It is an almost exclusively residential area characterised by a mix of Victorian terraces, modest Edwardian villas, interwar and post war walk-up flats, as well as some 1960s-70s hi-rise towers facing Port Phillip bay.

The area of St Kilda West was formerly part of a large swamp which included what is now Middle Park, which was drained in the early 1870s, and streets laid out in regular grid plan, subdivided in stages, but only built in sparsely at first.

[2] The St Kilda railway line, Melbourne's second which opened in 1857, ran along the northern edge of the area, terminating at the northeast corner at Fitzroy Street.

[3] Beginning just before World War I with the construction of the Canterbury in 1914, flats began to be built in the still vacant lots in St Kilda West, sometimes replacing earlier houses.

This trend continued in the post-war period, including a number of high rise apartment towers on Beaconsfield Parade and on Canterbury Road.

One notable change was the sale of the railway reservation along the other side Canterbury Road which was sold off in the 1990s, and developed as a row of townhouses.