Three hundred metres to your campus gate is a number that changes how you live, not just how you commute.
It means you can go home between classes. It means a 9am lecture is a decision you make at 8.45. It means your laptop charger being on your desk instead of in your bag is an inconvenience rather than a lost day. For a University of Melbourne student, that is the entire argument for UniLodge Lincoln House.
Lincoln House is at 125 Bouverie Street, Carlton VIC 3053, roughly 300 metres from the Grattan Street southern entrance of the University of Melbourne, with indicative rates from around A$399 a week. Here is what the address gets you and where the building's genuine limitations sit.
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Quick facts
| Detail | UniLodge Lincoln House |
| Address | 125 Bouverie Street, Carlton VIC 3053 |
| Indicative rent | From around A$399/week, all-inclusive |
| Room types | Standard Bedroom, Premier Ensuite, Superior Ensuite |
| University of Melbourne | 300 m to the Grattan Street southern entrance |
| RMIT City campus | Under a 5-minute walk |
| Melbourne CBD | Walking distance; trams and Melbourne Central station nearby |
| Lygon Street | Nearby — Carlton's café and restaurant strip |
| Support | 24/7 via the Sonder app partnership, plus reception |
| Laundry | Card-operated, second floor — detergent included |
The location: Carlton's student core
Bouverie Street runs through the southern end of Carlton, in the strip of blocks between the University of Melbourne's Parkville campus and the northern edge of the CBD. It is arguably the single most student-dense pocket in Melbourne, and living in it has a compounding effect that is hard to quantify but easy to feel: your classmates live on the same streets, the cafés are full of people doing the same readings, and the walk home at 10pm from the library is five minutes rather than a tram wait.
The University of Melbourne is 300 metres to the Grattan Street southern entrance. That is the headline and it is not exaggerated — this is a genuine walk-to-campus building.
RMIT City is under a five-minute walk. This is the detail most people miss about Bouverie Street: it is one of the very few addresses in Melbourne that is walking distance to both major city universities. If you are doing a course with teaching at both, or living with a partner or friend at the other institution, that dual proximity is rare and worth a premium.
The CBD is walking distance, with tram stops on the surrounding streets and Melbourne Central station a short walk south. You do not need a car, a bike or a Myki top-up for daily life here, though you will want the Myki for everything beyond the immediate area.
Lygon Street is the neighbourhood's spine — Carlton's café and restaurant strip, and one of the better places in Melbourne to eat cheaply if you know where to look. That is a lifestyle point but also a budget one: a student who can walk to affordable food is a student who spends less than one ordering delivery.
For the wider comparison of where to live around campus, student housing near the University of Melbourne maps the alternatives, and the cheapest neighbourhoods for University of Melbourne students covers what you save by moving further out.
Room types: the ensuite ladder is the decision
Three configurations, and the naming tells you the structure:
- Standard Bedroom — the entry option
- Premier Ensuite — private bathroom
- Superior Ensuite — private bathroom, larger or better-positioned
The A$399 indicative starting rate will correspond to the Standard Bedroom. The step up to a Premier or Superior Ensuite is the single biggest variable in your budget at this property, and it is worth thinking about properly rather than defaulting.
The case for the ensuite: a private bathroom removes the most common daily friction in shared student living — queuing, cleanliness disputes, and the loss of privacy that some students find genuinely wearing over a full academic year.
The case for the Standard Bedroom: across a 44-week year, the difference between tiers is likely to be well over A$2,000, which is a semester of textbooks, a flight home, or the buffer that means you do not need to work extra shifts during exams.
Our breakdown of ensuite versus studio rooms and prices works through how these rate ladders are constructed and where the value usually sits. Ask for the exact weekly rate on all three tiers for your specific lease dates before choosing — the gap varies by intake and availability, and it is sometimes much smaller than you would expect.
What the rent includes and how the building works
Lincoln House runs an all-inclusive rent model, and the kitchen arrangement is its most distinctive feature.
There is a fully equipped communal kitchen described as master-chef in design, plus kitchenettes on every floor. That two-tier arrangement is smarter than it sounds. The kitchenette on your floor handles the everyday — coffee, toast, reheating, a quick pasta — without a lift trip. The main communal kitchen handles proper cooking, and because it is a destination rather than a default, it tends to become social. Students who cook together in a building like this eat better and spend less.
Laundry is on the second floor, card-operated, with detergent included. The detergent inclusion is a small thing that quietly saves money and a supermarket trip, and it is unusual enough to be worth noting.
