Vintage Melbourne in Black & White

[The Collector]

Historic Swanston Street in glorious black & white, from southern end to northern end.
The early years.

Part 1









King Edward VII Arch, one of many to celebrate the Australian Federation.



Most of what you see in the photograph below was lost to make way for the City Square.



If the above shot took you south down to Flinders Lane, you would have had the Cathedral Hotel first , then moving north (right in pic), a five storey structure known as Green’s Buildings, then a very exotic oyster and fish shop known for many years as Wise’s Café. A feature of the next building north was an attractive little arcade known as Queen’s Walk with one entrance from Swanston Street and the other from Collins Street. At the angle to this arcade, about 1926, a new business opened. It was known then as the “Victorian Travel Agency and Motor Tourist Bureau” and the address was 15 Queen’s Walk. Years later the name was changed to the “Government Tourist Bureau”. At the south-east corner of Swanston and Collins Streets was the Victoria Building of four storeys.







Swanston Street in the 1890s, notice the MCC water wagon spraying water in the middle of street to keep the dust down on the unsealed surface.





The next two down are of the Chinese Arch.

[The Collector]

Part 2

The later years.



St Paul’s on a bleak day ~1949.









The next two below, Swanston Street in the 1940s.







A discontinued L class tram.

[The Collector]

Edwardian postcards of Swanston Street in glorious black & white, from southern end to northern end.

[The Collector]

Old postcards (1918-1960) of Swanston Street in glorious black & white, from southern end to northern end.

[The Collector]

Not all B + W, but close enough.
My favourite stretch in Melbourne.
From left to right:
Manchester Unity Building
Capital Cinema (coloured)
Talma Building
Don't know the name of this one
Century Building

[The Collector]

Historic Spring Street in glorious black & white, from southern end to northern end.
The early years.

Part 1



The walled garden on the south-west corner of Spring and Collins Streets is the remnants of an orchad and vineyard owned by a doctor, until his death in 1864, when the land was sub-divided. No 1 Collins Street a substansial residence built in 1876 still stands today.





The Windsor Hotel then called the Grand Hotel was originally only half its size, as seen in this photograph from 1884.



Later, with extensions.



The entrance to the Windsor Hotel as it looked in 1888.

[The Collector]

Part 2

The later years.

Treasury Place, demolished.

[The Collector]

Old postcards of Spring Street in glorious black & white, from southern end to northern end.

[Bronteboy]

Been pondering the detail of these for a long time. Thanks Collector. Mega-thread, with so much to see.


Cat-a-corner (as the Americans say) to the Town Hall - i.e. opposite The Queen Victoria Building on one side and Manchester Unity on the other - was Damman's Tobacco Store, which had a lot of atmosphere.

You can see it in the postcards in Post #3 and Post #4.

[Colonel Light]

As a military modeller this photo is brilliant. Architecture certainly made a statement in style back then. Melbourne had it in spades. Still does but to see some of the buildings that have been torn down makes you want to take a DeLorean back in time and kick some heads.

[The Collector]

Thanks for the comments, much, much more to come (most streets).

[The Collector]

Historic Flinders Street in glorious black & white, from east end to west end.
The early years.

Part 1





Above and below, before Flinders Steet Station there was Hanton’s Fruit Market and Bycicle Stables (old Fishmarket) photographed in1895.















Above, Queen’s Wharf on the south side of Flinders Street in 1880, and below Flinders Street and the Yarra River become one, during a flood in 1863.

[The Collector]

Part 2

The later years.





Rainy day, outside Flinders Street Station, December 7, 1965.







The ballroom at Flinders Street Station.



The Fish Market clocktower is gone, not long before the rest will be demolished.

[The Collector]

Old postcards of Flinders Street in glorious black & white, from east end to west end.







The old Princes Bridge Railway Station.

[The Collector]

Historic Russell Street in glorious black & white, from southern end to northern end.







Russell Street in 1878.



Melbourne’s second museum on Russell Street, behind the State Library.

[The Collector]

Old postcards of Russell Street in glorious black & white, from southern end to northern end.





Above and below, Russell Street Police Headquarters, now Concept Blue.

[The Collector]

Historic Elizabeth Street in glorious black & white, from southern end to northern end.
The early years.

Part 1

[The Collector]

Part 2

The later years.

[The Collector]

Edwardian postcards of Elizabeth Street in glorious black & white, from southern end to northern end.

[The Collector]

Old postcards (1920 - 1955) of Elizabeth Street in glorious black & white, from southern end to northern end.