Verdon Street Heritage Precinct (HO32)

Verdon Street is an integral part of the Government Survey precinct, the heritage citation says, and its road reserve is the width typical of the Government Survey: 99 feet, or 1.5 chains, with 75 feet between the kerbs. A stone-bordered strip of roadway, originally macadamised and now asphalt, runs down the centre, with elms in the gravelled verges.

The citation ties the street to Williamstown's development in the late nineteenth century. What survives is a cohesive residential street, with groups of larger villas from the Victorian to the interwar periods, along an intact nineteenth-century street layout. The overlay protects both the houses and the street they face.

What applies here

Tree controls apply, and unlike the Cecil, Electra, Hanmer and Pasco Street precincts, the schedule does not limit them to street trees, so they can cover trees on private land too. External paint controls apply, so repainting the outside of a building can need a planning permit. The surrounding Government Survey precinct (HO8) has neither control. Solar energy systems are controlled, as in every Hobsons Bay precinct; internal alterations are not.

Why this precinct is protected

The Statement of Significance defines the precinct this way:

The Verdon Street Heritage Precinct, which comprises all land within HO32 and generally includes properties with a frontage or side boundary to Verdon Street, Williamstown.

It finds the precinct of local historic and aesthetic significance to the City of Hobsons Bay, and the aesthetic reason is short enough to quote whole:

Aesthetically, it is a cohesive late nineteenth and early twentieth century residential streetscape that comprises groups of larger villas from the Victorian to Interwar periods, as well as the intact nineteenth century street layout including mature Elm and Oak street trees, which add to and reinforce the period setting.

The houses are mostly single storey, detached and parallel to the street with similar setbacks, in weatherboard under pitched hip and gable roofs, with verandahs. The predominant style is Victorian, with notable Edwardian and interwar houses related in materials, scale and siting. ("Contributory" means a building that adds to the precinct's significance.)

The citation picks out two houses. No. 75 is a double-fronted Italianate timber villa with an iron-decorated timber verandah, large window bays, eaves brackets, an iron M-hip roof and an unusual but period front picket fence. No. 95 is a double-fronted Italianate timber 'ashlar' villa with an M-hip roof and distinctive triple gables set in its cast iron verandah.

Trees on both sides of the fence

The contributory list includes the elm street trees as part of the early street layout, and one entry, 81 Verdon Street, is listed for its street tree only. Near No. 81 stands an Algerian or Canary Oak, which the citation calls a rare example of its type in the municipality.

The citation also notes that the street trees are complemented by mature trees in private gardens, such as the Norfolk Island Pines at 50 Verdon Street. That is where the schedule matters. Because tree controls here are not limited to street trees, ask council before removing a tree, whether it is on the nature strip or in your garden, and plan any addition or new building around the trees on and near your site rather than assuming they can go.

The streets in HO32

The schedule describes the precinct as: Verdon Street, Williamstown.

The citation's location line is wider: Verdon Street (part), Parker Street (part), Pasco Street (part) and Perry Street (part). Because the precinct takes in properties with a side boundary to Verdon Street, a corner property with a cross-street address can be inside it, and not all of Verdon Street is necessarily included. Verdon Street is also named in the schedule row for HO8. Check your address rather than going by the street name.

The citation lists contributory places by number, odd and even sides separately, plus the street layout. A property off the list but inside the boundary is still in the overlay, and the 2006 guidelines cover it too.

• Verdon Street (odd): 1, 3, 7-21, 29, 47A, 55-59, 69-77, 79, 81 (Street tree only), 87, 91, 93 and 95
• Verdon Street (even): 2, 6-16, 40, 48, 50, 66, 70-78, 84, 88-92, 96 and 106-108 (inclusive)
• The early or nineteenth century street layout including the basalt guttering, grassed and gravelled verges and Elm street trees.

The rules that decide your application

Government Survey Heritage Precinct Heritage Design Guidelines 2020 applies here. It is an incorporated document, listed in the schedule to Clause 72.04, so it forms part of the planning scheme and council's planners assess applications against it.

It is also named for the surrounding Government Survey precinct (HO8) and the neighbouring street precincts, so it wasn't written for Verdon Street alone. This guide doesn't summarise it; get a copy from council before you start drawing.

Council's 2006 Guidelines for Alterations and Additions to Dwellings in Heritage Areas in Hobsons Bay and Guidelines for Infill Development in Heritage Areas in Hobsons Bay apply too. They ask you to leave the street front and roofline alone, keep additions to the rear with minimal visibility, keep side additions well back, and make new work distinguishable from old. Among their stated objectives is that new development responds to significant vegetation.

Can I add a second storey?

The 2006 alterations guidelines set no specific height. The test is visibility: draw your house and the street in section, then a line from eye level, 1.7 metres above the ground on the opposite side of the street, over your roof. An addition below that line will have minimal visibility. Corner sites have more sight lines.

Most roofs of 30 degrees pitch or more should be checked for room for an attic, with attic windows to the side or rear. Failing that, a second storey should sit well back from the façade, behind the ridgeline of the main roof, set in from the side walls, and no higher than adjacent buildings in the street.

Verdon Street's 99-foot road reserve sets the distance for that sight line, so don't borrow a section drawn for a narrower street.

Fences, garages and the details

• External paint is controlled. The 2006 guidelines ask for colours that suit the period and style of the house and the street, say previously unpainted surfaces should not be painted, and apply the same advice to fences.
• Few front fences are original; most are low, many in reproduction timber pickets. New fences should not exceed 1300 mm, and high solid fences are not acceptable.
• The basalt guttering and the grassed and gravelled verges are contributory. The guidelines discourage new crossovers, and existing ones aren't a reason to approve more. Garages are not favoured in the front setback; at the side, set them at least two metres behind the façade.
• Never sandblast paint off brick or stone; use a non-abrasive method.

What gets approved here

This section will carry the local permit record — application volumes, approval rates, what refused applications were attempting, and any VCAT decisions. That analysis is in progress and will be published with its method and limits stated.

What to do next

Ask council for pre-application advice. A free call with a planner, before anything is drawn — the most useful hour in the process.

Then check your address to confirm which precinct you are actually in. A Clarity Consultation is a focused session on your specific house; Confidence to Buy applies the same thinking before you bid.

Browse every Hobsons Bay heritage precinct.

Sources: control table and precinct extent transcribed from the Hobsons Bay Planning Scheme, Schedule to Clause 43.01 (C133hbay, gazetted 11/02/2026), read 27 October 2026. Significance from the Hobsons Bay Heritage Study 2006 citation for the Verdon Street Heritage Precinct (Victorian Heritage Database place 22466). Design tests from Hobsons Bay City Council's Guidelines for Alterations and Additions to Dwellings in Heritage Areas (2006) and Guidelines for Infill Development in Heritage Areas (2006). This is a plain-English summary written by a registered architect. It is not planning advice and the planning scheme governs.