Spring Street, Melbourne

Spring Street Victoria
Parliament House on Spring Street, looking east
Spring Street
Coordinates	37°48′42″S 144°58′24″E / 37.8116°S 144.9732°E / -37.8116; 144.9732Coordinates: 37°48′42″S 144°58′24″E / 37.8116°S 144.9732°E / -37.8116; 144.9732
General information
Type	Street
Length	850 m (0.5 mi)
Opened	1837
Major junctions
North end	Victoria Street Melbourne CBD
	Lonsdale Street Nicholson Street Bourke Street Macarthur Street Collins Street
South end	Flinders Street Melbourne CBD
Location(s)
LGA(s)	City of Melbourne
Suburb(s)	Melbourne CBD

Spring Street is a major street in the central business district of Melbourne, Australia. It runs roughly north-south and is the easternmost street in the original 1837 Hoddle Grid.^[1]

Spring Street is famous as the traditional seat of the Government of Victoria, as well as being central to many of the state's major cultural institutions. The street's name is frequently used as a metonym to refer to the state's bureaucracy.^[2] Spring Street is also notable for its impressive Victorian architecture, including Melbourne Parliament House, the Old Treasury Building, the Windsor Hotel (also known as Duchess of Spring Street)^[3] and the Princess Theatre.

The street is thought to be named after Baron Thomas Spring Rice, Chancellor of the Exchequer under Lord Melbourne.^[4] An alternative theory is that the name is due to the golden wattle trees in full bloom during Richard Bourke's visit.^[5]

Geography[]

The street runs from Flinders Street in the south to Victoria Street and the Carlton Gardens in the north. Nicholson Street begins as an offshoot of Spring Street slightly south to its intersection with Lonsdale Street.

Notable buildings[]

Spring Street has a number of architecturally notable buildings and important gardens, with many featuring on the Victorian Heritage Register and/or National Trust of Australia. These include:

The Old Treasury Building at dusk

The Hotel Windsor viewed from Treasury Place

Victorian Heritage Register[]

• Parliament House (1856)*
• Old Treasury Building (1862)*
• Treasury Gardens (1867)*
• Gordon Reserve (1870)*
• Hotel Windsor (1885)*
• Princess Theatre (1886)*
• Alcaston House (1929) an early apartment building designed by A&K Henderson in the palazzo style to complement the wider area
• Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (1935)*

*Also classified by the National Trust

National Trust[]

• (1913)

Other Prominent Structures[]

• Parliament railway station (1983) an underground railway station built for the City Loop
• (1985) a post-modern tower by Denton Corker Marshall amongst the city's first to incorporate heritage buildings
• (1992) a tall office building which is home to government offices
• (1988) at the corner of Spring and Flinders Street is a notable granite clad office tower designed by Harry Seidler in a similar style to his buildings in Sydney and Brisbane. The building's floor plates are in the shape of a shell as it was the Australian Head Office of Royal Dutch Shell.

Parks and gardens[]

Spring Street forms the western border of the Treasury Gardens. , a small triangle of parkland featuring heritage listed statues, is also located on Spring Street. Another small Chinese garden, known as the Tianjin Garden, is also located at the northern end of Spring Street. It is a symbol of Melbourne's close friendship with its sister city, Tianjin, China.^[6]

Transport[]

Tram tracks, taxis and cars on Spring Street

A number of tram routes run along Spring Street for all or part of its length, including the City Circle Tram, route 48 and route 96.

Parliament railway station, connecting to most suburban Melbourne train lines as part of the underground City Loop, lies directly beneath and parallel to Spring Street.

See also[]

 Australian roads portal

References[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Spring Street, Melbourne.