User:Rohanstorey/sandbox

The list is ordered by building type and date of construction

The buildings

Office Blocks

Robbs Building (1884-1982)

Robbs Building in 1968

In 1884, businessman and director of the Federal Bank, John Robb, financed a large building with 132 feet (40 m) of frontage on Collins Street. Robb hired architect Thomas Watts to design his building. The Robbs Building consisted of five storeys plus a basement, with large spaces that could be used for offices or retail. It had three separate entrances, each with lifts (elevators) and stairs. The exterior featured vertical piers topped with Corinthian columns that spanned its five-storeys.

Though successful as an investment, the building suffered from mishaps. In March 1888, a lift wire broke, causing an elevator to crash to the ground. In August 1889, a fire started on the top floor, destroying documents of tenants such as the Railway Office. In addition, water from the fire brigade damaged the Traffic Audit Office and the bank that occupied the ground floor corner. When the real estate market crashed in the early 1890s, Robb was heavily indebted and was declared bankrupt in 1894, owing £653,000. By the 1920s, the two eastern bays were separately known as Dudley Buildings and sold for £88,000 in 1926. The Dudley Buildings were demolished in 1975.

In the 1970s, National Mutual acquired the Robbs Building and the nearby Rialto Building Group. In January 1981, National Mutual sold the site. The new owner, the Grollo Group, revealed plans for a trio of high-rise office towers that would replace the Robbs Building. Their plan was stymied for a few months when the Builders Labourer's Federation (BLF) placed a ban on the demolition of the Robbs Building. There was also community opposition to its demolition. BLF lifted the ban in November 1981 and demolition of the Robbs Building commenced in early 1982. The Rialto Towers were completed in October 1986 and the site of the Robbs Building became an open plaza. Between 2015 and 2017, that plaza and the forecourt of the Rialto Towers were turned into office buildings.

Cromwell Building (1886-1971)

The Cromwell building was a prominent baroque styled seven storey landmark at 370-374 Bourke Street on the prominent mid city corner of Bourke & Elizabeth Streets. In 1971 it was demolished for the Cromwell, Chandris Line office tower, a sixteen-storey brown brick building which was almost immediately labelled an eyesore and promptly demolished just two decades years later in 1992. The original Cromwell was noted for its bold and complex facade reminiscent of the later Block Arcade including prominent portal styled windows and juxtaposed pediments, its masculine appearance corner chevron and bold cornice. From 1940 to 1948 it became the headquarters of optometry firm Coles & Garrard as the company expanded to fill the whole building the ground floor was modernised with a streamlined moderne shopfront. The building was a favourite for turn of the century artists, photographers and musicians. However the building was purchased by the Commercial Bank of Australia in 1946 which had announced its intentions to replace it with a modern building.

Fink's Building (1888-1969)

Fink's Building c. 1888

Located on the northeast corner of Elizabeth Street and Flinders Street, the Fink's Building was a ten-storey office building. It was briefly Australia's tallest building when completed in 1888. Architects Twentyman & Askew designed it for Benjamin Fink, a speculative developer. The elaborate Renaissance Revival style Fink's Building had a high mansard roof that encompassed its top two storeys. When the real estate market crashed, Fink fled to England, leaving behind debts of £1,520,000; he was declared bankrupt in 1892.

The building was gutted by the great fire of 1897 which swept across the block bounded by Flinders Street, Elizabeth Street, Flinders Lane, and Swanston Street. The brick carcass remained intact and was rebuilt in 1898, minus the attic floors. In 1969, Commonwealth Bank owned the building and demolished it, along with the adjacent Craig Williamson and Thomas Emporium, to make way for a modern office tower.

Prell's Buildings (1887-1980)

Prell's Building I (centre) and Prell's Building II (background) on Queen Street in 1903, Prell's Building III is obscured behind Good House on the right.

Friedrich Wilhelm Prell was born in Hamburg, Germany, and migrated to Australia at the age of 21. There, he founded the import/export business of F. W. Prell and Company Limited. In 1886, the vice-president of the Otis Elevator Company, W. F. Hall, visited Melbourne from the United States and had a conversation with Prell, noting that Sydney had six Otis hydraulic lifts in operation, while Melbourne had none. Hall remarked that men who had to climb stairs in Melbourne's offices would do so with great difficulty, reaching the top floor with "aching legs, a fluttering heart, and a firm resolution to do business elsewhere".

