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                    Heritage grants

                    Facade of an older building.
                    Heritage plays an important role in making Melbourne a place people love to live, work and visit.

                    ​​​​​​In recognition of this, City of Melbourne has committed funding to the restoration of community, commercial and residential heritage buildings around the city through the Melbourne Heritage Restoration Fund, a $300,000 multi-year fund.

                    Have you been thinking about or planning a project to transform your heritage building? If it is in City of Melbourne, in a heritage overlay and needs a makeover, big or small, consider applying.  A little restoration work can go a long way to transforming your building and keeping it in great condition for years to come.

                    Established in 1988, the Melbourne Heritage Restoration Fund is the City of Melbourne fund within the Victorian Heritage Restoration Fund, and administered by the National Trust of Victoria.

                    Eligibility

                    To apply for a grant your heritage property must be within a heritage overlay and located in the City of Melbourne, and the works must be visible from the public realm. 

                    Check your pro​perty address to see if it is within the City of Melbourne municipal area and if it is in a heritage overlay.

                    There are two grant categories:

                    • Landmark and Community Buildings
                    • All Heritage Buildings

                    See the criteria below to help decide if you are eligible and then apply by completing the form on the Victorian Heritage Restoration Fund website. If you have any questions please contact the Heritage Team on 9658 9658 or at heritage@melbourne.vic.gov.au.

                    You can apply at any time and the committee meets twice a year to decide on the allocation of the grants. Meeting dates can be found on the VHRF website Victorian Heritage Restoration Fund.

                    Landmark and Community Buildings category

                    The Landmark and Community Buildings category is open to not-for-profit, charity or community owned or occupied heritage buildings, and privately owned heritage buildings that are landmarks or prominent features in the City of Melbourne.

                    Landmark buildings are buildings that are well known, generally on main streets, easily recognisable or well-loved, and may have an interesting story to tell. This category can also include public artworks or parks and gardens. Unless they are landmarks, most individual residential properties are best suited to the All Heritage Buildings category.

                    The Landmark and Community category is open to owners or occupiers of commercial, residential and community properties if they are within a heritage overlay in the City of Melbourne (check your address on boundary map) either as individually significant or as contributory to a precinct and are at least one of the following:

                    Not-for-profit / charity

                    A non-profit organisation is one which is not operating for the profit or gain of its individual members, whether these gains would have been direct or indirect.

                    To be recognised as a charity an organisation must:

                    • be not-for-profit
                    • have only charitable purposes that are for the public benefit
                    • not be an individual, a political party or a government entity.

                    (Source: Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission website, accessed 29 July 2022)

                    Community property

                    ​The description 'community properties' implies that the entire building or a substantial part of it is for the exclusive use of the wider community at all times.

                    Landmark and/or prominent building

                    ​The heritage building is easily recognisable. It stands out in its locality and helps to define the area it is in; people know it by sight because of its beauty or because it is distinctive. The building is well known and perhaps there is a story attached to it. A landmark building might be located on a street corner or provides a place for people to meet, or is used as a navigation marker.

                    ​All Heritage Buildings category

                    The All Heritage Buildings category is open to owners of heritage buildings or places, including residential, in the Heritage Overlay within City of Melbourne (check your address on boundary map) either as individually significant or as contributory to a precinct.

                    What is eligible for funding?

                    Eligible restoration works

                    To be eligible for funding, proposed restoration works must:

                    • Apply to a place within a heritage overlay in the City of Melbourne (check your address)
                    • Only involve works that are visible from the public realm
                    • Enhance the original or early appearance and the overall improvement of the place
                    • Enhance building elements of identified heritage significance and improve the overall appearance of the building
                    • Provide evidence that the work is of a reconstructive nature or restorative nature (this can be established through early building plans, photographs and drawings)
                    • Reconstruct only original features
                    • Be put forward by the property owner or a commercial lessee who has the written consent from the owner and whose lease is longer than any completion deadline or loan repayment period.
                    • In addition, the grants will provide up to $5,000 in funding for professional advice and documentation for a landmark or community building. This would include work such as specialist conservation advice, technical advice, drawings and preparation of schedules of works to complement the proposed conservation work; all must be documented.

                    The grants do not fund:

                    • Any place within an interim heritage overlay
                    • Anything under a repair or enforcement order from the City of Melbourne
                    • Council owned properties
                    • Works that are not visible from the public realm
                    • Works already commenced or completed
                    • Speculative reconstruction works where there is no evidence of early appearance
                    • Development works – such as extensions (even when visible from the public realm)
                    • Works to interiors
                    • Painting – except when forming part of larger restoration works.
                    • Maintenance and structural repairs – such as new guttering or down-pipes, general timber repairs, re-stumping.

                    How much are the grants?

                    The total amount an individual project receives will depend on the number of projects funded in any given round of funding. 

                    The following information is provided as a guide noting that the committee of the Victorian Heritage Restoration Fund (VHRF) has the final decision on eligibility and how the fund is allocated.

                    Landmark and Community Buildings category

                    Community owned, not-for-profit or charities: the fund will contribute between 50 and 100 per cent of the total cost of the project. In exceptional circumstances, the fund will be allocated to one project but is most likely to be split across multiple projects.

                    Privately owned and commercial buildings that are landmarks: the fund will contribute up to 60 per cent of the total cost.

                    Specialist advice: the fund will contribute up to $5,000 towards professional advice and documentation for restoration of a landmark or community building.

                    All Heritage Buildings category

                    Transformative restoration: up to 50 per cent of the total cost for projects of a transformative nature such as verandah replacement or reinstatement.

                    Non transformative works: up to 30% if the work proposed is of a non transformative nature such as replacing tiles or re-pointing brickwork.

                    How to apply

                    To apply to the fund please complete an online application at the Victorian Heritage Restoration Fund.

                    Successful grant recipients

                    Here are some examples of grants awarded to owners of both landmark and residential buildings.

                    Hosies Mural – Landmark and Community Buildings category

                    This mosaic mural, designed by Richard Beck, is a much loved Melbourne landmark and was installed on the east elevation of Hosie’s Hotel in 1955. The mural is included on the Victorian Heritage Register for its historical and aesthetic significance to Victoria and for its association with Richard Beck, an important commercial graphic designer in the 1950s who worked on design projects for the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne.

                    A grant was awarded to employ a specialist conservator to conserve the mural including removal of previous poor repairs, stabilisation of detaching tiles, re-grouting tiles and preparing a photographic record of the mural. The most transformative element of the work was the removal of a white film that had formed over the mosaic revealing the colour and vibrancy of the original.

                    Queen Victoria Women’s Centre at 210 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne – Landmark and Community Buildings category

                    The former Queen Victoria Hospital Tower and fence are the prominent remnants of a hospital complex that once occupied the entire block bounded by Lonsdale, Swanston, Little Lonsdale and Russell Streets. A grant was awarded for corrosion treatment of wrought iron fences and towards re-establishing a historic garden facing Lonsdale Street.

                    Former Gordon House 24-30 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne – Landmark and Community Buildings category

                    Gordon House was built in 1883 for George Selth Coppin, theatrical entrepreneur, politician and philanthropist. The building was conceived as subsidised accommodation for actors and was based on the Chelsea Model Lodging House in London. Renowned Melbourne architect William Pitt designed Gordon House. A grant was awarded to conserve the entrance sign which enhances the appearance of the building to the street.

                    Temple of the Winds, Royal Botanic Gardens – Landmark and Community Buildings category

                    The Temple of the Winds is a prominent feature of the Royal Botanic Gardens and is a folly designed by Gardens director William Guilfoyle erected in 1901 as a memorial to Lieutenant Governor of Victoria Charles La Trobe; it is at the highest point of the Gardens overlooking the River Yarra. A grant was awarded towards conservation works to restore the temple to its original appearance.

                    Former workshop of J Howie, Farrier in North Melbourne – Landmark and Community Buildings category

                    This corner Victorian building has double doors onto the street and a curved parapet with the words ‘J Howie farrier AD 1889’. It is on a sharp corner with a laneway and has high visibility in the streetscape. A grant was awarded to restore the laneway-facing wall ensuring the survival on the building.

                    Mission to Seafarers at 717 Flinders Street, Docklands  - Landmark and Community Buildings category

                    During 1916 the architect Walter Richmond Butler designed a new Anglican Mission to Seamen to replace premises in Siddeley Street, which had been reclaimed by the Harbour Trust during wharf extensions. 

                    A grant was awarded for specialist conservation and reinstatement of the Mission’s landmark, ship-shaped weathervane to the roof of the main building. Sadly, following its conservation, the beautiful weathervane was stolen in 2021.

                    47 Powlett Street, East Melbourne – All Heritage Buildings Fund

                    This building was created in the 1800s and extended in the 1930s when the original slate roof tiles were replaced with terracotta. The building was converted to apartments in the 1950s.

                    A grant was awarded to replace the 1930s terracotta tiles on visible sections of the roof with Welsh slate. The work was completed in March 2021 to a high standard returning the building closer to its original appearance and contribute to the ability of the public to read this landmark property as a grand Victorian building.

                    Kensington Neighbourhood House at 89 McCracken Street and its neighbour number 91 – All Heritage Buildings Fund

                    Read more about these two places in Melbourne Magazine.

                    Heritage team

                    Telephone number
                    9658 96589658 9658
                    Email
                    heritage@melbourne.vic.gov.au
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