FITZROY BRIDGE HOUSE BY MATT GIBSON ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN

Fitzroy, together with its neighbours Collingwood and Richmond, is one of Melbourne’s earliest suburbs – where the first suburban land allotments beyond the Melbourne town reserve were sold. South Fitzroy is layered with a rich tapestry of residential and industrial buildings, but it is known particularly for its attached, Victorian-era housing. An 1850 planning decision to mitigate fire risk led to a particularly high prevalence of masonry construction in South Fitzroy, and that legacy remains evident today.

Fitzroy Bridge House is the end of a row of four two-storey terraced brick houses on Napier Street, built between 1880 and 1890. The house