Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Not that many suburbs have a distinct architectural style. But if you drive down Massey Avenue in Reservoir, you know you couldn’t be anywhere else in Melbourne.
House after house, all with the same features: bricks in various shades of orange and brown, aluminum shutters on the windows, concrete driveway to the side, white pillars at the front. Dressmaker Connie Cantone-Matarazzo lives on Massey Avenue in Reservoir. Credit: Justin McManus In the large backyard, there’s almost definitely a veggie garden with a lemon tree.
On the roof, there might be a large satellite dish capable of picking up channels from Rai Italia (or the moon). The garage likely has a second kitchen to keep the home smelling and looking clean. “People in Reservoir really take pride in their house,” says local Daniel Mancuso, who documents Reservoir life through his Yiayia Next Door Instagram page (yiayia is grandmother in Greek).
“I think it’s just the way they were brought up, they look after their things. They are keeping it clean to last, hopefully for their lifetime.” Melbourne’s northern suburbs have experienced waves of gentrification recently – real estate agents have gone from marketing Thornbury as the new Northcote, to selling Preston as the new Thornbury.
And Reservoir – at 18.86 square kilometres, one of the biggest suburbs in Melbourne – is certainly not immune to this sweep of chang.