Carlton (Victoria)

Carlton Melbourne, Victoria
Aerial view looking south over Carlton. The Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens (left), Rathdowne Street (centre), Drummond Street (right) and Lygon Street (far right)
Carlton
Coordinates	37°48′00″S 144°58′02″E / 37.8001°S 144.9671°E / -37.8001; 144.9671Coordinates: 37°48′00″S 144°58′02″E / 37.8001°S 144.9671°E / -37.8001; 144.9671
Population	18,535 (2016)
• Density	10,300/km2 (26,700/sq mi)
Established	1851
Postcode(s)	3053
Area	1.8 km2 (0.7 sq mi)
Location	2 km (1 mi) from Melbourne
LGA(s)	City of Melbourne
State electorate(s)	Melbourne
Federal Division(s)	Melbourne
Suburbs around Carlton: Parkville Carlton North Fitzroy North North Melbourne Carlton Fitzroy West Melbourne Melbourne East Melbourne

Carlton is an inner-northern suburb of Melbourne, Australia, immediately adjoining Melbourne's Central Business District. Its local government area is the City of Melbourne.

Carlton is known nationwide for its Little Italy precinct centred on Lygon Street, for its propenderance of 19th century Victorian architecture and its garden squares including the Carlton Gardens, the latter being the location of the Royal Exhibition Building, one of Australia's few man-made sites with World Heritage status.

Due to its proximity to The University of Melbourne, the CBD campus of RMIT University and the Fitzroy campus of Australian Catholic University, Carlton is also home to one of the highest concentrations of university students in Australia.

Carlton is thought to have been named after Carlton House, London.

Carlton was founded in 1851 at the beginning of the Victorian Gold Rush, with the Carlton Post Office opening on 19 October 1865.

Carlton is characterised by medium- to high-density housing, with a mix of apartments and student accommodation, attached and semidetached terraces mostly from the Victorian era and mix use buildings

Apartments (83.2%) are the most common form of housing. Carlton's apartments are low incomes, including crisis and student accommodation, with Housing Commission of Victoria towers and modern student apartment buildings. The two main housing commission estates are between Lygon and Rathdowne Streets, and between Nicholson and Canning Streets. These are configured as a mixture of 4 and 5-storey walk-up flats and 22-storey high-rise towers which are in the process of being redeveloped as mixed-tenure housing. 76.8% of Carlton's housing is rented, the vast majority of which is concentrated in these apartment towers. The development of new apartment buildings to accommodate international student market since the late 1990s has transformed the once low-rise skyline of Swanston Street, so that its predominant height is about 10–11 storeys. Some strata titled apartments are clustered fronting suburb's parks and gardens.