Description

Driving along Marine Parade, St Kilda, you can’t miss Edgewater Towers. It is the only high-rise apartment building south of Luna Park.

When the building was completed in 1961, it was advertised as luxurious Manhattan-style living only minutes from Collins Street. The building’s International Style architecture and multi-storey slab construction were new to Melbourne. Edgewater Towers was designed by émigré architect Mordechai Benshemesh, who, along with architects Harry Seidler and Neville Gruzman, was a staunch advocate for high-density apartment buildings. 

Many people have called Edgewater Towers home, including 1920s-30s Tour de France cyclist and politician Sir Hubert Opperman, automotive engineer Josef Ganz (who's now recognised as the originator of the Volkswagen car), and the mother of artist Sidney Nolan, Dora Irene Nolan.

The building retains many original midcentury-modern features in the lobby, such as terrazzo flooring, glass tiles and a curved stone wall. A new lift, recently completed, provides wheelchair access directly to the communal rooftop recreation area designed by Opat Architects.

What's On

Enjoy a self-guided tour of the lobby and view information collected by our Edgewater Towers historians, including original advertising material, architects' drawings and apartment interiors imagery. You’ll be able to speak to some of the residents to find out what it’s like to live in an iconic building, before heading to the rooftop in groups of 10 for 360° views of the city and the bay.