In response, Prell built a five-storey office building on the northwest corner of Queen Street, to which he added Otis safety elevators that operated using water pressure. Prell planned two more buildings, one of seven storeys and one of nine storeys. His plan changed to three nine-storey office buildings in the same block of Queen Street, two on opposite corners of Queen Street and Flinders Lane, and a third on the corner of Collins Street. F. M. White and Sons designed the three in a matching Renaissance Revival style, all built between 1888 and 1889. By July 1889, a high-pressure hydraulic system was established and all of Prell's high-rise buildings were connected to it. Collectively known as Prell's Buildings, these structures dominated the southern aspect of the city and were known as "Towers of Babel of the elevator type".

Prells building on the corner of Collins and Queen was renovated in 1929 resulting in all of its original ornament being stripped and its exterior renovated in Palazzo style architecture. An enormous decorative tower was added to its already significant height taking it to a total of 76 metres, becoming Melbourne's tallest building. It was then rebranded as the APA Tower, later known as Legal & General, before being demolished in 1969.

The other two of Prell's Buildings were demolished between 1967 and 1980. The four storey Felton building (1886) on Queen Street is all that remains of his legacy to the city.

Australian Building (1889-1980)

Australian Building

API Building or the Australian Building was on Elizabeth Street at the corner of Flinders Lane. It was the tallest building in Australia and the third tallest building in the world when it was completed in 1889. It included eleven storeys plus an attic, with a height to the top of the attic floor of 47 metres (154 ft), and to the top of the spire 51 metres (167 ft), The Australian Building was envisioned by F. T. Durham, postmaster general of Melbourne and director of the biscuit company Swallow and Ariell. Durham formed the Australian Property Investment Co. (API) which borrowed heavily to buy the site and build the Australian Building.

The building was designed by Oakden, Addison & Kemp with John Beswicke in the Queen Anne Revival architectural style. Its exterior was finished in red brick with stone bands, topped by a gabled mansard roof and corner turret. Soon after its completion, the economy faltered and API had a surplus of empty offices, In addition, Durham's debt was greater than the market value of the building. In 1920, the Australian Provincial Assurance Association, an insurance company, bought the building as their Melbourne base and renamed it the APA Building.

It remained the tallest building in Melbourne until the late 1920s and a city landmark until its top gables and turret were removed in the 1950s. The Australian Building was demolished in 1980 with a permit from Heritage Victoria because they agreed that the cost to upgrade the building to modern fire regulations was onerous.

Temperance & General (T&G) Insurance Company (1889-1974)

T&G demolition in 1968.

Erected in 1889 on the corner of Little Collins and Swanston Street the tall seven storey tower was executed in an impressive Second Empire style complete with baroque details, one of the most elaborate and grand constructions of the land boom. The iron cresting featured such details as sunflowers. Featuring a large sets of Diocletian windows richly decorated mansard roof with iron cresting and decorative caryatids and gargoyles. With the Second Empire Town Hall Administration building like the Town Hall being set back from the street, the tall thin tower of the elaborate first bay was designed have a commanding presence along the northward Swanston Street vista, however it extended its Renaissance Revival facade down Little Collins an entire city block to Royal Lane including a carriageway for access through to what is now Rainbow Lane.

In 1928 the City of Melbourne purchased the building, renaming it Town Hall Chambers, using it for offices. In the 1960s the council earmarked the site, like the nearby City Square, as potential open space. In 1968 it was demolished by Whelan the Wrecker. However the site remained empty and a concrete carpark for decades until being occupied by a plaza small single storey cafe in the 1990s. The rear of the site later became Council House 2 (CH2).

Equitable Building (1896-1959)

Equitable Building c. 1900

The headquarters of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States opened at 316 Collins Street at the intersection of Elizabeth Street in 1896. German-born American architect Edward Raht designed it as "the grandest building in the Southern Hemisphere and to last forever". His design was in the style of the skyscrapers of New York City with an internal steel frame covered by granite blocks. The seven-story structure consisted of a stack of classical floors that were massively proportioned. At 138 feet (42 m), it was one of the tallest buildings in Melbourne at the time. Its construction took five years and cost £500,000.

