Fitzroy North is adjacent to, and shares a postcode and neighbourhood character with Clifton Hill, both being government subdivisions set on elevated ground and to the same layout by Clement Hodgkinson in the 1870s, and distinct from the earlier narrow and more crowded private subdivisions in the lower lying areas of Fitzroy and Collingwood to the south.

This park was saved for the people of Fitzroy by John McMahon, when he obtained permanent possession during his first year of Mayorship.

A linear park, incorporating a section of the Capital City Trail bike path, runs along much of the northern edge of the suburb, on the easement for the Inner Circle railway line, which closed in 1948.

Fitzroy North is also distinct in character, with less commercial activity, wider, quieter, leafier streets, and clear delineation to the east provided by the green Merri Creek corridor.

The suburb is relatively intact and consistent in character, having had far less industrial and commercial development in its formative years than its southern namesake.

Another, on St Georges Road at Park Street, is a redevelopment of the old Fire Station, with an extension at the back reminiscent of three concrete grain silos.