How old is flinders st station

As part of the refurbishment, stunning light shows now beam from the building during major events and celebrations. Over LED lights are connected by 20 kilometres of cabling, and all totally automated and controlled. The new system was designed to replicate the colours of the original floodlights. Despite it having over more lights, it uses much less energy than the original design.

The levels above the main hall and platforms used to be a hive of activity in the mid s. Level three featured a library, gymnasium, classrooms and a ballroom. The grand ballroom used to be a cultural hub, hosting concerts, meetings, dances and more. It has remained virtually untouched since it was closed off to the public in In contrast to the ballerinas dancing in the ballroom next door, the gym would often be filled with wrestlers making use of the boxing ring.

Famous footballers could sometimes be spotted, and would often head up a narrow flight of stairs to the rooftop running track. City Hatters is one of the few stores in Melbourne that have been in the same location for over years. Owned by the Buck family for most of its history, they stock a huge range of headwear from tweeds to trilbies. Plus they do repairs and alterations too. Visit them when they reopen later in Rumour has it, the station is haunted by a ghost named George.

Flinders Street looking east between Elizabeth and Queen Streets. Flinders Street Railway Station, Melbourne. Flinders Street Railway Station entrance. View of Flinders Street station looking towards the Domain. Large crowd of people on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets, Melbourne, during train strike.

Interior of staff lunch room, Flinders Street Station. Young man seated on the steps, main entrance, Flinders Street Station. One of the original platform verandas from the Melbourne Terminus building was dismantled and re-erected at Hawthorn station, in the inner-eastern suburbs. In , work began on the station building itself, starting at the west end and progressing towards the main dome. The station was originally to have been faced in stone, but this was considered too costly, and red brick with cement render details was used for the main building instead.

Grey granite from Harcourt was used for many details on the Flinders street side at ground level "in view of the importance of this great public work". The southern facade of the main building above ground level was constructed of lightweight timber frame clad with zinc sheets scored into large blocks, and painted red, giving the appearance of large bricks. This was done in order to turn what would have been open access balconies inside the train shed into corridors.

Work on the dome started in The structure required heavy foundations as it extended over railway tracks. In May work was progressing slower than expected, with the expected completion date of April slipping. Rodger's contract was terminated in August A Royal Commission was appointed in May , finding that Rodger could be held accountable for the slow progress in , but he should be compensated for the difficulties before then.

The Way and Works Branch of the Victorian Railways took over the project, the station being essentially finished by mid The verandah along Flinders Street and the concourse roof and verandah along Swanston Street were not completed until after the official opening in The top three levels of the main building contain a large number of rooms, particularly along the Flinders Street frontage, mostly intended for railway use, but also many as lettable spaces.

Numerous ticket windows were located at each entry, with services such as a restaurant, country booking office, lost luggage and visitors help booth at concourse or platform level. Much of the top floor was purpose built for the then new Victorian Railway Institute, including a library, gym and a lecture hall, later used as a ballroom; these rooms have been abandoned and decaying for many years. In the s and 40s the building once featured a creche next to the main dome on the top floor for a number of years, with an open-air playground on an adjoining roof.

The basement store beside the main entrance has been occupied by a hat store since Known as 'City Hatters' since The first electric train operated from Flinders Street to Essendon in , and by it was the world's busiest passenger station. To cater for the increasing numbers of passengers, the Degraves Street subway from the station was extended to the north side of Flinders Street in In March platform one was extended to 2, feet m long. Plans arose at various times from the s to the s for the demolition or redevelopment of the station, as well as the adjacent Jolimont Yard area.

The station had fallen into disrepair, having not been cleaned in decades, and covered with advertising hoardings and light up signs. Work was to begin in , but instead the Gas and Fuel Building was constructed over the Princes Bridge station. In a company purchased the option to lease the space above Flinders Street Station, planning to build a shopping plaza and two office towers, the dome and clock tower being kept as part of the design, but strong opposition saw this project lapse.

In Victorian Premier Sir Henry Bolte unveiled another redevelopment plan, to cover 27 acres of space above the Flinders Street Station and Jolimont Yard for a complex of shops, offices, theatres and other community facilities. Designed by Daryl Jackson architects, it was to be built over the existing platforms in a style sympathetic to the existing station, and be completed by The Swanston Street concourse has undergone the most change of any part of the station, and is now three times the depth of the original structure, and only the canopy and roofed area on Swanston Street remains of the original.

After the first round of works in City of Melbourne councillor Trevor Huggard described the renovation as "vandalism of historically important sections of the station", and in the National Trust of Australia described the additions to the concourse as unsympathetic and detrimental to the station, having "the character of a modern shopping centre".

Completed by , the first escalators at the station provided to platform 2 and 3 replacing the former ramps, and the current public toilets were provided, replacing those over the platforms. New ramps were also provided to platforms which were less steep than those previous, and overhead skylights added to provide better lighting.

The television displays used to display next train information had been added to each platform in July The main station concourse was tiled and extended westward over the tracks, 16 new shops opened on the concourse, and a restaurant was opened on the southern side along the river. The restaurant opened in October but closed soon after, the site becoming the "Clocks on Flinders" poker machine venue in