Buildings & streets

‘Doing the Block’: promenade on Collins Street

‘Doing the Block’: promenade on Collins Street

June 27, 2025

Ask a librarian, Buildings & streets, Social life & customs, Victorian history:

‘The Block’ was a section of Collins street bounded by Elizabeth and Swanson streets. As early as the 1860s is was considered one of the primary places to see and be seen in the Melbourne CBD, but it reached its zenith during the economic boom years in the 1880s and 1890s. ‘Doing the Block’ was a common term to describe the endless promenading of Melbournians up and down Collins street, often dressed in their finest as they frequented the fashionable cafes, tea houses and shops

The last theatre on Bourke Street: an archival history of the Metro Nightclub and Palace Theatre

The last theatre on Bourke Street: an archival history of the Metro Nightclub and Palace Theatre

May 28, 2025

Arts & literature, Ask a librarian, Buildings & streets, Music, Performing Arts, Theatre, Victorian history:

Take a trip through the State Library archives to remember the many incarnations of the Metro Nightclub and Palace Theatre from 1854 until it closed its doors in May 2014.

Greater love hath no man. 90 years of the Shrine

Greater love hath no man. 90 years of the Shrine

November 10, 2024

Ask a librarian, Buildings & streets, Victorian history:

The eleventh hour, the eleventh day, the eleventh month. Every year at this exact time we remember those who gave us the greatest gift: freedom. On November 11, 2024 the Shrine of Remembrance will commemorate it’s 90th anniversary.

Elevated view of Domed Reading Room, State Library of Victoria, 1984, H84.376/2

The dais in the Dome

July 17, 2023

Buildings & streets, Our stories, People & professions, Such was life, Victorian history:

Once upon a time a staff member sat in the Dais in the La Trobe Reading Room, watching over any chattering public. We asked two long term SLV librarians how this used to work.

From the Seine to the Yarra: Art Deco in Melbourne

From the Seine to the Yarra: Art Deco in Melbourne

November 15, 2022

Ask a librarian, Buildings & streets:

Are you a lover of Art Deco architecture? Take a tour of Melbourne city and discover the Art Deco gems we have right here.

The Smith Trams and Trains Collection

The Smith Trams and Trains Collection

August 6, 2020

Buildings & streets, Photography, Such was life:

The Library has recently digitised hundreds of images of Victorian trams and trains captured by a visiting enthusiast in the 1960s.

The Crossley Building: past, present and future

The Crossley Building: past, present and future

July 17, 2020

Buildings & streets, People & professions, Such was life:

The Crossley Building on Bourke Street holds the history of one of Melbourne’s earliest, pre gold-rush retail and residential developments. For 60 years it was home to the iconic haberdashery business, Job Warehouse, which closed in 2012. Untenanted ever since and significantly run-down, where to next for this important piece of Melbourne’s built heritage?

Discovering Diener’s Ice Works: part two

Discovering Diener’s Ice Works: part two

June 21, 2020

Buildings & streets, People & professions, Research guides, Research tips & tricks, Social life & customs, Such was life, War:

The second and final part of a blog about flâneurs and research in the time of covid-19 As you can read in part one, this blog was inspired by daily… Read More ›

Time travelling with Sands & McDougall

Time travelling with Sands & McDougall

June 16, 2020

Buildings & streets, People & professions, Such was life:

Bell hangers and nightmen, leech merchants and lightermen; these are just some of the nineteenth century characters you may find lurking within the pages of a Sands & McDougall directory.

Discovering Diener’s Ice Works: part one

Discovering Diener’s Ice Works: part one

June 8, 2020

Buildings & streets, People & professions, Research guides, Research tips & tricks, Social life & customs, Such was life, War:

This is the first of a two-part blog about flâneurs and research in the time of covid-19 A daily walk has become an essential part of many people’s routines in… Read More ›