The Block Arcade is an historic shopping
arcade
Arcade most often refers to:
* Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine
** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware
** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board
* Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games
* ...
in the
central business district
A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...
of
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
,
Victoria, Australia
Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...
.
[ Constructed between 1891 and 1893, it is considered one of the late Victorian era's finest shopping arcades and ranks among Melbourne's most popular tourist attractions.
Designed by architects Twentyman & Askew, the Block is one of Melbourne's most richly decorated interior spaces, replete with mosaic tiled flooring, glass canopy, wrought iron and carved stone finishings. The arcade is L-shaped with an octagonal rotunda at the corner, connecting Collins Street at the south end to Elizabeth Street on the west. On the north side, the arcade connects to Block Place, a covered pedestrian lane that leads to ]Little Collins Street
Little Collins Street is a minor street in the central business district (CBD) of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The street runs parallel to and to the north of Collins Street and as a narrow one way lane takes on the name of the wider main ...
, opposite Melbourne's oldest shopping arcade, the Royal Arcade Royal Arcade can refer to a number of structures:
* Royal Arcade, Boscombe
* Royal Arcade, Cardiff
* Royal Arcade, Charters Towers
* Royal Arcade, London
* Royal Arcade, Melbourne
The Royal Arcade is a historic shopping arcade in the centra ...
. The Block Arcade's six-storey external façades on both Collins and Elizabeth streets are some of Australia's best surviving examples of Victorian architecture
Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian we ...
in the Mannerist style
Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, ...
.
The arcade takes its name from the practice of "doing the block": dressing fashionably and promenading the section of Collins Street between Elizabeth and Swanston streets. It is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register
The Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) lists places deemed to be of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria, Australia. It has statutory weight under the Heritage Act 2017. The Minister for Planning is the responsible Minister. H ...
.
Name: "doing the block"
By the late 1870s, the north end of Collins Street between Swanston and Elizabeth
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
streets had become the favoured promenade of Melbourne's well-to-do, who went there to frequent its prestigious shops and cafes, and to see and be seen as they walked from one end to the other. This practice became known as "doing the block".
Author Fergus Hume
Ferguson Wright Hume (8 July 1859 – 12 July 1932), known as Fergus Hume, was a prolific English novelist, known for his detective fiction, thrillers and mysteries.
Early life
Hume was born in Powick, Worcestershire, England, the second ...
described "doing the block" in his novel ''The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
''The Mystery of a Hansom Cab'' is a mystery fiction novel by the Australian writer Fergus Hume. The book was first published in Australia in 1886. Set in Melbourne, the story focuses on the investigation of a homicide involving a body discovered ...
'', first published in Melbourne in 1886:
History
The site
On 1 June 1837, the first auctions of blocks in what is now the Melbourne CBD took place. The block now occupied by the Collins Street portion of the arcade was purchased by William Briscoe & Son. The Briscoes Bulk Grain Store occupied the site from 1856 to 1883, building a large new premises in 1877.
In 1883, the building was sold to the George brothers' George & George Federal Emporium, established in 1880 a few doors up, who refurbished the interior for their expanding drapery business (which would eventually become Georges Store). Financier and landboomer Benjamin Fink was a director of the company, and by 1888 had plans to relocate the store and create an L shaped arcade in the area, and began buying up properties.
Construction
At 6:15 pm on Friday 13 September 1889, a huge fire gutted the Georges Emporium, causing over AU$400,00 worth of damage.
The fire occurred at the height of the land boom of the 1880s, when Melbourne grew enormously and many large and elaborate hotels shops and office blocks rose in the city. The fire allowed the City Property & Co Pty Ltd (principal shareholder Benjamin Fink) to proceed with plans to create a sumptuous arcade on this central site, hiring architects Twentyman & Askew to design it, announced in January 1890, with the name 'The Block' revealed soon after. The Collins Street leg was built first, which was completed by late 1891, to little fanfare, with the grand opening of the whole arcade on 7 October 1893.
The Collins Street leg has an angled kink because the site narrows part way up due to the presence of a narrow laneway on the west side. Originally known as Carpenters Lane, the City Property Co successfully petitioned to roof it, creating a covered access from the Block Arcade to Little Collins Street. This in turn led to the development of shops in the lane, which was soon renamed Block Place. In 1902, Royal Arcade Royal Arcade can refer to a number of structures:
* Royal Arcade, Boscombe
* Royal Arcade, Cardiff
* Royal Arcade, Charters Towers
* Royal Arcade, London
* Royal Arcade, Melbourne
The Royal Arcade is a historic shopping arcade in the centra ...
