Federation-House

from "Radical Terrace":

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Kyle, an intelligent American young writer, is highly trained in property development, and we were fortunate he established the website "Radical Terrace", the "most incisive Australian property blog" in our history, making contacts with Australian property junkies, history geeks, urban planning aficionados, and the like.

Unfortunately for Australians, he moved to New York USA six years ago.

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"Not surprisingly, the best resources for local history come from local preservation groups. Specific councils typically have heritage resources; however grassroots organizations often hold the best information; notably, Wahroonga (NSW), Glebe (NSW), and St Kilda (Vic) have useful websites.​"

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• What House Is That? Truly one of the best resources available. A fantastic primer on the evolution of residential architecture over the course of Australia’s built history.

• NSW Heritage The online database is mostly complete; the search function is superior that to that of Heritage Victoria, but you’ll likely have to try a host of different keywords to find the information most pertinent.

• Heritage Victoria Unfortunately, for all of Heritage Victoria’s strong points, its online database is not one of them. That said, plenty of good information exists here.

• ‘Federation House’ (this Site) This group possesses a treasure trove of information about Federation home construction throughout Australia, with particular detail toward the architecture of Sydney’s North Shore. They fastidiously cite their sources, which proves invaluable to any historic researcher.

• Miles Lewis Lewis is undoubtedly the foremost urban historian for Melbourne. His site possesses some kick-ass presentations that include many a historic image and map, most of which can also be accessed through the State Library of Victoria. He also hosts a database of prominent Melbourne Mansions, but unfortunately I’ve never been able to access it. Two of his published works - Suburban Backlash and Melbourne: The City’s History and Development (Vols 1 & 2) - proved to be invaluable resources for me in understanding the growth of the built fabric of Melbourne. In particular, Lewis’ attention to parcel and road sizes and planning principles through the last century and a half is definitive and explains why Melbourne today looks the way it does.

• MMBW Maps c1900 Map enthusiasts, rejoice: this is as good as it gets.