Facilities
- Fully equipped communal kitchen, plus kitchenettes on every floor
- On-site gym with treadmills, exercise bikes and free weights
- Sports and games lounge with TVs
- Skylounge and meeting areas
- Rooftop garden with BBQ facilities
- Landscaped courtyards and terraces
- Study rooms
- Laundry facilities on level 2
The landscaped courtyards and terraces are the differentiator against a CBD tower. Carlton buildings have ground-level outdoor space in a way that high-rises on La Trobe or Elizabeth Street simply cannot, and after a Melbourne winter that is a real quality-of-life factor rather than a brochure line.
The gym is functional rather than luxurious — treadmills, bikes, free weights. That is an honest description and probably the right specification: it covers most students' actual training, and you are not paying a premium for equipment you will not use.
Support and security
Support runs 24/7 through a partnership with the Sonder app, alongside reception services.
App-based support is a different model from a staffed desk at 3am, and it is worth understanding what it means in practice. It gives you a fast route to help from your phone, including outside reception hours, and it typically covers welfare and safety escalation as well as building issues. Ask specifically what response looks like for a middle-of-the-night incident, and how building access and after-hours lockouts are handled, before you assume it is equivalent to on-site overnight staffing.
If safety is central to your decision, is Melbourne student accommodation safe for female students sets out the questions worth asking on any tour.
The money
At an indicative A$399 a week all-inclusive, Lincoln House sits in the middle of the Melbourne market — meaningfully below CBD towers, above outer-suburb options, and roughly in line with other Carlton student buildings.
The comparison worth running is against Yugo University Square in Carlton, which occupies almost identical territory, and against Scape Queensberry and Scape Franklin on the CBD fringe. Compare like for like: the same room tier, the same lease length, the same intake. Headline rates across operators are almost never directly comparable.
Against a private Carlton share house, the bundled model usually wins on total cost once you add utilities, internet, furniture and a bond — and it wins decisively on flexibility, since a student lease aligns with your academic year while a residential tenancy typically does not. Melbourne's underquoting hotspots is worth reading if you are weighing the private rental route, because advertised rents in this part of the city are not always what they seem.
Before you commit, know what kind of agreement you are signing — the difference between a licence and a tenancy agreement in student housing — and what your exit looks like if plans change: breaking a student accommodation contract early in Australia.
Who this building suits
Strong fit if:
- You study at the University of Melbourne and want to genuinely walk to campus
- You are at RMIT City and want a Carlton address rather than a CBD tower
- You want outdoor space, courtyards and a rooftop garden rather than a level-45 view
- You cook, and would use a proper communal kitchen plus a floor kitchenette
- You want a mid-market rate rather than the CBD premium
Weaker fit if:
- You want a fully self-contained studio with your own kitchen — Lincoln House is a bedroom-and-shared-facilities building, and other properties do studios better
- You want 24/7 staffed reception rather than app-based after-hours support
- You are on the tightest budget, where Melbourne's outer student suburbs cost considerably less
- Your campus is somewhere other than Parkville or RMIT City
Frequently asked questions
Where is UniLodge Lincoln House?
125 Bouverie Street, Carlton VIC 3053, roughly 300 metres from the Grattan Street southern entrance of the University of Melbourne.
How much does UniLodge Lincoln House cost per week?
Indicative rates start from around A$399 per week, all-inclusive. That figure corresponds to the Standard Bedroom; Premier and Superior Ensuite rooms cost more. Confirm the rate for your room type and dates directly with the property.
How far is Lincoln House from the University of Melbourne?
About 300 metres to the Grattan Street southern entrance — roughly a four-minute walk.
Is Lincoln House close to RMIT?
Yes. RMIT's City campus is under a five-minute walk, which makes Bouverie Street one of the few Melbourne addresses walkable to both major city universities.
What room types are available at Lincoln House?
Standard Bedroom, Premier Ensuite and Superior Ensuite. The ensuite tiers include a private bathroom.
Does Lincoln House have kitchens in the rooms?
No. There is a fully equipped communal kitchen plus kitchenettes on every floor, rather than a kitchen in each bedroom.
How does support work at Lincoln House?
Reception services during staffed hours, plus 24/7 support through a partnership with the Sonder app.
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Canclusion
Lincoln House is a University of Melbourne building with an RMIT bonus, and the 300 metres is the product. If Parkville is your campus, very little in Melbourne beats being able to walk home between classes, and the Carlton setting — courtyards, a rooftop garden, Lygon Street — is a better daily environment than a CBD tower for most people.
The decision that will cost or save you the most is the ensuite tier, not the building. Get all three rates in writing and choose deliberately.