Eden terrace was first built as a row of 10 Regency style two storey terraces with partial basements. A two storey verandah was added in 1883, and in 1917 each terrace was converted into three flats. In the 1990s the frontage was largely restored to its late 19th century appearance.
1855 (prior to) Crown Allotments Maps - indentifying areas 28, 27 and 42 as owned by HF Gurner with 28/27 being where Eden Terrace is located. The general area was primarily divided between F G Dalgety and H F Gurner. Dalgety Street was not constructed at the point of the original land sales.- https://stkildahistory.org.au/our-collection/resources/m27281857 (prior to) Crown Allotments identified on St Kilda Planning Maps reflecting subdivisions starting in 1843 Crown land sales. https://stkildahistory.org.au/our-collection/resources/m27
1855 Kearney Map 4 shows the new streets running east west being Dalgety Street (unnamed on this map) and Gurner Street: the allotment for EdenTerrace in Dalgety Street is vacant at this point. https://stkildahistory.org.au/our-collection/resources/kearney-1
1873 J Vardy WW3 Numbers 58 -65 now fully developed and indentified as all owned by J McGee https://stkildahistory.org.au/our-collection/resources/vardy-plans
1856-57 Eden Terrace designed by the architect John Felix Matthews for the developer Thomas Eden.
1883 Reed Henderson & Smart added the two storey verandah.
1917 Sydney Smith & Ogg altered the terrace into 24 flats.
The terrace features restrained Regency detailing typical of the 1850s, including French doors which opened onto a verandah at ground floor level. The parapet features a long low central pediment. The 1883 two storey verandah was designed by Reed Henderson & Smart, and includes four low pedaments. In 1917 architects Sydney Smith & Ogg reconfigured it into twenty-four flats, with the earlier service wings re-built to provide kitchens and bathrooms on each floor, and enlarging the basements. The rear yards were combined into one common garden with a row of garages facing the rear lane.
In the 1990s the common ownership company restored the frontage closer to its late 19th Century appearance, repainting the building in heritage colours, and adding a cast-iron fence. The service wing roof areas were refurbished to provide additional entertainment space. New windows and doors introduced into the attic areas are not obtrusive and do not appear to have impaired the significance of the terrace.
Eden Terrace is one of the earliest surviving examples of Melbourne's residential terrace buildings.
It is one of the largest examples in Melbourne of a two-storey terrace with attic and semi-basement relatively intact. It also provides an early example of changing patterns of occupancy particularly in St Kilda in the early twentieth century, when large terrace houses were converted to flats.