In 1923, the Equitable Building became the Victoria headquarters of Colonial Mutual Life. By the mid-1950s, Colonial Mutual contemplated demolition, as Victorian-era buildings were considered outdated, ostentatious, and gloomy. It was demolished in 1959. The statuary group over the entrance was saved and placed outside the Baillieu Library at the University of Melbourne, and some of the carved elements were salvaged and remain with private owners. In 2000, a sample was purchased by Museums Victoria and displayed outside its Carlton Campus on Nicholson Street.

Retail

Eastern Arcade (1872-2008)

Eastern arcade lithograph 1872

Eastern Arcade in 2006

The Eastern Arcade stood on Bourke Street between Russell and Exhibition Streets. It was built in 1872 adjacent to the Eastern Market on the site of the Haymarket Theatre, which had burned down. Designed by George Raymond Johnson. in the Second Empire style, with three large mansard domed roofs, it was described as "one of the best examples of street architecture in the city", while its grand arched roofed arcade rivalled other arcades in the city. It was however just outside the central retail area, and perhaps was not as popular as it was hoped.

In 1894 the frontage of the building was remodelled by Hyndman and Bates with an additional storey, and transformed into an fine example of the exotic, and rarely used Moorish or Moghul style. The Bourke Street facade featured richly decorated tiled mosaics as evident in photos from the 1920s.

Following the turn of the century, the Eastern Market precinct had developed an unsavoury reputation, leading to the Herald describing it as a "resort for the undesirables" in 1923. In 1926 the arcade portion of the Eastern Arcade was demolished to create two floors of the showrooms for furniture company Clauscen & Co. In the 1970s the facade was completely covered in sheet metal hoarding. By the 1990s it was home to Allans music store. In 2000 the facade was rediscovered after the metal hoarding was removed which prompted the National Trust to list the building in September of that year.

A hotel tower was proposed in 2007, and despite calls that it was "shameful", a permit was granted and it was demolished in 2008, to become the Citadines on Bourke.. The Little Collins Street facade is all that remains.

Coles Book Arcade (1883-1929)

Further information: Coles Book Arcade

Cole's Book Arcade interior

The enterprising EW Cole established his first book arcade in 1873 in Bourke Street near the Eastern Market, moving to a much larger three level 'arcade' building at 299 Bourke Street in the retail heart of the city in 1883. His huge store grew into neighbouring buildings and across Little Collins Street, to link to Collins Street, and offered not only books, which were 'free to read, no need to buy', but also stationary, knick knacks, sheet music, artworks, and there were entertainments such as a small orchestra, caged monkeys and birds, and a fernery. He also published his own works, most famously the Coles Funny Picture Book series, which delighted generations of children. After he died in 1911, the store continued on until 1928, when it was demolished and replaced by the main store for discount retailer Coles (no relation) which opened in 1930.

Victoria Building and Queens Walk (1888-1966)

Victoria Building c1924

The Freehold Investment & Banking Co., one of the many land banks of the real estate boom years, built the Victoria Building in the heart of town on the corner Swanston and Collins Streets, opposite the Melbourne Town Hall. Designed by architect David Wormal, the building’s Renaissance Revival façade was topped by a lively roofline of mansards and pediments. Completed in 1888, the Victoria Building housed the Freehold Investment & Banking Co. on the corner, as well as numerous shops, and three floors of offices above. The building was in two parts, separated by an L-shaped walkway called Queens Walk which contained some shopfronts and connected Collins Street to Swanston Street. A statue of Queen Victoria sat on the corner beneath the building’s landmark tall diagonal roof (the latter was removed by 1910).

Queens Walk was initially challenged by sewage problems, with the City of Melbourne's Inspector of Nuisances receiving several complaints from the building's occupants in the 1890s. In 1922 the walkway was refurbished as an arcade, with more shops, a glass roof, large leaded-glass cupolas at the entrances, and was renamed Queens Walk Arcade. Later, the arcade included twenty shops with tenants such as Cavalier Tea Rooms, Drummunds, tailor Henry Bucks, and the Savage Club. The Victorian Government Tourist Bureau, an arm of the Victorian Railways, occupied the corner shop from 1908 to 1940, later occupied by Henry Bucks menswear. The Victoria Building was sold in 1963 and demolished in 1966 for potential high-rise development. However, the City of Melbourne purchased the vacant site for its new City Square, which was completed in 1980. The square was replaced in 2000, and the replacement was itself demolished in 2018 as part of works for the Melbourne Metro.

