List of demolished buildings and structures in Melbourne

Melbourne is notable in particular for the land-boom of the 1880s producing "some of the world's most majestic buildings" of the era, as well as many large houses and mansions in the suburbs, which were in turn amongst those that were lost as the city sought to reinvent itself as a modern metropolis.

[4][5] His visit was in the middle of the boom of the 1880s, when land prices increased as investors took advantage of easy credit from London and lax local financial regulations to feed strong demand.

After the privations of WW2, and subsequent rationing, the economy began a long boom in the mid-1950s, which coincided with the ideals of efficiency and progress, disdain for anything old, Modernist architectural trends, a rapidly growing market for office buildings,and further suburban growth.

However, some Councils were and still are slow to protect places, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal can overturn a listing, and the Planning Minister has always had powers of intervention,[7] so significant buildings have continued to be demolished.

In 1884, businessman and director of the Federal Bank, John Robb, financed a building 'of mammoth size' with 132 feet (40 m) of frontage on Collins Street, designed by architect Thomas Watts.

Designed by architect FM White in a simple Renaissance Revival style, it features squared windows divided by piers, each floor the same, topped by an elaborate cornice with protruding large lion heads.

The veracity of this story is uncertain, but in late 1887 Prell was completing a five-storey office block (plus basement) on the northwest corner of Queen Street and Flinders Lane, using Otis safety elevators, though this was not their first use in Melbourne.

[8] F. M. White was again the architect, using a similar approach, but adding more elaboration such as superimposed piers and window pediments, elements repeating both vertically and horizontally, and topped by even larger cornices, featuring heads of Minerva and Mercury.

Architect Alfred Dunn was only 23 when he won a competition[27] with a Second Empire style design, one of the most elaborate of the 1880s land boom era, featuring richly decorated facades and a tall tower-like mansard roof over the front portion topped with wrought iron sunflowers.

In 1894 the frontage of the building was remodelled by Hyndman and Bates with an additional storey, and transformed into a fine example of the exotic, and rarely used, Moorish or Moghul style,[43] featuring keyhole and pointed arches and coloured tiles (as seen in a photo from 1958[44]).

[17] The store was completely rebuilt as a single larger building, designed by F Williams in a style similar to the 1890 façade, but simpler and one floor lower, creating a very large premises.

[61] The cafe remained popular until it was demolished along with other properties for the Modernist style Hotel Australia, opened in 1939, which included a double height arched roofed dining room in homage to the earlier space.

Designed by concrete specialist Leslie M Perrott, the hotel was the most up-to-date in Melbourne, and its numerous bars and restaurants became smart society venues;[17] it included a shopping arcade through the ground floor and two small cinemas in the basement.

[65] In a series of rebuilding campaigns in the 1960s,[66][67] new Union facilities, designed by architects Egglestone Secomb McDonald were built, replacing the tower and south wing of the old National Museum, completed in 1970.

[71] On the afternoon of Saturday 26th January 1952, the building was gutted by fire in front of a gathering crowd of shocked spectators, destroying artworks, stained glass windows, the organ and the majestic roof.

[72] The walls largely survived the fire, but instead of opting for reconstruction the university took the less expensive route and demolished the remains, to build a contemporary replacement, designed by Reed's successor firm Bates Smart McCutcheon, which opened in 1956.

The architectural firm Reed & Barnes won a design contest for a structure featuring two and three-storey shops along the street fronts, with a two-level central market hall inside topped by arched glass roofs.

After a year, the city council resumed control, but the Eastern Market never fulfilled its intended purpose, and it remained a part of the amusement nightlife of Bourke Street for many decades,[74] described by the Herald in 1923 as a "resort for the undesirables".

[79][82] Famous guests included Mark Twain, Alexander Graham Bell, Herbert Hoover, and Dame Nellie Melba, and in 1872 British author Anthony Trollope noted that he had never stayed 'at a better inn in any part of the world'.

By the mid-1960s, competition from new inner city motels, the new Southern Cross Hotel, and licensed restaurants, meant the Menzies faced declining patronage, while the site increased in value, and it closed and was demolished in 1969 to make way for the BHP Tower.

It was notable principally for its dining room, which quickly developed a reputation for having some of the best cuisine in Melbourne, popular with the city's elite; lawyers, bankers, politicians, and pastoralists would meet at the Oriental.

The design combined an array of Renaissance Revival details and French Second Empire style mansard roofs, culminating in a tall corner turret topped with a dome, and it opened in time for Melbourne's Centennial Exhibition in July 1888.

[2] Leavitt's Guide wrote, "Its wealth of mirrors so fantastically arranged, its tessellated floor, glittering tables, refreshing fountains and artistic draperies, remind one of the magnificent structures of a similar kind which grace the capitals of Europe and America.

After it was destroyed by fire in 1872, he immediately rebuilt it as an even larger venue that could seat 4,000 people over four tiers, designed by architect George Brown, which opened in November the same year,[105] under joint management by Coppin, Stewart, Harwood and Hennings.

In 1956 The Tivoli in Melbourne was refurbished in a padded streamlined style,[114] the same year television was introduced into Australia, which quickly led to declining audiences, especially since variety performers became a mainstay of live broadcasts, and the theatre eventually closed in 1966.

The interior and the façade were completely remodelled in streamlined modern style for the owner Norman B. Rydge in 1958, and it was renamed the Barclay Theatre, opening as a full-time cinema with Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments.

[137] Through the boom of the 1870s and 1880s, the great personal wealth generated by the business community often resulted in the construction of very grand homes, ranging from extravagant mansions in extensive grounds, to merely quite elaborate large houses, usually with a tower, on larger suburban lots in the middle suburbs, and what were then the fringes of the city.

Following the 1890s crash, many families could not longer sustain them, and some were put to other uses such as guest houses or schools, but beginning as early as the 1910s, many were demolished to make way for smaller lot subdivisions, a trend which accelerated in the post WW2 years.

After Lady Clarke's death, in 1909 a floor was added and it was converted into 48 luxury apartments, a new idea in Melbourne, though they were not all self-contained, with a central kitchen that could deliver meals, and a communal dining room.

This landmark entertainment structure on The Esplanade, St. Kilda, was built as the Wattle Path Palais de Danse in 1923, designed by architects Beaver & Purnell[154] featuring a wide arched roof and a pair of stepped top towers.