, which has been a dead end, was opened through to Little Collins Street creating a covered walk from Collins right through to Bourke Street.
The design is often said to have been inspired by the 1870s Galleria Vittorio in Milan, which has a similar domed crossing, but on a much vaster scale.
Ownership changes
In the 1986, the arcade was purchased by the Time Corporation for AU$15 million. By 1991, Westpac took over the mortgage and sold the building to the Kearney family in 1993 at public auction. The Kearneys undertook extensive refurbishment, repairing the mosaic floors, repainting the interior in heritage colours, and renovating the office spaces above.
In 2014, the Cohen family purchased the Block Arcade. The Cohen family have had long ties with Melbourne which date back to the 1840s, when Trevor Cohen's great great grandfather struck one of the first leases in Melbourne, for the ground floor of the nearby 'Cashmore's Corner' on the northeast corner of Collins and Elizabeth Streets, and where his great grandmother was born. The Cohens are passionate about the precinct, and continue to maintain the Block Arcade to its former glory with an eye for detail.
Block Court
The building adjacent to the Block Arcade at 288-292 Collins Street was built in 1890 as the Athenaeum Club, and in 1930 the ground floor was converted into an arcade, designed by noted architect Harry Norris
Harry Norris (12 June 1888 – 15 December 1966) was an Australian architect, one of the more prolific and successful in Melbourne in the interwar period, best known for his 1930s Art Deco commercial work in the Melbourne CBD.
His designs were ...
, one of the earliest and most elaborate Art Deco interiors in Melbourne. This arcade originally connected through to the Block Arcade with the removal of one of the shopfronts in the Elizabeth Street wing. At some point this building was bought by the owners of the Block Arcade, and they are still in the same ownership. In the 1990s, as part of the restoration of the Block Arcade, the shop was reinstated, and the north end of the Block Court arcade was closed off, and the shopfronts removed to create a large area shop. In 2016, the Block Court Arcade was partially restored, reinstating the shopfronts, but as counters for a branch of the Bendigo Bank
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank is an Australian financial institution, operating primarily in retail banking. The company was formed by the merger of Bendigo Bank and Adelaide Bank in November 2007.
Before the merger, Bendigo Bank delivered its pr ...
, with access through the rear to a laneway and then into the Block Arcade.
Notable shops
The Hopetoun Tea Rooms opened in 1894, established by 'society girl' Miss Chrissie Robertson, 'daintily appointed' and intended for her society friends who did not wish to patronise ordinary tea rooms. Moving to the current rooms in 1907, it was redecorated in 1976 in Victorian style, with emerald and black wallpaper, and velvet ceiling hangings, designed by interior designer Murray Sheldrick. The Hopetoun Tea Rooms are sometimes confused with the tea room located in the rotunda of the Ladies Work Association, a charity for upper class women who had fallen on hard times, which operated from 1891-c1900, and whose patron was Lady Hopetoun.
The Singer Sewing Machine Company
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
moved into the shop on the eastern side of the Collins Street entrance in 1902, where it remained for many years. The shop was popular with female patrons, and sewing classes were run in the basement. Phillip Goatcher, scenic artist, was commissioned to paint an elaborate mural on the ceiling, still in place.
In the shop to the left of the Collins Street entrance, the Block Arcade also housed the first Kodak
The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...
store in Melbourne, the camera company from Rochester, New York
Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...
. Kodak allowed the average person to take photographs and promoted the arts of photography to the general public. The store sold parts, cameras, and equipment to both amateurs and professionals, and has an elaborate pressed metal ceiling.
Gallery
File:The Block mosaic floor.jpg, Detail of the mosaic tile floor
File:墨尔本 - panoramio (20).jpg, Decorative arches
File:The Block Arcade Clock 201708.jpg, Clock
File:The Block Arcade interior, Melbourne.jpg, Collins Street leg
File:The Block Arcade Central atrium 201708.jpg, Central rotunda
See also
* Architecture of Melbourne
The architecture of Melbourne, the capital of the state of Victoria and second most populous city in Australia, is characterised by a wide variety of styles dating from the early years of European settlement to the present day. The city is part ...
* Lanes and arcades of Melbourne
The Melbourne central business district in Australia is home to numerous lanes and arcades. Often called "laneways", these narrow streets and pedestrian paths date mostly from the Victorian era, and are a popular cultural attraction for their ...
References
External links
*
{{Melbourne CBD Streets
Buildings and structures in Melbourne City Centre
Shopping arcades in Australia
Shopping centres in Melbourne
Heritage-listed buildings in Melbourne
Shopping malls established in 1893
1893 establishments in Australia
Victorian architecture in Victoria (Australia)
Collins Street, Melbourne