One of the place names I love the most in Melbourne is the Banana Alley Vaults.
Those three words don’t really belong together do they? The Banana Alley Vaults are at the end of the beautiful Flinders Street Station. They are situated under the rail line and they were originally called the Flinders Street Viaduct.
The Brisbane Courier 28 Sep 1917 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20184769
A post from My Town Melbourne about a tiny cafe under the viaduct (complete with banana yellow banana lounges out the front) prompted this post. I love the look of the whole row of frontages, they look like they are tiny cubbyhouses set into the wall. Clearly they are not all tiny as it is mainly a 24 hour gym under there now.
The vaults themselves have had a chequered history. After they were built they were used for storing fruit and veg for the markets which led to the name Banana Alley.
Businesses were housed under there over the years but they eventually fell into disrepair. In the 1970’s and 80’s the vaults were used by the homeless and the area developed a dangerous reputation before being refurbished by the State Government in the late 1980’s.
I was extremely pleased to find this 1879 drawing of the proposed viaduct in the archives. What an amazing thought that Flinders Street once looked like this!*
Illustrated Australian News 24 Dec 1879 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60094126
The Man and I had recently spent a weekend in the city staying in a hotel which had originally been the Commercial Travellers building and was right across from the Banana Alley vaults. Looking back through the photos I took that weekend I found one taken from the car on the very intersection that this drawing is representing (but not one of the vaults themselves… grrrrr!).
cnr Flinders and Williams Streets 2012.
In this photo a small part of the viaduct is visible on the left and the Yarra Family Hotel is the building on the corner of the drawing but has now been replaced with a big shiny….. thing …. I don’t know what is inside, it is just big and shiny and a disappointing replacement as far as I’m concerned.
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*I found a webpage called Melbourne’s Lost Hotels, the second photo down is a great photo of the Yarra Family Hotel with horse and carts etc and the viaduct on the side, remarkably similar to this drawing!
Buried words and Bushwa. 
Have to agree – the big shiny thing is a truly unimaginative replacement for the old hotel in the drawing. But then again I guess there was a time when big shiny character-less things like that were considered modern and impressive…
I would love to see a slideshow of the same street with an image taken every 12 months since the founding of Melbourne, well, of any city really.
It is amazing to see how they started out isn’t it? Imagine what they are going to be seen like a hundred years in the future? The demise of that big shiny thing will be lamented as it is pulled down and some other massive thing built in its place within days with a new fast-grow nanite building method…. 😉
I was just starting uni in 1970 when some of those last, beautiful buildings were demolished. There was a bit of an uproar but back then old things were not appreciated. Such a bloody waste. Now we have a city full of skyscraper ugliness. I wouldn’t mind if those skyscrapers were beautiful in some way but they’re not. 😦
I agree, skyscrapers are just soulless towers, those old buildings are just wonderful. I understand that progress needs to be made but to just tear down these buildings is terrible 😦
When you walk around the city next time ignore ground level and look up, it is quite heartening to see how many of the old buildings are still there although their decrepit condition at times breaks my heart, especially the Argus building… sniff….
Yeah I know. 😦 You’d think that by now the planners would recognize that it’s the old buildings that give Melbourne its charm. Sometimes I hate ‘progress’. 😦
I love Melbourne, and it’s old buildings, and laneways… don’t get me started or I’ll be on a plane. Are these images by Leanne Cole http://leannecolephotography.com/2012/07/02/last/ the same building I wonder?
I’m so glad to hear that you love all those things about Melbourne. Sadly we don’t get to spend much time there, I know it doesn’t seem that far away but travelling to the busy city from our quiet valley is a major undertaking, not physically, mentally! If only there were less people there…… 🙂
Yes, that post is about the same place. Her photo is taken towards the spot where My Town, Melbourne took his photo.