The Curious Report: Guide to Collins Street

There was a time when Melbourne was the richest city in the world. With the discovery of gold in the 1850s, Collins Street became a hub of development and the end result is many of the beautiful and historic buildings that line the street today. My friends have poked fun at my tendency to post ‘yet another photo of Collins St’, but it’s hard not to admire.For many years, the Georges building on Collins St was my work base and center of gravity. Georges was once Melbourne’s most elegant and iconic department stores, defined by charming personal service, where the staff knew customers by name. It was a pioneer of Australia retail, with quirkier features including a Cylotorium where women could trial and purchase their first bicycles and a Knight Club, where men would be shown a selection of merchandise to be gift-wrapped and sent to their loved ones. It sadly ceased trading in 1995, making way for the building to become home to a number of advertising agencies. The legacy of Georges lives on in small ways, with the floor directory still visible in the lifts and their slow speed, defined by their original use of transporting chinaware without breakages.

Close to the Georges building are a number of international fashion houses including Dior, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Prada. Here one of the first luxury hubs of Australia was founded and thus is commonly known amongst locals as the ‘Paris End’ of Collins. Up the top end of town, you can also find the home of the secretive gender exclusive clubs – The Alexandra Club for the ladies at No 89 and The Melbourne Club for the gentlemen.In contrast, the accessible Regent Theatre is celebrated as the ‘palace for the people’. It was so loved, that after fire in the 1940s, it was rebuilt despite a lack of materials from WWII. The Regent started out as was one of the first cinema duplexes in Australia, but after Hoyts closed the doors, it lay in darkness for 26 years and demolition loomed. Thankfully the building was revived in 1996 to become a venue for live theatre and musicals, and now plays a key role in Melbourne’s cultural fabric.Where Collins St crosses Swanston St is one of the busiest spots in the CBD today and was the site of Australia’s first traffic lights in 1928. This intersection is dominated by one of my favourites, the Manchester Unity Building. This beauty wrapped in pearl-glazed terracotta tiles holds a special place in history – it was erected in the Great Depression as a great show of confidence that the economy would recover. On St Patrick’s Day 1978, it became the scene of an unresolved diamond heist and murder mystery, with three jewellers found dead on the 8th floor. The good condition of the building today is owed to a dentist, who fell in love and opened shop there. Adorably, children who visit the practice are told that the tooth fairy lives in the tower.I often say that you should never forget to look up in Melbourne. The Newspaper House is modest at street level, but look up and you’ll spy a decorative mosaic by Napier Waller. This artist lost his right arm in WWI, so this work of art is quite an achievement in itself. Commissioned by the Herald & Weekly Times, the quote from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream signified the new accessibility of the world through advances in travel and communications. Wedged between buildings across the road stands the Lyric House. The tall, thin building with elongated windows has been likened to the strings of an instrument and was originally built for a well-known piano producer.
But it is The Block Arcade that draws the eyes of tourists. The Block famously got its name from the custom of ‘doing the block’ in your finest, with the hopes of appearing in the social pages in the 1880s. The arcade itself was modelled after Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, and for this connection, we became the sister city of Milan in 2003. You can still visit one of the original tenants for tea and sweets – the Hopetoun Tea Rooms have been there since 1892. It was originally run by the Victorian Ladies Work Association, and one of the attractions for visitors, was a large mirror that was a rare luxury at the time. Across the road, don’t forget to peek into 333 Collins, where hidden within is a beautiful domed ceiling that is often overlooked.[one_half padding=”0 2.5px 0 2.5px”][/one_half][one_half_last padding=”0 2.5px 0 2.5px”][/one_half_last]As you move further down the street towards the business or ‘New York’ end, the buildings become more modern, but there are some old-world highlights. The Former Stock Exchange is one of the beautiful buildings in Melbourne and another of my personal favourites. You can’t miss its elaborate gothic detail, stained glass windows and creepy little gargoyles. Around the corner, the Melbourne Safe Deposit was once considered one of the most secure buildings in the city. Notice that the detail on each layer of the building is unique and if you look carefully you will notice that the original building was entirely symmetrical (the arch on the left was a later extension).
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Our last stop, The Rialto, is a ritzy hotel (named after a certain bridge on the Grand Canal in Venice) which was once the domain of the Australian wool exchange. In keeping with the Italian links, you can also find here a sculpture called ‘The Reuniting Family’ which commemorates the migration of Italian families to Australia after WWI. If you venture as high as Level 55, you may also find one of Australia’s best restaurants and epic views at Vue De Monde.[one_half padding=”0 2.5px 0 2.5px”][/one_half][one_half_last padding=”0 2.5px 0 2.5px”][/one_half_last]This is a timely love letter, as my time working on Collins Street is soon to come to an end. I hope that you enjoyed this little wander down this beautiful street of Melbourne.