St Kilda Botanical Gardens Conservatory

The St Kilda Botanical Gardens date from the late 1850s and early 1860s. The City of Port Phillip places their foundation in 1859; the Victorian Heritage Database records a land grant gazetted on 1 August 1860 and an opening fete in November 1861; Wikipedia gives 28 September 1859 for the gazettal. A design competition was won by Tilman Gloystein, and the first plants came from the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne, then directed by Ferdinand von Mueller.

A masterplan prepared in 1983 set further work in motion. According to the register, it led among other things to the redevelopment of the rose garden in 1985, a lake built in place of the playground and a glass conservatory of 392 square metres housing Australian rainforest plants. The City of Port Phillip dates the subtropical rainforest conservatory to the early 1990s, and the register adds that a toilet block was built south of it in 1993.

The register also notes that a glasshouse was built in the 1970s when the nursery was expanded. The City lists the conservatory and separate glasshouses among the facilities, and the gardens' volunteer Friends, who look after glasshouses of their own, usually open them on Saturday afternoons according to their website.

The Victorian heritage register gives the conservatory a floor area of 392 square metres. A photograph taken in 2009 and published on Wikimedia Commons shows a glazed building with a pitched glass roof, fronted by a classical-style porch and reflected in the ornamental pond to its north. A Melbourne history blog calls the design "tilt-slab classical", a term for construction from concrete panels cast flat and tilted upright.

On OpenStreetMap, the building tagged "Greenhouse" just south of the pond covers about 350 square metres, close to the register's figure; it lies north of the 1993 toilet block, which matches the register's wording (a block south of the conservatory).

According to the Victorian heritage register, the conservatory houses Australian rainforest plants; the City of Port Phillip calls it a subtropical rainforest conservatory. A blogger who visited in 2021 found mostly greenery rather than tropical flowers.

In the surrounding garden, the register notes an unusually large collection of rare and uncommon mature trees, including Jubaea chilensis, Phoenix sylvestris and Ulmus pumila, as well as the palm avenue, which combines Phoenix canariensis and Washingtonia robusta. The City mentions indigenous plants and seasonal flower displays. The Alister Clark Memorial Rose Garden dates from 1950 and was redesigned in 1985.

The gardens, at 55 Blessington Street, are open every day. The conservatory's hours differ between weekdays and weekends or public holidays; the City of Port Phillip publishes them, and they are worth checking before a visit.

Nearby, the City lists an ornamental pond, the rose garden, indigenous plants and a playground; Wikipedia mentions a solar-powered sculptured fountain by Corey Thomas and Ken Arnold. The register also singles out the Levi Pavilion, a hexagonal timber pavilion of 1928, and the Blessington Street gates. The Sandringham line leads to Balaclava station, from which the gardens can be reached on foot or by tram.