Whitlam's Melbourne home knocked down

Gough Whitlam's birthplace has been destroyed after a local council decision to save it was overturned.

The Melbourne home in the leafy Liberal stronghold of Kew was demolished on Friday, after heritage protection was removed on May 3.

The Heritage Council last year said the former prime minister hadn't lived there long enough to be significant.

The Boroondara council voted in 2015 to save the house from destruction, but the state Planning Department overturned the decision on May 3.

"Gough Whitlam lived most of his life in Canberra and Sydney," Planning Minister Richard Wynne said on Friday.

"He will be remembered as a great reformist prime minister who introduced Medicare and built his legacy on social equality."

Mr Whitlam was born in the house in 1916 and lived there for the first 18 months of his life.

Boroondara mayor Jim Parke's deciding vote at a November council meeting saved "Ngara" from being demolished.

"Boroondara values its heritage highly and is disappointed with the Minister for Planning's decision," Mr Parke said.

The Heritage Council's report from July 2015 said the home did not meet the threshold for significance at a state level under any of its criteria.

"The association of the place with Gough Whitlam was brief, there was no ongoing association between Gough Whitlam and the place, there is no association between the place and Gough Whitlam's career or achievements," the report said.

Bulldozers ripped through the single storey red brick late federation "Queen Anne" style house on Friday.