Vic changes to Melbourne over the years

TheWeasle

Rookie
Suspended
May 22, 2012
21
43
Hell
AFL Club
Collingwood
Some random ones.

MCG 1970s:

MCG2.jpg


The Old Southern Cross Hotel where many a brownlow night was held in the 70s and early 80s. Since has been renovated into highrise and i am sure the HQ for Australia Post:

SouthernCross1.jpg


SouthernCross1.jpg


Bourke St Mall version 1 1980s:

Mall1.jpg


The parklands in the early 80s:

ShowImage.php


The yards before Flinders St station:

ShowImage.php


More Bourke St in the 60s prior to the mall!

Bourke1963MyTram.jpg


Bourke1961.jpg


Foy%27s1960s.jpg


One of Bourke St in the 1970s:

Bourke30.jpg


Elizabeth St looking tattered and run down in the 1950s:

Elizabeth1963.jpg


The northern end of Elizabeth St was nothing but small workshops and indoor car showrooms.

Corner of Bourke and Elizabeth. That building on the right was replaced by the modern CBA building known at frst as the state bank building:

3662081012_8e5508e205_b.jpg


Swanston St late 50s. This whole area has been redeveloped by RMIT and TBH its a big improvement as it remained like this for decades;

Swanston1959.jpg


The street in the 70s:

Swanston23.jpg


Docklands in 1967:

YarraDocks1967.jpg


Flinders St Station with the old princess bridge station on the right before it was closed renovated and turned into the Gas&Fuel buildings and then fed square late 50s. The station was finally closed and covered when fed square development commenced in 1997. The old platforms are still used for 13 and 14 and i am sure is the longest train platform in the world:

264411939_06cb42e4a5_b.jpg


with the gas&fuel towers early 70s:

3702208322_e400c63f1b_b.jpg


and currently with fed square:

2365249159_65aba3bc2f_b.jpg


Phew i think thats enough! If you want too see a detailed pic right click on the image!
 

TheWeasle

Rookie
Suspended
May 22, 2012
21
43
Hell
AFL Club
Collingwood
Going south down to where St Kilda junction is:

3569705844_dc31f277e7_b.jpg


Late 1960s before it being demolished for the tram junction and underpass:

5147241866_f7b699ebec_b.jpg


This area has changed a lot. The Hotel with the old neon signs is no longer there. Can you imagine how bright this corner would have looked back then? I love old animated neon signs.

The only thing that remains the same in 2012 is styvies packaging! Except that will change in a few months.
 
I remember when the suburban shopping squares were just small little centres with maybe a major retailer, before the cinemas and big development sprung up. It used to be that going to one of the major centres (Highpoint, Northland, Eastland etc) was a big thing because there were shops that weren't seen in the locality. Now they're really all the same with some bigger than others.
 

NotAMagpieBogan

Premiership Player
Mar 17, 2014
4,595
4,211
Vic
AFL Club
Collingwood
Sorry about the bump guys, but Wow! Found this thread off a google search about the Allens Sweets sign.

I'm far to young to have seen any of these in real life so these photos are really cool to see!
Something about the neon advertising signs and those large advertising signs in general are really cool. Too bad people in the 80s didn't have the foresight to keep the Allens neon sign.
 
Aug 28, 2011
7,958
6,826
Beyond Reproach
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
UAE Team Emirates

IschenkoUBeauty

Norm Smith Medallist
Suspended
Apr 18, 2014
5,860
8,748
AFL Club
North Melbourne
They put a parking lot on a piece of land, where the supermarket used to stand. Before that they put up a bowling alley on the site that used to be the local palais...
 

chelseacarlton

BLUE it's the Magic Number
10k Posts Sensible Type Chess Club Member Pantskyle
Apr 13, 2008
23,737
33,143
So Frang
AFL Club
Carlton
Other Teams
The Anti-Theists
Great thread,so many memories of ol Melbs.
I somehow still see her like it's still the 70's and 80's and I lived in Little Collins (top end) for a few years in the early noughties.
If I feel nostalgic I sometimes go and have a spag bol,watermelon iced drink and espresso at Pellegrinis.
My ma first took me there as a 4 yr old 41 years ago.
Probs time to return the favour to my kids!
:thumbsu: Thread
 
Sep 27, 2012
28,076
55,170
Hawks heartland
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Bushrangers Tottenham Hotspur
Next we go back to swanston st and look at what used to be where the melbourne square is/was. A lot was torn down to make way for the square that was owed to melbourne people but never really took off.

Before the square there were a row of magnificent victoria era buildings:

SwanstonSouth3.jpg





SwanstonLookSouth2.jpg


Inside the old Queen Victoria Building: :( :(

Queen%27sArcade1957.jpg


ArcadeShop.jpg


Another angle of the future sqaure with the old victorian buildings:

image0-1.jpg


After demolishing a great part of melbournes heritage the council didnt know what to do with it..so it looked like this for a period:

CitySquare1967.jpg


In the late 70s it was turned into this:

CitySquare1.jpg


CitySquare2.jpg


It even had the old yellow LED screen..which i think was moved to waverly maybe in the mid 80s.

CitySquare4.jpg


That yellow sculpture now resides down near the malthouse theatre..just sitting there doing nothing but pleasing the traffic.

And these days the square has been reduced to nothing but a patch of dust..for occupy protesters to camp out in.

art_occupy-420x0.jpg


occupy-melbourne-cleared-from-city-square-data.jpg


And a hotel was built and turned it into a city rectangle:

CitySquare3.jpg

Great pics! Love the first two as they show my great grand father's shop! Some years ago when I started delving into the family history I was saddened to find out that his shop had been demolished along with a lot of magnificent buildings from the Marvelous Melbourne era, Whelan the Wrecker was very busy.

Another lovely old hotel was the Menzies. Not the one at the Rialto but one that stood on the corner of William and Bourke Sts. I never knew this magnificent building existed until I read a book about Agatha Christie's travels and she stayed at this hotel. I looked it up to see that it had sadly been demolished :(

LOCATION: 140 William St, at the corner with Bourke St.

BUILT IN: 1867 as a hotel and coffee house with an extra two stories added in 1896.

TORN DOWN: In 1969, the building was torn down to make way for BHP Plaza.

SITE CURRENTLY USED FOR: Offices as part of the 140 William St skyscraper.

Old MenziesHotel.png


Inside the dining room.

Old Menzies Hotel--melbourne-australia-hotels-in.jpg


Lots of info and pics about the grand old buildings that were demolished in this article.

 
Back