Twentieth century heritage

Twentieth century heritage
Protection and significance
Further information

Twentieth century heritage

Twentieth century heritage, also known as modern, post-war or recent heritage is often considered 'too new' to conserve and be placed on the Victorian Heritage Register, but there is no set age at which places become old enough to be 'heritage'.

If we lose the heritage fabric of the second half of the twentieth century, we are in danger of losing the understanding of this time for future generations.

As time passes and buildings continue to be designed, built and used, people want to conserve the key pieces of this period.

Protection and significance

The recognition and protection of post-war heritage is not a recent phenomenon, as our more recent heritage has been included on the state’s statutory registers for more than 20 years.

An example is Heide II at Templestowe Road Bulleen, now known as the Heide Museum of Modern Art, which was added to the Government Buildings Register in May 1988 and later transferred to the Victorian Heritage Register. It was designed by David McGlashan, of McGlashan and Everist, and built in 1967. When the building was included on the state statutory heritage list it was only 21 years old.

ICI House (now Orica), completed in 1958, became the first multi-storey tower to be included on the then Historic Buildings Register in March 1990.

There is no set age at which places become 'heritage', either in the state legislation or in practice. Places are assessed according to criteria adopted by the Heritage Council, and the requirements of the Heritage Act. This, in practice, makes it difficult to consider recent architecture, which is usually assessed under the aesthetic or technical criteria. This is because the longer term impact of the work and/or its place in the architect’s body of work has not been established.

While there is no set age to determine when a place becomes heritage, 25 years or roughly a generation, is often considered a reasonable period of time in which to be better able to assess its heritage values.

This is reflected in the 25 Year Award for Enduring Architecture, which was introduced in 2003 by the Victorian Chapter of the Institute of Architects and was intended “to recognise buildings that have endured changes in taste and ideology over the last quarter of a century”. The majority of the winning buildings of this award are now on the Victorian Heritage Register including:

Heritage Victoria aims to recognise and celebrate the diversity of Victoria’s heritage and acknowledge places and objects that are special to Victorians. It also aims to ensure that significance assessment activities reflect the community’s appreciation of heritage. In doing so it is important that we have a strategic approach to dealing with these places, and not just respond to crises like imminent demolition, or ad hoc nominations to the VHR.

The commissioning of the Post-war Built Heritage Study Stage One, completed by Heritage Alliance in 2008, was an important part of the foundation work that needed to take place, and was part of the strategy implementation. This study resulted in several places being identified as having potential significance.

We have also consulted eminent Victorian architects who identified a list of key late twentieth century buildings that they believed warranted assessment for the Victorian Heritage Register. These included the former Clyde Cameron College at Wodonga, Grimwade House at Rye, and the Fooks House in North Caulfield, which have been added to the Victorian Heritage Register.

While recognition and protection of post-war built heritage through inclusion on the Victorian Heritage Register and heritage overlays in the planning scheme are important, broader identification and assessment, as well as promoting greater public awareness are also necessary. For example, the St Kilda Walking tour podcast tells the story of St Kilda through its built and social heritage from nineteenth century mansions to post war houses.

There is a perception that people seem to love their grandparents’ legacy but dislike what their parents left. Perhaps recent heritage has been too close to many peoples' own experience to appear unusual, unknowable or carry romantic and nostalgic meaning for it to feel special. However, there is a changing public appreciation of more recent architecture as a new generation discovers the great buildings of the post-war years.

Further information


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