Little Latrobe Street
Bordered by Elizabeth, Swanston, Latrobe and A’Beckett Streets. It runs east/west for just one city block.
Little Latrobe Street did not exist until the 1850s. It is situated within what was originally known as Section 37.
Bordered by Elizabeth, Swanston, Latrobe and A’Beckett Streets. It runs east/west for just one city block.
Little Latrobe Street did not exist until the 1850s. It is situated within what was originally known as Section 37.
According to pre-1851 records, almost all of the land in Section 37 was purchased by Albert Thoume Ozanne and Thomas Budds Payne in 1849.
By the early twentieth century the area was becoming more industrial, with cabinet makers and hawkers occupying several properties. Industrial development continued into the 1920s. In 1925 there were auto welders, engineers, motor radiator repair shop and the engravers Reading & Son all working in the street. The names of Chinese occupants begin to appear in the lane from around 1900, about the same time, the names of European immigrants also start to appear. In 1915 the Greek newspaper proprietor Efstratius Venlis, occupied the premises at 54-56 . There were seventeen properties clearly occupied by migrants, twelve of them Chinese and the remaining Greek and Italian. The history of Melbourne’s low-life in the city’s lanes is still a part of the area’s heritage. The Helping Hand Mission Society was the first of the philanthropic organisations in Little Latrobe Street. The Salvation Army then took over the premises in 1910 as ‘Salvation Army Elevator’. An Elevator, according to Salvation Army founder William Booth, was ‘a combination of workshop, home and religious retreat’. The unemployed and homeless would be given work at an Elevator in various trades such as carpentry, rag-sorting or baking. Many of Little Latrobe Street’s original buildings are now gone, signs of its history do remain. The alleys running off the lanes on both sides are still being used, servicing both the buildings fronting Little Latrobe Street, Latrobe and A’Beckett Streets. Cobblestoned alleys and some buildings dating from the 1920s still exist in the street. One erected in the 1920s was converted to a factory in 1938, then to a café in 1992, now houses a popular artists’ supplies store. Mark Thompson manufactured scientific instruments for over thirty years from the 1930s to the 1960s, which is today occupied by a café popular with RMIT University students. |
The story of Little Latrobe Street is in many ways the story of Melbourne, it tells of the inner workings of the early settlement and the lives of the forgotten working classes running small businesses from simple brick buildings hidden in the back streets.
The city blocks have become particularly popular amongst Melbourne’s artists and young people, including Little Latrobe Street, which are favourite sites amongst graffiti artists to create their constantly changing artworks. It is difficult to safeguard these heritage sites in the ever-changing and constantly evolving modern metropolis that is Melbourne today. A'BECKETT STREET Located between William & Swanston Street. Off this street you can find Wills Street, which is located South of A'Beckett Street between William & Queen Streets. Electric Place, which is on the North side of the street, stretching through to Franklin Street. Within this stretch of Melbourne there are also unnamed lanes. Between Queen & Elizabeth Street you can find Anthony Street plus a couple of unnamed lanes servicing various business. Between Elizabeth & Swanston Streets unnamed lanes can be found North of A'Beckett Street. Closer to Swanston Street is Stewart Street. FRANKLIN STREET Anthony & Stewart Streets both run South of Franklin Street but there are also unnamed lanes branching off both to the North & South. At the Eastern end, again to the South, you find Bowens Street. In the block bounded by Russell, La Trobe, Victoria Street & Exhibition Streets you can find Bell Place and Mackenzie Street. QUEEN STREET North of Franklin Street is Queen Street where I found one unnamed lane close to the Queen Victoria Market. |
|
|
|
|