Elizabeth Street is a major street in the centre of the city in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. The street was one of the earliest in Brisbane being established at the beginning of settlement in Brisbane as

Moreton Bay penal settlement The Moreton Bay Penal Settlement operated from 1825 to 1842. It became the city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. History The Moreton Bay Penal Settlement was established on the Redcliffe Peninsula on Moreton Bay in September 1824, under t ...

. Today, most of the street is fronted by low-level retail outlets, with an increase in mixed use

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

s being recently constructed.

Geography

Major shopping arcades on Elizabeth Street include The Myer Centre, Marcarthur Central and the Elizabeth Arcade. The Brisbane

Hilton hotel Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton Worldwide. The original company was founded by Conrad Hi ...

has it main entrance on Elizabeth Street. The offices at Central Plaza Two have their entrance at the easterly end or

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

part of the street. There is good pedestrian access around the street, such as pathways near the

General Post Office The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Established in England in the 17th century, the GPO was a state monopoly covering the dispatch of items from a specific ...

and access to the

Queen Street bus station Queen Street bus station is the primary bus terminus in Brisbane central business district in Queensland, Australia. It is underneath Uptown, Brisbane (formerly the Myer Centre) & Queen Street Mall. It opened on 26 March 1988 along with the ...

via the Myer Centre. The street runs parallel to and south of the city's central

mall Mall commonly refers to a: * Shopping mall * Strip mall * Pedestrian zone * Esplanade Mall or MALL may also refer to: Places Shopping complexes * The Mall (Bromley), London, United Kingdom * The Mall (Patna), Bihar, India * The Mall (Sofia) ...

in Queen Street. To ease congestion in the

Brisbane central business district Brisbane City is the central suburb and central business district of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. It is also colloquially referred to as the "Brisbane CBD", "the city", or simply "town". The CBD is located on a point ...

traffic direction is one-way from west to east. At the top of the street nearest the

Brisbane River The Brisbane River (Turrbal language, Turrbal: ) is the longest river in South East Queensland, Australia. It flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the ...

is William Street and exit ramps from the

Riverside Expressway The Riverside Expressway is part of the Pacific Motorway that runs through Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is located on the western side of the Brisbane CBD and is made up of various bridges and overpasses. The North Bank development was ...

. Between this intersection and George Street is the

Queens Gardens Queens Gardens or Queen's Gardens may refer to: * Queen's Gardens, Kingston upon Hull – gardens in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England * Queen's Gardens (Croydon) – gardens in south London, England * Queen's Gardens, Westminster – gardens ...

, a small open park. Adjacent to this is the Treasury Building and the

Conrad Treasury Casino The Treasury Casino, also simply known as The Treasury, was a casino in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It also had a hotel, 6 restaurants, 5 bars, and a nightclub. The casino was operated by Star Entertainment Group. It closed on the 25 Aug ...

, which is open 24 hours a day. Elizabeth Street was one of various Brisbane locations used in the filming of the 2015 motion picture ''San Andreas''. The street was used to represent downtown San Francisco after a major earthquake struck that city, with over 300 extras participating in the shooting of the scene.

History

Brisbane's first theatre, the Theatre Royal was at 80 Elizabeth Street. It was first built in 1865, was remodelled on a number of occasions and was demolished in 1987 to make way for the Myer Centre. Since the closure of the Victoria Bridge to general traffic in 2021, traffic volumes on Elizabeth Street declined.

Heritage listings

Elizabeth Street has a number of

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and human-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In ma ...

sites, including: * 171 Elizabeth Street:

Heckelmanns Building Heckelmanns Building is a heritage-listed warehouse at 171 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Andrea Giovanni Stombuco and built from 1884 to 1891. It was added to the Queensland Her ...

* 179 Elizabeth Street:

Tara House Tara House is a heritage-listed club house at 179 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, Elizabeth Street, Brisbane City, Queensland, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Richard Gailey and built from to 1928. It wa ...

(Irish Club) * 249 Elizabeth Street:

Old St Stephens Church St Stephen's Chapel, also known as the Pugin Chapel, and formerly known as Old St Stephen's Church, is a heritage-listed Roman Catholic former church, now chapel, located at 249 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, A ...

* 259–269 Elizabeth Street: St Stephens Catholic Cathedral * 283 Elizabeth Street:

Telecommunications House Telecommunications House is a heritage-listed former clubhouse and now office building at 283 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is also known as Corbett Chambers. It was designed by Claude William C ...

* Sections of Albert St, George St, William St, North Quay, Queen's Wharf Rd:

Early Streets of Brisbane The Early Streets of Brisbane is a heritage-listed archaeological site at sections of Albert Street, Brisbane, Albert Street, George Street, Brisbane, George Street, William Street, Brisbane, William Street, North Quay, Brisbane, North Quay, a ...

(includes land now on Elizabeth Street) * 144 George Street:

(on the corner of Elizabeth Street) * 167 Albert Street: Perry House (on the corner of Elizabeth Street) * 171 George Street:

Family Services Building Family Services Building is a heritage-listed office building at 171 George Street, Brisbane, George Street, Brisbane City, Queensland, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by George Gerald Hutton and built f ...

(on the corner of Elizabeth Street) * 179–191 George Street: Hunters Buildings (Treasury Chambers, St Francis House & Symons Building), a L-shaped building which fronts both George and Elizabeth Streets

Major intersections

* William Street * George Street * Albert Street * Edward Street * Creek Street * Eagle Street

References

External links