick East with Kerstin Thompson Architects.

They are currently advancing plans for 76 apartments and townhouses in Surrey Hills, on the site of the former St Joseph's Home for Destitute Children, a historic institutional complex dating back to the late 19th century. The proposal seeks to adaptively reuse several heritage buildings while introducing two new four-storey residential buildings set within extensive landscaped grounds.