Fairfield-Space.org.au
Title
Fairfield-SPACE - St Paul's Anglican church & Solace emc
Description
Fairfield, a residential and industrial suburb east of Northcote, is 6 km. north-east of Melbourne. It includes a southerly portion surrounded on three sides by meanders of the Merri Creek and the Yarra River, chiefly consisting of open space and once containing institutions dating from colonial times, notable the Yarra Bend asylum.
Land sales in the Fairfield area were included in those extending from Northcote to Alphington in 1840. The early villages were Alphington and Northcote (where today's Westgarth is situated). In the early 1880s a land speculator, Charles Henry James, bought up large tracts of land in the district, and sold some of it in subdivided form in an estate named Fairfield Park, apparently a name taken from Derbyshire. (James is acknowledged to have been one of Melbourne's first and most successful land boomers, but the depression of the 1890s saw him lose his Illawarra mansion in Toorak and repayment of his debts at 63/4 pence in the pound.)
In 1888 the railway line through Fairfield Park, from Collingwood to Heidelberg, was opened, and Fairfield Park was the junction of the Outer Circle railway from Oakleigh (1891-93). James also had a tram service along Station Street, from the station to Mansfield Street running from 1884 to 1890, connected to the railway line that between 1884 and 1888 ran only from Clifton Hill to Alphington (the line from "no where to no where"). Fairfield was thus launched with a high degree of attention to public access, and the house blocks sold well. They were reasonable value for money in that they were bigger than the standard blocks closer to Melbourne.
Languages
English