Craig, Williamson and Thomas Emporium (1890-1969)

Craig Williamson and Thomas Emporium (right) c. 1900

Craig Williamson and Thomas began as a drapery in 1874. In 1883, they expanded into a four-storey building on Elizabeth Street. In 1890, they expanded into an adjacent seven-storey building that became the Craig, Williamson and Thomas Emporium. The emporium sold an expanded selection of fabrics, clothing, millinery, and homewares departments. The Great Fire of 22 November 1897 started in the store, and destroyed a large part of the city block, leaving the store a gutted shell and a stock loss of £100,000.

The façade was preserved and the store was rebuilt with an extension to the south. Later, there was an extension to the north and an addition of two floors, creating a much larger department store. The business closed in 1937. In 1945, the building was sold to the Federal Government for a branch of the Commonwealth Bank. The former emporium and the adjacent Finks Building were demolished in 1969 for an office tower,

Public Buildings

National Museum, University of Melbourne (1863-1968)

National Museum and lake in 1885. Designed by Joseph Reed.

The National Museum was once hailed as one of the finest works of Melbourne architect Joseph Reed. In 1863 he together with Frederick Barnes designed the elaborate gothic building in keeping with the theme of the university buildings. The National Museum, along with the original university Quad building and Wilson Hall created a magnificent and picturesque gothic heart to the university complete with ornamental lake and garden. The exterior of the building was prominent for its large gothic arches, central mansard roof and cast iron cresting, though the interior was equally spectacular, consisted of an open vaulted hall with exposed gothic trusses and a central mezzanine similar to his design for the great hall of his the later Royal Exhibition Building made an open airy exhibition space which was frequently used displaying a range of impressive artefacts. In 1884 it became home to the university's Student Union. In 1938 a new wing was added by architects Gawler & Drummond in a sympathetic deco-gothic style.

In 1967 the university commissioned architects Egglestone Secomb McDonald who had designed many of the other postwar buildings on campus to design a replacement. The result was a brutalist brick construction which called for demolition of the National Museum. Building 130, completed in 1970, was done on a budget and it built around some parts of the interior and exterior original building remained embedded within. Despite being newer than the original it continued to be known as the Union Building.

For decades the 1970s replacement was labelled ugly and an eyesore with the university, with plans drawn up for its demolition in 2015 and 2022. In 2023 the university announced the planned demolition of numerous modern campus buildings. It was announced that Building 130 would become the new Science Building for the university and plans were shown for a modern glass building on the site, presumably the remains of the National Museum will be demolished.

Wilson Hall, Melbourne University (1878-1952)

Wilson Hall (1882)

Wilson Hall was one of the largest and most important academic buildings constructed in Melbourne's history. George Tibbits described the building as the 'architectural jewel in the 19th century university and its soul'.

The building was a gift of Sir Samuel Wilson, who donated £30,000 toward its construction. Designed by prominent architect Joseph Reed and A.C. Smart in the gothic revival tradition of universities it was built by James Nation & Co it was completed in 1882 and became a prominent part of the university quadrangle. Featuring an enormous cathedral scale in the perpendicular gothic style with high vaulted ceiling with massive stained glass windows and a faceted bays at one end. After almost a century of academic tradition the building burnt down in 1952 in front of a large saddened community of spectators. The university was faced with the decision of reconstruction of the original from the ruins or but opted to build a modern replacement. The basic structure, foundations and the Leckie window survived the fire, however the basement, roof and the west wall had been destroyed.

Instead of opting for reconstruction the university took the less expensive option and demolished the remains of the hall to build a contemporary replacement in 1956. The building's destruction was significant in that it began a shift in the university's planners away from gothic revival in which almost all previous campus buildings had been constructed to the modernist and International style of the late 20th Century.

Eastern Market (1879-1960)

Main article: Eastern Market, Melbourne

Eastern Market, between 1876 and 1894

In 1847, the Melbourne City Council allocated half a block to create Eastern Market which was bounded by Bourke Street, Exhibition Street, and Little Collins Street. Starting in 1859, the market consisted of a series of open sheds. In 1877, the city council decided to rebuild the market on a grand scale. The architectural firm Reed & Barnes won a design contest for a structure featuring shops around the edge of grandly scaled two-storey and three-storey buildings. The structure also included a two-level central market hall topped by domed glass roofs. The new Eastern Market opened in 1879 but during its construction, its former fresh produce merchants moved to the expanded Queen Victoria Market and had little interest in returning.

