The areas now known as Carlton North was developed from the 1850s as an outpost of Melbourne Town. A renowned surveyor, Clement Hodgkinson, surveyed the area in 1869 and initiated the Carlton North plan as an extension for Melbourne’s residential suburbs. The 1883 announcement of Rathdowne and Nicholson streets as future cable tram routes brought in the biggest change with dense, residential development of terrace housing in almost every street north to Park Street. By about 1915, the suburb was virtually complete, with religious and educational buildings, and government services.

Carlton North that we see today is a highly homogenous 19th and early 20th century residential suburb largely occupied by dense terrace housing development, set within a rigid rectilinear grid of north-south and east-west streets, served by rear lanes as an obligatory feature of polite suburban life of the era. Early and original rear outbuildings are an integral feature of the Victorian and Edwardian era character of Carlton North and are of particular historic significance where houses are on corner allotments where their outbuildings are exposed to public view.

Traces of the original Jewish, Greek, Italian, Lebanese and Turkish communities that settled in the suburb are also still evident through their community gathering places such as churches and Mosque. Beyond the meeting places are the distinctive house renovations that transformed the Victorian-era Italianate into a form of post World War Two Italianate. All of these places are important milestones in Carlton North’s development as a reception centre for immigrants.

This tour is based on Yarra City Council's data.