Chapel Street | |
|---|---|
 | |
| A drone image looking south down Chapel Street Precinct at sunrise | |
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  North end South end | |
| Coordinates |
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| General information | |
| Type | Street |
| Length | 4.2 km (2.6 mi) [1] |
| Major junctions | |
| North end | Church Street South Yarra, Melbourne |
| |
| South end |  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.
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.
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.
From the Yarra River heading south: [8]
The City of Stonnington is a local government area located within the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Australia. It comprises the inner south-eastern suburbs, between 3 and 13 km, from the Melbourne CBD. The city covers an area of 25.7 km2 (9.9 sq mi).
Malvern is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 8 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Malvern recorded a population of 9,929 at the 2021 census.
South Yarra is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Stonnington local government areas. South Yarra recorded a population of 25,028 at the 2021 census.
Toorak is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km (3.1 mi) south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Toorak recorded a population of 12,817 at the 2021 census.
Prahran, is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Prahran recorded a population of 12,203 at the 2021 census.
Windsor railway station is located on the Sandringham line in Victoria, Australia. It serves the south-eastern Melbourne suburb of Windsor, and opened on 19 December 1859 as Chapel Street. It was renamed Windsor on 1 January 1867.
St Kilda Road is a street in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is part of the locality of Melbourne which has the postcode of 3004, and along with Swanston Street forms a major spine of the city.
Melbourne tram route 5 is operated by Yarra Trams on the Melbourne tram network from Melbourne University to Malvern. The 12.6-kilometre (7.8 mi) route is operated out of Malvern depot with Z and D1 class trams.
Windsor is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Port Phillip and Stonnington local government areas. Windsor recorded a population of 7,273 at the 2021 census.
The Melbourne cable tramway system was a cable car public transport system, which operated between 1885 and 1940 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The St Kilda-Windsor railway line was a short-lived section of railway that linked the isolated Windsor to Brighton section of the Melbourne railway network to the city. The branch line fell into disuse when an alternative route was built between Windsor and Richmond stations.
Tourism is a significant industry in the state of Victoria, Australia. The country's second most-populous city, Melbourne was visited by 2.7 million international overnight visitors and 9.3 million domestic overnight visitors during the year ending December 2017.
Glenferrie Road is a major north–south thoroughfare in Melbourne, Australia. It runs from Kew to Caulfield North, and includes major shopping districts at both Hawthorn and Malvern. There are a number of rail transport options on Glenferrie Road and also some landmarks.
Melbourne tram route 64 is operated by Yarra Trams on the Melbourne tram network from Melbourne University to Brighton East. The 18.1 kilometre route is operated out of Glenhuntly depot with Z and B class trams.
Prahran Market is a food market in South Yarra, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Located on Commercial Road near Chapel Street, it was established in neighbouring Prahran in the 1860s before moving to its present location in 1881.
The Prahran and Malvern Tramways Trust (PMTT) was a former tram operator in Melbourne, Australia. The trust was formed in 1907, with its first line operating in 1910. Its functions were taken over by the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board in 1920.
The City of Prahran was a local government area about 5 kilometres (3 mi) southeast of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The city covered an area of 9.55 square kilometres (3.69 sq mi), and existed from 1855 until 1994, when it was merged with the City of Malvern to create the City of Stonnington.
The Prahran Telegraph was a weekly newspaper published from 1860 to 1930 in Prahran, an inner-suburb of the city of Melbourne, Australia. No copy pre-1866 is known to have survived. From 1866 until December 1888, the paper was called the Telegraph and St Kilda, Prahran and South Yarra Guardian. From January 1889 until 7 December 1902, the paper was known simply as the Prahran Telegraph. From 13 December 1902 the banner head read the Prahran Telegraph, with which is incorporated the St Kilda Advertiser and the Malvern Argus.
Melbourne tram route 58 is operated by Yarra Trams on the Melbourne tram network from West Coburg to Toorak. The 18.0 kilometre route is operated out of Essendon and Southbank depots with Z, B and E class trams.
The Melbourne tram network began in 1884 with the construction of the Fairfield Horse Tramway. However, the purpose of the line was to increase land prices in the area, and it soon closed during the depression in 1890. The first genuine attempt to construct a tramway network was the construction of the Richmond cable tram line by the Melbourne Tramway & Omnibus Company in 1885. Over the next few years, 16 more cable tram lines were constructed, as well as numerous other horse tramways. The depression of the early 1890s slowed further expansion of the cable network. The first electric tram line was the Box Hill and Doncaster tramway which opened in 1889. This was a pioneering line in what was then the countryside and thus didn't receive much patronage. It closed in 1896. The next attempt at an electric tramway was Victorian Railways' St Kilda to Brighton line, which opened in 1906. Later that year, the North Melbourne Electric Tramway & Lighting Company opened lines to Essendon and Maribyrnong. Many local councils formed their own tramway trusts and built tramways within their own constituency. The most successful of these was the Prahran & Malvern Tramways Trust.