In 1881, the city council leased the market to Edward Cole who operated the highly successful Coles Book Arcade. Cole filled the Eastern Market with amusements such as hoop-las, shooting galleries, and fortune tellers; second-hand stalls, a haberdashery, and fresh food vendors. After a year, the city council resumed control, but the Eastern Market never fulfilled its intended purpose. It remained low-rent retail and part of the amusement nightlife of Bourke Street for many decades. By the 1950s, the amusement business had faded, and the central hall became a car park and taxi depot. The city council began negotiations for a hotel and had Whelan's demolish the Eastern Market in 1960.

Another market on the corner of Market Street and Collins Street, known as the Western Market, was first established in 1841, and rebuilt in stages in in the 1870s, but was much less grand or busy than the Eastern Market. Like that market, the city council saw an opportunity for a large redevelopment, and it was demolished 1961 for the National Mutual Building, with a spacious plaza in front. The building was in turn demolished in the 2020s for an even larger building known as Collins Arch.

Fish Market (1890-1959)

Fish Market c. 1892

The Melbourne City Council built the Fish Market buildings between 1890 and 1892 to replace an existing market at the corner of Swanston Street and Flinders Street. The Fish Market was on the western end of Flinders Street, between King Street and Spencer Street. The part facing Flinders Street housed general markets and storage, while the fish market itself was on the other side of the new railway viaduct, facing the river. It served as Melbourne's commercial fish market for more than fifty years.

R. G. Gordon won the design competition for the Fish Market, designed with the assistance of Gerhardt Brown. The Gothic Revival style buildings featured tall conical turrets, and a large clock tower, though the clock was never installed. Described at the time of its completion as one of the finest set of market buildings in the world, the Fish Market was also controversial, running 22% over budget at £220,000.

By the 1950s, the market was surrounded by busy roads and could not accommodate the increasing volume. Additionally the building had begun to subside due to the silt from the river, resulting in large visible structural cracks and leaning. At first, early in the 1950s the prominent clock tower was removed, reducing the visual impact of the building. The city council decided to build new markets in West Melbourne and hired Whelan's to demolish the Fish Market in 1959. Its elaborate wrought-iron gates were saved and are now at the entrance to Fawkner Cemetery. The site of the Fish Market was initially used as a car park. The riverside portion of the property eventually became Batman Park. In the early 2000s, the Flinders Street portion was developed into apartment buildings.

Hotels

Menzies Hotel (1867-1969)

Menzies Hotel in 1908

Reed & Barnes designed the Menzies Hotel for Scottish immigrants Archibald and Catherine Menzies. It was built on the crest of the hill on Bourke Street and the southeast corner of William Street for £32,000. The three-storey hotel featured a columned arcade and a corner pavilion tower. When it opened in November 1867, it was Melbourne's first grand hotel and was immediately popular with international visitors and wealthy pastoralists. In 1896, two additional storeys and a corner tower were added, along with electric lights, telephones, and a lift (elevator). The six-storey Bourke Street wing was added in 1922, providing en suite bathrooms and an enlarged dining room.

The Menzies Hotel hosted Mark Twain, Alexander Graham Bell, Herbert Hoover, and Dame Nellie Melba. In 1942, it became the South-West Pacific headquarters for General Douglas MacArthur for several months during World War II. The hotel was demolished in 1969 to make way for the BHP Tower.

Federal Coffee Palace (1888-1973)

Main article: Federal Coffee Palace

Federal Hotel in the 1950s

The Federal Coffee Palace was on the western end of Melbourne’s premier thoroughfare, Collins Street. James Munro and James Mirams—both politicians, businessmen, and teetotalers—held a design contest for their alcohol-free coffee palace and hotel. The building featured Second Empire style, following the designs of Ellerker & Kilburn and William Pitt, the first and second prize contest winners, respectively.

The Federal Coffee Palace opened in time for Melbourne's Centennial Exhibition in July 1888. The first floors included billiards, dining, lounging, reading, and smoking rooms. Its decor was so unique that the building became a tourist attraction. Its upper five floors included nearly 400 luxury bedrooms. The Age wrote that the £150,000 hotel was one of "Australia's most splendid" buildings; in fact, it was "one of the largest and most opulent hotels in the world". Its guests included Alexander Graham Bell, Herbert Hoover, and Mark Twain.

