A terrace of three two storey houses with cast iron balconies. The cast iron is not original and it is not known whether it has been reproduced from an original sample. The cast iron fences and gates are original.
Samuel Noble Brook (c.1853-1940), first owner and builder of Salisbury Terrace, was variously described as an ornamental ironworker and an importer, however 'it apears that he operated as a self employed building developer for most of his life in business in Melbourne.' [Willingham] On completion of the property Brook sold it to The Standard Mutual Building Society, who within four months had passed it on to Godwin George Crespin (1842-1920), auctioneer and sugar broker. Crespin was a Melbourne City Councillor (Lonsdale Ward), chairman of the Mercantile Finance and Guarantee Co., treasurer of the Stock Exchange Club, and father of eleven children. He sold the properties in 1914 to Henry Friedman of the Oriental Hotel, Collins Street East, Melbourne, medical practitioner. On Friedman's death in 1943 the property passed to one of his executors, Beatrix Olive Bennett of Menzies Hotel, Bourke Street, Melbourne, dentist. Bennett held the three properties until the mid-1960s when she sub-divided the land and sold the houses on separate titles.
'The property at 70-74 Gipps Street remained in sole ownership until 1963, when Salisbury Terrace was subdivided into three separate lots and progressively sold off between April 1963 and May 1968. Prior to this subdivision, the three terraces functioned for some years as rooming house accommodation, with the original cast iron columns, balustrade panels and friezes being removed and the upper balcony verandahs enclosed with glass louvres to provide additional accommodation. At the same time the original balustraded parapets, curved wing walls, urns and entablature, together with the upper section of the central typanum, were removed.' [Willingham]
William Henry Smith (1859-1918), the architect of Salisbury Terrace, was born in Geelong and, according to his marriage certificate [1882, No. 881], started out as a carpenter and joiner but by 1886 was known as an architect. He also designed Bradford Terrace, 57-61 Gipps Street, East Melbourne, for S.N. Brook. Smith died at his residence, 101 Gipps Street, East Melbourne
Willingham, Allan, 'Salisbury Terrace, 70-74 Gipps Street, East Melbourne, 3002: a brief cultural history and guidelines for the restoration of the princiapl facade', c.2003