Spring Street, Collector's Melbourne

[The Collector]

Spring Street, Marvellous Melbourne

Photographs taken over the past three years.

From south-end to north-end

Part 1





















To my mind, Melbourne is the queen city of the south; Africa, South America and Oceania cannot boast a city as beautiful as this.
Fernando Villaamil 1893

[The Collector]

Part 2















Parliament House, a good spot to photograph trams.

[The Collector]

Part 3

[tayser]

This early Katsalidis is one of my favourite on the street and the whole city:



as always Collector:

[The Collector]

Originally Posted by tayser

This early Katsalidis is one of my favourite on the street and the whole city:



as always Collector:

Thanks Tayser, one of my all time favourites as well!
Much more to come.

[Edward]

trés bien collector
wonderful photography on all your threads!

[MG2]

Spring st is so grand... absolutely love it.
I also really wish there was more access to the buildings behind the old Treasury. They are amazing!
MG2

[The Collector]

Some great old postcards of Spring Street, enjoy!

[Dilaz89]

excellent tour. Bought back some good memories of walking the street earlier on in the year.

[Ipggi]

Great work there Collector

[The Collector]

Text from Walking Melbourne
The National Trust guide to the historic and architectural landmarks of central Melbourne

Parliament House

Melbourne’s grandest public building is located in a position terminating the long vista up Bourke Street; the early date and monumental scale of the design indicates the huge aspirations of the young colony. Following furore about blocking views of St. Patrick’s, and a competition that failed to generate a winner, the initial design was developed in 1855 by Peter Kerr and J G Knight. Construction in stages was immediately started, with the two parliamentary chambers opening in 1856, followed by the rear library and then Queen’s Hall, but their rough bluestone exterior walls remained visible for many years because the grand street façade was not completed until 1892, following a search for a suitable Victorian stone. This imposing classical colonnade atop massive stairs, designed by Peter Kerr alone in 1877, is more grandiose than the original design (and is strikingly similar to the smaller Leeds Town Hall in the UK, completed in 1858). The delightful gardens and the ornate cast iron fence and lamps were added by 1892, but the north and south wings have never been completed, nor has the tall dome, the most well-known architectural statement in Melbourne never to have materialized. The craftsmanship and detailing throughout the building is of extraordinarily high quality, and the interiors are spectacular, particularly the plush Upper House, one of the finest spaces built in 19th century Australia, Queens Hall and the vestibule. Commonwealth Parliament sat here from Federation in 1901 until its move to Canberra in 1927.


What Parliament house would look like if it is ever completed.


Edwardian postcard showing south-west corner.


The north-west corner.




Parliament House in the 1960s.


The Vestibule.


Queen's Hall.


Queen's Hall ceiling.


Legislative Assembly.


Legislative Council showing ceiling.


Legislative Council.


From the balcony, Legislative Council.


Parliament Library.


Recent postcard of Parliament House.

Four photographs I've taken below. 8)

[The Collector]

Text from Walking Melbourne
The National Trust guide to the historic and architectural landmarks of central Melbourne

Princess Theatre
163-181 Spring Street

The first theatre on this site opened in 1854, and the present theatre was designed by William Pitt for the theatrical entrepreneurs Williamson Garner & Musgrove, and opened in 1886 with the Australian premier of The Mikado. It is considered an exemplar of the French Second Empire style, complete with multiple mansard domed roofs topped by cast iron crowns; the delightful leadlight windowed ‘winter garden’ foyer at the first floor was added in c1901 and the auditorium was rebuilt in 1922 in the ‘Adam’ style by theatre specialist Henry White. Facing an uncertain future in the 1980s, it was extensively restored in 1989 by Allom Lovell & Associates, and is now the Flagship of Melbourne’s ‘theatreland’. The Princess backs onto the rear of the former Palace Theatre, giving rise to the urban rumour that chorus girls would appear in one show, then run across the back lane to appear in another!



Princess Theatre, above and below, before balconies were filled in to create the ‘winter garden’ foyer in 1901.




An old aerial.

Four of my own below.









Princes Theatre at night.

[The Collector]

Text from A Short History of Melbourne Architecture

Windsor Hotel
137 Spring Street
1884-88 Charle Webb

The Windsor Hotel, with its twin French Empire towers and opulent interiors, is one of Australia’s most majestic 19th century hotels. Built with 200 rooms in 1884 and known as the Grand Hotel, it was extended for the Century Exhibition of 1888 to 360 rooms, and named the Grand Coffee Palace in the spirit of temperance of the time. It was renamed the Windsor Hotel in the 1920s.



Above, the Windsor Hotel then called the Grand Hotel was originally only half its size, as seen in this photograph from 1884.
Below, the entrance to the Windsor Hotel as it looked in 1888.



The larger building below.



Below, four postcards of the Windsor Hotel.









Inside the Windsor dining room.



Some of my own shots below.

[The Collector]

Duchess
The story of The Windsor Hotel

Chrystopher J. Spicer
Loch Haven Books
First published in 1993

Out of print

The Windsor Hotel is the Duchess of Melbourne’s hotels. A grand old lady, the Windsor maintains its commanding position – and reputation – with the well-bred haughtiness that comes from more than a hundred years of experience. Quite apart from her elegance, tradition and professional stature, the Windsor can also claim regal characteristics of another class. Not only is the hotel named after the British royal family, but by a strange twist of parliamentary process the hotel was, at one time, owned by the Queen.

This book is well researched, printed and presented, a pleasure to read.