Leopold Street

Leopold Street South Yarra

In 1885 nine and a half acres of land between Fawkner Park and The Royal Botanic Gardens was subdivided in order to finance a mansion at the southern end of the street overlooking Fawkner Park. The owner of the land was the Emerald Hill real estate agent William P Buckhurst who kept three acres to build his home – the Mansion now known as Simonds Hall. Originally built in 1885 and named ‘Goodrest’, it was designed and built by his son, the architect W Buckhurst.

Part of this subdivision was named Leopold Street after Queen Victoria’s eighth child Prince Leopold who died that year of Haemophilia. Buckhurst had grand ideas of a sophisticated street positioned between two great parks and it attracted a number of respectable men and women and it has since housed many residents from Melbourne’s artistic and cultural elite.

Leopold Street quickly developed during the 1880s and many of the early cottages were built by smaller builders and as such they exhibit many of their own characteristics and are not overly consistent in design.  The property crash of 1891 dramatically slowed development all over Melbourne and many of the design features that were a major part of architecture during the 1880s and which gave Leopold Street its character were for no longer seen as important.

During the 1930s and 40s Leopold Street was considered to be rather seedy. In this time, ‘Goodrest’ served as a military facility in the Second World War before becoming a brothel (before becoming a boutique hotel in the 1960s). Whilst many of South Yarras’ more fashionable neighbouring streets were overdeveloped in the middle decades of the twentieth century Leopold Street survived virtually intact.

Recent Property Sales up Your Street