Chapel Street, Melbourne

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Chapel Street

Chapel Street Precinct.jpg
A drone image looking south down Chapel Street Precinct at sunrise
Chapel Street, Melbourne
Australia Victoria metropolitan Melbourne location map.svg
Red pog.svg
North end
Red pog.svg
South end
Coordinates
General information
TypeStreet
Length4.2 km (2.6 mi) [1]
Major junctions
North endChurch Street
South Yarra, Melbourne
 
  • Australian Tourist Drive 2.svg Alexandra Avenue
  • Australian state route 26.svg Toorak Road
  • Commercial Road
  • Australian state route 24.svg High Street
  • Australian national route ALT1.svg Dandenong Road
  • Inkerman Street
South endAustralian state route 3.svg Brighton Road
St Kilda, Melbourne
Location(s)
LGA(s)
Suburb(s) Prahran, Windsor

Chapel Street is a street in Melbourne, Victoria, running along the inner suburbs of South Yarra, Prahran, Windsor, St Kilda and St Kilda East.

Contents

Route

Chapel Street is essentially straight and runs for over 4.14 kilometres along an approximate north–south alignment from the Yarra River in the north to Brighton Road in the south, traversing the south east suburbs of South Yarra, Prahran, Windsor, St Kilda and St Kilda East. Major street crossings are Alexandra Avenue, Toorak Road, Commercial Road, High Street, Dandenong Road, Alma Road, Inkerman Street and Carlisle Street.

Tram route 78 travels along the entire length of Chapel Street, between Richmond and St Kilda. Tram routes 3, 5, 6, 58, 64 and 72 all intersect Chapel Street. The Sandringham line railway stations of South Yarra, Prahran, Windsor and Balaclava are all within 300 metres of Chapel Street.

History

Joseph Crook [2] 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. [3]

A bridge linking Chapel Street and Church Street, Richmond 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 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. [4] 1888 sparked major development on the street with the permanent installation of a tram 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 start of the 20th 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. [5]

The passing of the Road Management Act 2004 [6] granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared the road as Chapel Street (Arterial #5490), beginning at Alexandra Avenue and ending at Toorak Road through South Yarra; [7] the remainder of the road to Brighton Road remains undeclared.

Sites of interest

From the Yarra River heading south: [8] [ better source needed ]

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References

  1. Google (15 December 2021). "Chapel Street" (Map). Google Maps . Google. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  2. "Stonnington Miscellaneous". Victorian Libraries. 17 June 2005. Archived from the original on 14 March 2021. Retrieved 15 March 2006.
  3. "Chapel Street - History". Archived from the original on 3 October 2006. Retrieved 2006-09-27. Chapel Street History
  4. "The Age - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.au.
  5. "City of Stonnington (Internet) - e-books". Archived from the original on 25 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-05. Coopers History of Prahran
  6. State Government of Victoria. "Road Management Act 2004" (PDF). Government of Victoria. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 October 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  7. VicRoads. "VicRoads – Register of Public Roads (Part A) 2015" (PDF). Government of Victoria. pp. 944–5. Archived from the original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  8. Chapel Street, Streets Ahead Promotions website
  9. "Artists Lane | Melbourne, Australia Attractions". Lonely Planet. Retrieved 12 July 2020.