[The Collector]

Collins Street, Marvellous Melbourne

Photographs taken over the past three years.

From east-end to west-end

Part 1
Enjoy!

The next four down are of Collins Place.

Above and next two below, interior of 101 Collins Street.

 

[The Collector]

Part 2

The first thing, I think, that strikes a man who knows the three great modern cities of the world –London, Paris, New York –
and is walking observingly about Melbourne is that Melbourne is made up of curious elements.
There is something of London in her, something of Paris, something of New York, and something of her own.

Francis William Lauderdale Adams 1884

Above and below, inside the Kay Craddock’s Antiquarian Bookshop at 156 Collins Street.

The Georges Building.
Georges was known as the ‘smallest department store’, or ‘the biggest little store’, or even ‘the biggest boutique’.
Sadly the store closed down in the early 1990s and made a brief comeback again in 1998 only to close down again a few years later.

 

[The Collector]

Part 3

Napier Waller mosaic on Newspaper House.

On a weekday.

On Sunday.

Above and the next five down are of 333 Collins Street.

 

[The Collector]

Part 4

Above and below, inside the old Stock Exchange.

Above and below, outside the old Stock Exchange.

Above and below, inside the old ES & A bank.

 

[The Collector]

Part 5

Le Meridien Hotel, inside the old Rialto Buildings.

 

[melbournee12]

great pics collector thanx for sharing them with us they're fantastic
just looking at those collins place towers, they really seem to be showing their age now, how great would they look if they got reclad in glass!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[auslankan]

double post sorry

 

[auslankan]

Stunning, just bloody stunning. Thanks

 

[Yardmaster]

Excellent, Collector.

Two comments:

1. what happened to St. Michaels?
   
   
2. "Le Meridien" was boarded up last weekend, and according to my companions (who are better able to read signs across the street than me) the building was being renovated at the behest of Melbourne University. No doubt a more exhaustive search of this website would throw some light on this.

Two Earlier threads given over to the same wonderful street:

By The Collector: Collins St, Marvellous Melbourne (a bit similar. at least at the start !)
By YardMaster: Collins St: The Golden Mile

 

[gappa]

The grandest of them all! Is Collins Street Australia's most elegant stretch? You certainly make it look so.
In another three years you can extend your tour into the Docklands.

Oh and Le Meridan has been boarded up for some months now.

 

[Dean]

Oh and Le Meridan has been boarded up for some months now.

It is currently undergoing a $50 million refurb and will re-open late this year as Melbourne's first Intercontinental Hotel.

 

[Yardmaster]

^^ thanks for that ... so has Melbourne Uni got any stake in it, even just on the ground-floor front? (or should I tell my friend to get some glasses!)

 

[The Collector]

A stroll down the east end of Collins Street in 1967.

CML building at the north-west corner of Collins and Elizabeth Streets in November 1959.

The Regent Theatre and the now demolished Wentworth House in January 1964.

Collins Street near Queen Street intersection looking east in the 1950s.

 

[Bronteboy]

Re-posting for the record from 'Old Days All Cities' because it fits in, and Collector's street threads are our favourites:
from Stuart Bremer's book 'City Life' - i think the 1950s.

 

[Fabian]

My number one street in Melbourne. I don't think there is such a vibrant street in Australia that is so rich architecturally. The old and the new mould in very well

 

[auslankan]

It is currently undergoing a $50 million refurb and will re-open late this year as Melbourne's first Intercontinental Hotel.

Not quite true! The old Southern Cross Hotel was an Intercontinental Hotel when they were owned by Pan Am Airlines.

A couple of references from the Web.


The following are the various Inter-Continental Hotel properties Mr. Prince was directly involved with from the Architectural Design and/or Interior Design from the beginning of construction to the day the Hotel opened:


Phoenicia Inter-Continental, Beirut, Lebanon(1961)
Ducor Inter-Continental, Monrovia, Liberia(1962)
Hotel Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia(1962)


Southern Cross Inter-Continental, Melbourne, Australia(1962)

Director of Sales & Marketing
Southern Cross Hotel, Melbourne, Australia
(Privately Held; 501-1000 employees; Hospitality industry)

1985 — 2000 (15 years)

I was so proud of the Southern Cross, Australia's largest five star hotel & convention centre. Unbelievable staff and so much history in this hotel, built by the InterContinental Group in 1962. The hotel was torn down in 2001 and with the demolition went a large portion of Australia's hotel industry.

 

[Mickeebee]

Thanks for the pics.
Would have to be the most beautiful street of any CBD is Australia...surely.

 

[Giorgio]

Shouldn't these women have been at home awaiting their husbands return from a busy day at work?

I'm starting to believe that women's rights were never such an issue!

 

[The Collector]

Edwardian postcards of Collins Street.
Enjoy! \/

 

[The Collector]

More old postcards of Collins Street.