Despite its opulence, the Federal Coffee Palace was never a competition for Melbourne’s other luxury hotels—the Menzies Hotel and the Hotel Windsor—perhaps due to its size and location that was far from the retail and social centre of town. In 1923, the hotel gave up on temperance and applied for a liquor license. At this time, it was renamed the Federal Hotel. A renovation in the late 1960s was not enough to revitalize the struggling business, and it closed in 1972. The building was demolished in 1973 to make way for an office tower that was, in turn, demolished in 2019.

Parer's Crystal Café Hotel (1888-1960)

Parer's Crystal Café Hotel in 1888

Josef, Francisco, Juan, Felipe, and Estevan Parer—five brothers who immigrated to Australia from Catalonia in the 1850s—built Parer’s Crystal Café Hotel on Bourke Street in 1886. The hotel featured billiard rooms, a café, clubrooms, a saloon, and lavish dining rooms. It had a staff of eighty and hotel rooms that accommodated more than 650 guests. Leavitt’s Guide wrote, "Its wealth of mirrors so fantastically arranged, its tessellated floor, glittering tables, refreshing fountains and artistic draperies, remind one of the magnificent structures of a similar kind which grace the capitals of Europe and America."

Parer’s Crystal Café Hotel was demolished by Whelan's in October 1960. The site became Walton's department store, followed by Midcity Village Cinemas. In 2019, it was a Hello Kitty store.

Queen's Coffee Palace (1888-1970)

Queen's Coffee Palace lithograph 1888

Queen's Coffee Palace was one of the largest and most imposing built in Melbourne, however for many years stood as a "colossal folly" to the city's speculative land boom.

The Queen's Coffee Palace Company conceived in 1887 raised £30,000 in investment before paying in 1888 a sum of £24,571 to contsruct a 600-room six storey plus basement temperance hotel on the corner of Rathdowne and Victoria streets. The large building was designed by architects Oakden, Addison & Kemp in a baronial German Renaissance Revival style. The speculative development's prospectus focused on its strategic location close to the site of the Carlton Gardens to capitalise on the 1888 Melbourne Centennial Exhibition at the nearby Royal Exhibition Building, it would directly compete with the Federal Coffee Palace, the Melbourne Coffee Palace and the Grand (now Windsor) among others. However the venture failed. A partial collapse of the cornice shortly after construction was followed by perpetual delays in opening which saw significant losses to shareholders. Construction issues and delays saw it the subject of litigation. After the collapse of G.Lachal's estate in 1889 and having remained empty for much of 1889 a radical proposal was hatched for the government to purchase it and turn it into a much needed hospital however this did not eventuate. In 1890 it was still vacant, remained unfinished with much of it covered in scaffolding, and most of its investors were declared insolvent with the company finally wound up in 1890.

After remaining vacant for a decade and numerous failed bids to turn it into a hospital, tenders were called in 1898 to complete the building to make it suitable for renting as affordable city lodgings which it served as not long after. It was later sold freehold.

Like many buildings in the 1960s, the impressive mansard roof was stripped off, apparently due to fire damage, significantly reducing the visual impact of the building. It was demolished in 1970 and the site remained vacant until 1984 when it was replaced by the headquarters of the Cancer Council, a nondescript two storey box described as the "city's worst eyesore".

Scott's Hotel (1912-1964)

This hotel at 444 Collins Street began as the Lamb Inn in 1852, and was rebuilt as the much grander Scott's Hotel in 1860. It was rebuilt again as a much taller modern hotel in 1914, designed by AH Fisher, and extended to the east in 1923. Scott’s Hotel held a reputation for some of Melbourne’s finest food and wine, and notable guests included Dame Nellie Melba and English cricket legend W.G.Grace. Sold to Royal Insurance, it was demolished in 1964 for a new office building.

