As part of the removal of 3 level crossings in Cheltenham and Mentone, the Level Crossing Removal Project will protect and preserve the existing heritage station buildings.

Mentone Station and gardens are listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. The Cheltenham Station buildings have local heritage protection.

We have engaged independent experts who specialise in heritage assessments to help us as we have developed the designs for removing the level crossings at Park Road and Charman Road in Cheltenham and Balcombe Road in Mentone.

We will carefully relocate the timber station buildings at Mentone and Cheltenham away from the work sites and refurbish them. The Mentone Station buildings will be returned to their existing locations, with a new ‘heritage bridge’ across the rail line between the buildings.

The final location of the Cheltenham Station buildings is yet to be determined, and we will work with the local community during this process.

We need a permit from Heritage Victoria before any work gets underway at Mentone Station. The community will have an opportunity to comment and we will provide more information on how to get involved at the relevant time.

The 5 heritage-listed trees in the Mentone Station gardens – 2 Norfolk pines and 3 palm trees – will be protected on site during works. Arborists have identified exclusion zones around these five trees, which means we can carefully work around them during construction.

They will form the centrepiece of a new station garden that will include the connection across the rail line between the two station buildings.

The palm trees at Cheltenham Station will be relocated during works and returned as part of the new station precinct. This method of retaining trees has been done successfully at many other level crossing removal sites, including at Bentleigh on the Frankston line.

The Friends of Mentone Station and Gardens community group has been a key part of our work at Mentone to date and will continue to be involved in the project.

We will seek community input on the future use of the station buildings and landscaping opportunities.

Where we have done this before

A 128-year-old building from Clayton Station on the Cranbourne Dandenong line was relocated during the construction of the elevated rail line. It was restored by more than 200 students from Chisholm Institute of TAFE in partnership with Heritage Victoria and was later reinstated beside the new elevated station.

This project provided valuable experience for apprentice carpenters, builders and plumbers to work on a historic building and understand the difference between 19th century and modern building techniques.

Historic photographs and detailed information are on display inside the building, highlighting the area’s rich rail history.

Why these stations are important

Mentone Station is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. The station opened in 1881 as part of the extension of the Frankston line from Caulfield to Mordialloc.

The existing station buildings date back to 1913-14, after the original buildings were destroyed by fire, and are an outstanding example of a metropolitan timber railway station.

The Mentone Station and gardens are significant for their association with the development of Melbourne during the land boom of the 1880s, and in particular the developer Sir Matthew Davies. The arrival of the railway in 1881 was critical to the development of Mentone, which became associated with bayside recreation and horse racing.

Davies' Coffee Palace, built in 1887 and now the Kilbreda Tower, and Mentone Station and gardens were part of Sir Matthew’s concept for a seaside resort at Mentone.

Cheltenham Station dates back to 1882 and was extensively modernised and extended in 1992, by which time many of the original decorative elements and some buildings had been removed. The palm trees in the station precinct will form part of the landscaping when the level crossing removal works are complete.

Information with thanks to Heritage Council Victoria and the City of Kingston

The Victorian Government is removing 18 dangerous and congested level crossings on the Frankston Line, including at Charman Road and Park Road in Cheltenham and at Balcombe Road in Mentone.