St Vincent Gardens in the Melbourne suburb of Albert Park, is an Australian park of national significance. It is an example of nineteenth century residential development around a large landscaped square. Development occurred as a result of a boom following the Victorian gold rush. It was influenced by similar, urban design in London, but such design on such a scale is unparalleled in Australia. In the shape of a large rectangular area with semi-circular crescents at either end, the heritage area includes the St Vincent Place precinct bounded by Park Street, Cecil Street, Bridport Street, Cardigan Place and Nelson Road. The park is bisected by Montague Street, allowing the passage of trams on route 1. Several of the streets are lined with the original cobbled blue stone and gutters. It is registered with the National Trust of Australia and on the Victorian Heritage register for its aesthetic, historical, architectural and social significance to the State of Victoria. Significance The gardens are particularly important according to the Victorian Heritage Register: as a reflection of the aspirations of middle class residents in South Melbourne. Because of the shared outlook on and use of the gardens, the precinct has developed a sense of community cohesion unusual in the Melbourne context. The gardens are also socially important as a focus of community life for the surrounding district with the maintenance of their amenity a priority of municipal government since their inception. The existence of the tennis and bowls clubs in the gardens for over a century is a further manifestation of this social importance. The Australian Demographer Bernard Salt included the precinct as first among his "favourite places that have been designed by planners" : "St Vincent Place, Albert Park: Where would such a list start but in my home city of Melbourne? Surely this residential precinct known only to Melburnians must be one of this nation's town planning treasures. Here are two extended but connecting crescents laid out around gardens which are overlooked by double-storey Victorian terrace houses. Designed in the early 1850s, St Vincent Place was virtually a gated community: the well-to-do would promenade around their public gardens; smaller wooden houses for servants and the working classes were relegated to the lesser enveloping crescents." History First design was probably by Andrew Clarke, the Surveyor-General of Victoria, in 1854 or 1855. Clement Hodgkinson adapted the design in 1857 to allow for its intersection