Southern Cross Hotel (1962-2003)

Further information: Southern Cross Hotel

Southern Cross Hotel postcard c1962

In the late 1950s, the City of Melbourne decided to find a better use for the site of their mostly unused Eastern Market. A deal was brokered where a local consortium would build the hotel, leasing the land from the Council for 99 years, while InterContinental would provide management. Demolition commenced in 1960, and the new Southern Cross Hotel, designed by Los Angeles architects Welton Becket & Associates, with local architects Leslie M. Perrot & Partners, opened in 1962. It was an immediate success, attracting the growing international 'jet set', and many famous guests, notably the Beatles in 196, when crowds blocked traffic outside the hotel. The large ballroom hosted many important events, including such such significant events as the annual entertainment awards the Logies, and the ALF best and fairest award, the Brownlows for many years. With new more luxurious hotel opening through the 1980s, it lost its premier position, and was sold in 1995 and closed in 1996 pending a redevelopment. The hotel however remained abandoned until it was finally demolished in 2003, replaced by the Southern Cross Tower office development.

Theatres

Theatre Royal (1872-1933)

The Theatre Royal, Melbourne, 1877. State Library Victoria H84.3/17

Further information: Theatre Royal, Melbourne

The first Theatre Royal, built in 1855 in Bourke Street near Swanston Street, was one of the largest and important theatres in early Melbourne. After it was destroyed by fire in 1872, theatre impresario Geroge Coppin immediately rebuilt it as a larger venue that could seat 4,000 people over four tiers, which opened in November the same year, under joint management by Coppin, Stewart, Harwood and Hennings.

It was remodelled in 1904, seating fewer people more comfortably on three tiers, but the growing popularity of moving pictures in the 1920s affected theatre attendance, and the effects of the Great Depression led to the closure of the theatre in 1932. In 1933 it was demolished, and replaced by Manton's department store, later becoming a Coles store, itself redeveloped into a Target store in the 1970s, rebranded as a Kmart in 2021.

Bijou Theatre (1890-1934)

Bijou Theatre 1890 on Bourke Street (now the Target Centre)

Further information: Bijou Theatre, Melbourne

The site of the Bijou was originally a theatre called the Academy of Music, built in 1876 and renamed the Bijou in 1880. After a fire destroyed the theatre, a new larger one was built, opening in 1890. The new theatre seated around 2,000 across three levels. The theatre was further renovated and altered in 1907. It was demolished in 1934 by Whelan the Wrecker, a few weeks after the Royal, which stood opposite.

Melbourne Opera House, later Tivoli Theatre (1901-1966)

Opera House Melbourne, 1900

Further information: Tivoli Theatre, Melbourne

The Tivoli once stood on Bourke Street. It was designed by Melbourne architect William Pitt as a new opera house which opened in May 1901. One of Melbourne's best examples of Moorish Revival architecture it was designed in partnership with Sydney architects Backhouse & Co. It was visually distinctive with few parallels with its chunky appearance, art nouveau sign writing, red brick and marble with cast iron verandah and balconettes and was topped by a landmark illuminated globe.

In 1914, in line with the other venues on the national circuit, the New Opera House was renamed the Tivoli. To survive it became a live variety venue until 1966. The theatre survived as a cinema for another few months, before being gutted by fire. The intact facade remained for several years until 1969 when it, along with the neighbouring Lyceum theatre was demolished to make way the 16 storey brutalist Tivoli Court office building at 235 Bourke Street, incorporating the ground level retail area known as Tivoli arcade, completed in 1971.

Kings Theatre (1908-1977)

The King's Theatre Melbourne

Further information: King's Theatre, Melbourne

Kings Theatre was located at 133 Russell Street between Bourke Street and Little Collins Street. Opening in 1908, the theatre was designed by William Pitt in the Victorian Second Empire style for the theatrical entrepreneur William Anderson. It was a major live theatre during the first half of the twentieth century, and became a cinema (under the name the Barclay) from the late 1950s until closing in 1976. The interior of the King's Theatre, as well as the façade were remodelled for the owner Norman B. Rydge. The theatre was then renamed the Barclay Theatre or Barclay Cinema and showed its first film in 1958, Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments. The last film shown was One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975 and finally in 1977 the theatre was demolished to give way to a multiplex cinema, Greater Union Russell Cinemas, which itself was demolished in 2014.

Palace Theatre (1912-2020)

Further information: Palace Theatre, Melbourne

As Brennan's Amphitheatre, 1912

Located at 20-30 Bourke Street, the Palace started out as Brennan's Amphitheatre in 1912, before being rebuilt as a theatre in 1916, and renamed the Palace. It was remodelled again in 1923, and in 1951 became a full time cinema, known as the Metro, with a Moderne restyling of the facade, and the proscenium and side boxes removed to allow for Cinemascope. After a period as a church, it was refurbished as a nightclub in 1987. Sold in 2012, plans to replace it with a tall hotel generated considerable opposition, but without any protections for the interiors, all decorative detail was removed in 2014. Further demolition in 2020 left only the 1951 street facade, with a much lower hotel opening in 2024.

