[1] The road was the location of many institutions dotted along its length, and was famed for being lined with elegant mansions until the middle of the 20th century.

[2] Within a few years, St Kilda became a fashionable area for wealthy settlers, with the high ground above the beach offering a cool fresh breeze during Melbourne's hot summer months.

The opening of the bridge was a major occasion, with Superintendent Charles La Trobe and Georgiana McCrae in attendance.

Between the city and what is now St Kilda Junction, sites were granted to various institutions, or remained government reserves in the 1850s and 60s.

Much closer to the city, in 1855 the government granted 15 acres (61,000 m2) on St Kilda Road to the Anglican Church on which Melbourne Grammar School was built.

By the 1860s, St Kilda had developed as a desirable seaside suburb, dotted with large houses and grand terraces.

St Kilda Road was a main arterial connecting it with Melbourne, and was planned as a wide European-style boulevard to accommodate horse-drawn traffic.

In 1877, Cooper and Bailey's Great American International Circus set up on the site of the present Arts Centre.

The spoil was used to fill the swampy lagoons and brickmakers pits and raise the height of the river bank where Alexandra Gardens now stands.

In 1904, the area of the site not occupied by Fitzgerald's was developed as a fashionable meeting place called Prince's Court.

This area featured a Japanese Tea House, open-air theatre, miniature train, water chute and a 15-member military band.

During the depression of the 1930s, many of the mansions on St Kilda Road were subdivided into units with extensions to the rear of the buildings, resulting in only a few of them remaining today.

The Green Mill Dance Hall closed in 1950 and the remainder of the Wirth buildings on the Arts Centre site were destroyed by fire in 1953.

In the early 1980s, heritage controls protected the few surviving mansions and notable flats, and a 60m height limit was introduced, bringing uniformity to the street during another boom in office construction.

In June 2017, a small number of the elm trees lining St. Kilda Road were cut down for the Melbourne Metro Rail Tunnel project.

[12] St Kilda Road passes alongside several of Melbourne's famous parks, landmarks and institutions, including: