Chapel Street, Melbourne
Encyclopedia
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It has a myriad shops ranging from exclusive upmarket fashion designers at the South Yarra
South Yarra, Victoria
South Yarra is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area are the Cities of Stonnington and Melbourne...
end to old fashion pawnbroker
Pawnbroker
A pawnbroker is an individual or business that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as collateral...
s towards Windsor
Windsor, Victoria
Windsor is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Stonnington. At the 2006 Census, Windsor had a population of 6394....
.
Geography
Chapel Street runs for over 4.13 kilometres from the Yarra RiverYarra River
The Yarra River, originally Birrarung, is a river in east-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stretches of the river is where the city of Melbourne was established in 1835 and today Greater Melbourne dominates and influences the landscape of its lower reaches...
in the north to Brighton Road in the south, traversing the south east suburbs of South Yarra, Prahran
Prahran, Victoria
Prahran , also known colloquially as "Pran", is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Stonnington. At the 2006 Census, Prahran had a population of 10,651. It is a part of Melbourne with...
, Windsor, St Kilda
St Kilda, Victoria
St Kilda is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip...
and St Kilda East
St Kilda East, Victoria
St Kilda East is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south-east of Melbourne's central business district. It is located within the Local Government Areas of the City of Glen Eira and the City of Port Phillip. At the 2006 Census, it had a population of 12,188.St Kilda East is one...
. Major street crossings are Alexandra Avenue, Toorak Road, Commercial Road, High Street, Dandenong Road, Alma Road, Inkerman Street and Carlisle Street. To the north of Dandenong Road, Chapel Street is one of Melbourne’s premier shopping and entertainment strips with over 980 shops, street cafés, restaurants, bars, pubs and nightclubs. It has a reputation as Melbourne’s fashion and style capital. South of Dandenong Road is predominantly a residential area.
Tram routes 78
Melbourne tram route 78
Tram route 78 is a public transport service in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The route starts at the Victoria St terminus , then runs along Church St, Richmond, crossing Bridge Rd and Swan St . It continues over the Yarra River along Chapel St, crossing Toorak Rd at stop 49...
and 79
Melbourne tram route 79
Tram route 79 is a public transport service in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It runs from North Richmond to St Kilda Beach through the suburbs of South Yarra, Prahran, Windsor, Balaclava, and St, Kilda. Like most tram routes in Melbourne, it is entirely within Metcard ticketing Zone 1...
travel along the entire length of Chapel Street, between Richmond and St Kilda. Tram routes 3
Melbourne tram route 3
Tram route 3 is a public transport service in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It runs from the University of Melbourne north of the city centre to Malvern East in the eastern suburbs....
, 5
Melbourne tram route 5
Tram route 5 is a public transport service in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It runs from the University of Melbourne north of the city centre to Malvern East in the eastern suburbs. The destination is, however, displayed as Malvern, although the route technically ends within Malvern East...
, 6
Melbourne tram route 6
Tram route 6 is a public transport service in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It runs from the University of Melbourne in the city centre to Glen Iris in the eastern suburbs....
, 8
Melbourne tram route 8
Tram route 8 is a public transport service in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It runs from Toorak to Moreland through the suburbs of Carlton and South Yarra...
, 64
Melbourne tram route 64
Tram route 64 is a public transport service in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It runs from the University of Melbourne in the city centre to East Brighton in the southern suburbs. It runs through the suburbs of Melbourne, Windsor, Caulfield, and Brighton East...
and 72
Melbourne tram route 72
Tram route 72 is a public transport service in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It runs from the University of Melbourne in the city centre to Camberwell in the eastern suburbs. It runs through the suburbs of Melbourne, South Yarra, Toorak, Malvern, Glen Iris, and Camberwell...
all intersect Chapel Street. The Sandringham line railway stations of South Yarra, Prahran, Windsor
Windsor railway station, Melbourne
Windsor is a railway station in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It serves the Sandringham railway line and is located in the suburb of Windsor. The station is near the intersection of Chapel Street and Dandenong Road, and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.-Platforms and services:Platform...
and Balaclava
Balaclava railway station
Balaclava railway station opened in 1892 and closed in 1992. It served the small town of Balaclava on the Kingston to Montego Bay line and was from the Kingston terminus....
are all within 300 metres of Chapel Street.
The section of Chapel Street between Toorak Road and Dandenong Road is often completely filled with traffic from around midnight to 3 a.m. each Friday and Saturday nights. This is partially due to the large number of clubs, bars and restaurants along Chapel Street, but also to owners of modified cars cruising this section, without a specific destination. This practice is known in Melbourne as "Laps of Chaps" or "Chap Laps", and is generally confined to Chapel Street, although this behaviour originated on Lygon Street, Carlton.
History
Joseph Crook http://www.pictures.libraries.vic.gov.au/site/stonnington/miscellaneous/11366.html is believed to have built the first house in Chapel Street in 1849, when the street was known as Fitzroy Road. Chapel Street was named after the first church in Prahran, an Independent (or Congregational) Church, built 100 metres north of Malvern Road on the east side, between 1850 and 1852. The first minister of "The Chapel", as it was known locally, was Rev William Moss. In an address to the Collins Street Independent Church in 1888 the Rev. Moss said, "I may mention that our chapel at Prahran was the only place of worship in the district for over two years, and ultimately gave to the business street of that flourishing city its name Chapel Street". The Chapel was closed in 1859, used as a school building until about 1883, when it was demolished. The only surviving church in the commercial part of Chapel Street, the Baptist Church, which was built in the 1850s on the corner of Wilson Street, is now the Irish theme pub Bridie O'Reilly’s.A bridge linking Chapel Street and Church Street
Church Street Bridge
The Church Street Bridge is a historic road bridge over the Yarra River and the Monash Freeway in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It links Church Street in Richmond on the north bank with Chapel Street in Prahran on the south.-History:...
, Richmond
Richmond, Victoria
Richmond is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra...
was not built until 1857 and a ferry service operated over the Yarra River. In the 1850s much of the area between Commercial Road and the Yarra River
Yarra River
The Yarra River, originally Birrarung, is a river in east-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stretches of the river is where the city of Melbourne was established in 1835 and today Greater Melbourne dominates and influences the landscape of its lower reaches...
was formed of deep clay deposits which resulted in a number of brickmakers establishing businesses on both sides of Chapel Street. The last of the brickworks, The South Yarra Fire Brick Company continued until the 1980s when it was sold to the Singapore Developer Jack Chia for "The South Yarra Project" development which was to include The Como Centre. 1888 sparked major development on the street with the permanent installation of a tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
service.
Virtually from its beginning Chapel Street, between Toorak Road and Dandenong Road was a trading and shopping street with flour milling, butchers, bakers, drapers, boot makers, general stores, carpenters, bricklayers, farrier and blacksmiths, chemists and an undertaker. At the turn of the century large multi-level emporiums (department stores) began to spring up in the Prahran section of the street. At this point, Chapel Street rivalled the CBD as Melbourne's shopping destination. Emporium development continued right through to the 1930s.
In the 1970s, Pran Central opened as a major shopping mall. In the 1980s, the Jam Factory and Como Centre at the South Yarra end were the biggest developments to effect the character of the street. Gentrification ensured that this end became home to boutique fashion stores.
Sites of interest
- The Como Centre is a multi-storey office, retail cinema and hotel complex on the north-east corner of Chapel Street and Toorak Road. It is the headquarters of ATV-10ATV-10ATV is a television station in Melbourne, Australia, part of Network Ten - one of the three major Australian commercial television networks.-History:...
Television.
- The Jam FactoryThe Jam Factoryright|thumb|250px|Jam Factory, Chapel StreetThe Jam Factory is a shopping and entertainment centre, located in cosmopolitan Chapel Street, South Yarra, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. The centre contains a Village Cinema complex, Intencity arcade, fashion stores and numerous cafés and...
is an iconic shopping, cinema and entertainment complex on the corner of Garden Street.
- Just off Elizabeth Street is the Prahran MarketPrahran MarketThe Prahran Market is one of the premier fresh food markets in Melbourne, Australia. It has existed on its present site in Commercial Road, South Yarra, some 200 metres from Chapel Street, for over 125 years. The market offers a variety of stalls and shops offering fresh fruit and vegetables, meat,...
, a fresh food market which has occupied its present site for over 120 years.
- Commercial Road shopping strip is the centre of one of Melbourne's gay villageGay villageA gay village is an urban geographic location with generally recognized boundaries where a large number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people live or frequent...
s.
- The Chapel off Chapel theatre and gallery venue is at the end of Carlton Street.
- Pran Central at the corner of Commercial Road is a redevelopment of a National TrustNational Trust of AustraliaThe Australian Council of National Trusts is the peak body for community-based, non-government organisations committed to promoting and conserving Australia's indigenous, natural and historic heritage....
classified building into a residential and commercial complex with a multicultural food court.
- Greville Street is a small niche shopping strip.
- Prahran Town HallPrahran Town HallPrahran Town Hall is a civic building located on the corner of Chapel Street and Greville Street in Prahran, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia....
, on the corner of Greville Street was opened in 1861.
- The Prahran MissionPrahran missionPrahran Mission is a not-for-profit community services organisation in Prahran, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. It is largely focused on providing services for people living with mental illness, or in economic or social disadvantage...
, a community services organization run by UnitingCare AustraliaUnitingCare AustraliaUnitingCare Australia is the Uniting Church in Australia's umbrella community services body. UnitingCare Australia is committed to values based advocacy, speaking with and on behalf of those who are the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, for the common good.It is a sister body to UnitingJustice...
.
- The Prahran campus of Swinburne University is near the south west corner of High Street.
- The first bowling club in Australia, the Melbourne Bowling Club, is situated behind Chapel Street in Union Street. The club was founded on 11 March 1864.
- The Astor TheatreThe Astor TheatreThe Astor Theatre is a classic, single-screen cinema located in the inner Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, that has a long and illustrious history....
on the south west corner of Dandenong Road is a Heritage Victoria registered, 1930’s art deco cinema which seats over 1,100 people.
- St Michael's Grammar SchoolSt Michael's Grammar SchoolSt Michael's Grammar School is a co-educational independent day school located in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia.The school was founded in 1895 by the Community of the Sisters of the Church and is associated with the Anglican Church of Australia. St Michael's is located on a single campus, its...
now incorporates many of the area's old buildings.