Banks

Bank of New South Wales (1857-1933-c1975)

Further information: Bank of New South Wales building, Melbourne

Bank of New South Wales, 1857 building

Bank of New South Wales, 1935 building

An elaborately detailed new headquarters for the Bank of New South Wales was built in 1857 at 360 Collins Street, designed by Joseph Reed. In the early 1930s with plans for a much larger building, the bank gifted the facade to Melbourne University where it was re-erected in 1938, now incorporated into the Melbourne School of Design building. The ten storey Art Deco style building that replaced it, designed by Godfrey & Spowers, was completed in 1936, winning the Street Architecture Medal that year. That building was itself demolished in the mid 1970s for Collins Wales House.

Oriental Bank, Queen Street (1858-1888)

Oriental Bank in the 1870s

The Oriental Bank was built in 1858 at the southwest corner of Queen Street and Flinders Lane. Designed by Robertson and Hale, the grand Greek Revival facade was a landmark in the early city. Following a crisis, this branch bank was closed in the early 1880s, and the building was demolished in 1888 for one of Prell's office towers.

State Savings Bank of Victoria (1912-1975)

State Savings Bank building (right)

The head office of the State Savings Bank of Victoria was a large 8 storey Commercial Palazzo style building began in 1912, and expanded twice up to 1935, occupying almost an entire city block. The building had an enormous banking chamber and a large prominent cornice which complemented the style and scale of the London Stores, Cromwell buildings and GPO opposite. The building was known by Melburnians and banking staff affectionately as 'Old Lizzy'. It was demolished in 1975 to make way for the 41-storey State Bank Centre completed in 1980.

Union Bank (1881-1966)

A grand new premises for the Union Bank of Australia was opened in 1881 at 351 Collins Street, designed by English architect Macvicar Anderson. After the bank was taken over by the ANZ, demolition was proposed in the mid 1960s. Various ideas were floated for saving at least some of the stone facade, but all that was saved during demolition in 1966 were two statues, and 5 broken capitals, installed at the new Architecture School building at Melbourne University.

Other lost buildings

• 
  Freemasons Hall 1885 (with domes), Collins Street
• 
  Doorway from the Colonial Bank of Australasia at Melbourne University
• 
  St. Patrick's College, East Melbourne
• 
  Coles Book arcade
• 
  Spencer Street Power Station

• Cliveden Mansions (1887), Wellington Parade. Demolished 1968
• Empire Buildings, Collins Street west (1887), six storey Tudor gothic building with gable roof. Demolished 1938
• Oxford Chambers (1889), Bourke Street. Demolished 1970
• Allans building (1878) Gothic revival. Destroyed by fire 1955
• Colonial Bank of Australasia (1882), corner of Elizabeth Street and Little Collins Street. Demolished 1932 (the sculptural doorway was re-erected at the University of Melbourne)
• Masonic Hall (1886), Collins Street. Demolished 1971–72 for Collins Place
• Melbourne Hebrew Congregation Synagogue (1841), 476 Bourke Street. Demolished 1929
• Melbourne Coffee Palace (1879). Demolished 1970
• Melbourne Cyclorama (1889), Victoria Parade. Demolished 1928
• Melbourne Hospital, later Queen Victoria hospital (c. 1848–1860s), corner of Swanston and Lonsdale Streets. Demolished 1990, except for the central pavilion
• Oriental Hotel (1857), Collins Street. Demolished 1971–72 for Collins Place
• Palais de Dance (1913) St Kilda. Destroyed by fire 1968
• Princes Court (late 1800s), featuring toboggan and a water chute, was closed in 1909
• Premier Permanent Building Society (1887), Collins Street. Demolished 1964
• St Patrick's College (c. 1854), East Melbourne Demolished 1971
• Spencer Street Power Station (1952). Demolished 2008-9.
• St Kilda Sea Baths (1906). Replaced 1931.
• St Patrick's Hall (1851), 470 Bourke Street. Demolished 1957
• Temple Court (1857), Collins Street, demolished and replaced by a larger building of the same name in 1923