Park Gate, South Melbourne

Park Gate apartments sit on the corner of Cecil St and Albert Rd, South Melbourne overlooking Albert Park Reserve. The block was designed by architect I G Anderson around the mid 1930s.

The photo on the right shows the view from Albert Rd, with the curved stepped back facade and small private balconies.

Along Cecil St, the building is more rectangular with communal walkways providing access to the apartments on the upper floors, their metal balustrades reminiscent of the railings on a ship.

This facade does also have curves in the private balconies at the rear of the building and the curved rooms and windows of the apartments themselves.

There are also the curved landings on the main staircase toward the front of the building. The lower level of the stairs is finished in terazzo where the upper storeys employ plain concrete.

At the foot of the stairs there is a fabulous wall light and the name "Park Gate" in relief higher on the wall. It is nice to see that the lettering has been painted in the last few months (between my photos) but the tree has grown very quickly and is already starting to block the name.

From this angle you get a good view of the unusual window treatment where reversed 'L' tetris block of bricks take up the bottom right portion of the opening.

At ground level, behind the new tree, the brickwork is extended to additional 'step' to the pattern while the window has been simplified as a small rectangle.

The apartments have been refurbished but the fireplaces have been retained. There appears to be a few standard layouts with a couple of different but similar style fireplaces.

The upper storey offers a great view of the park to the South and the city of Melbourne to the North.

Park Gate is currently run as Serviced Apartments which can be leased by the day, week or month. I can think of worst places to stay.