Melbourne heritage buildings: Which are the best historic buildings on Collins Street?

The Bank of Australasia Building, the Austral Building and the Manchester Unity Building are arguably the most impressive historic buildings on Collins Street, Melbourne.

Detailed answer: Melbourne’s CBD may now be more famous for its street art-doused laneways. But this was not always the case. At one point, the laneways were grimy places for storing bins, and the attention was on the main streets in the central grid system.

Most grandiose of these main streets has always been Collins Street. This has been where Melbourne’s fashion houses have traditionally displayed their wares, and the city’s conspicuous wealth has been on show in the shopping arcades.

In Melbourne’s early years, all the banks were sited here as it was one main street back from the Yarra River, protecting them from flooding and burglary. All the money was, literally, here.

But because everyone’s too interested in the laneways, they often overlook some of the historic buildings on Collins Street.

Bank of Australasia building on Collins Street

These include the Renaisscance Revival-style former Bank of Australasia Building, the first two floors of which were built in the 1870s. This is now the Treasury on Collins apartment hotel.

The Austral Buidling is also heritage-listed. It was built in 1890, and is in the Queen Anne style. It has a history of being home to arty and literary types, but now hosts the Longchamp shop.

Of all the impressive historic buildings on Collins Street, however, the Manchester Unity Building is the finest. It’s an art deco masterpiece, and go inside because it gets better. The copper doors, mosaic-tiled floor lead the eye to a bas relief frieze from 1932. It features settlers tree clearing, gold mining, sheep shearing, as well as two non-aggressive pics of Aboriginals with kangaroos – a surprisingly nuanced depiction for the time. It was also home to Melbourne’s first escalator. Apparently 66,000 people used it in one day when it was first unveiled.

Melbourne heritage buildings: Nicholas Building

Beautiful historic architecture elsewhere in Melbourne’s Free Tram Zone includes the Nicholas Building on Swanston Street. It’s largely notable for its gorgeous stained glass roof.

The Nicholas family got licence to produce aspirin in Australia in the early 1900s. By the time the licence was taken back, the Nicholas brothers developed an alternative. They became wealthy on the back of Aspro.

The building that bears their name now plays host to 120 small businesses, including milliners and jewellers.

To find out more about Melbourne’s lesser-heralded historic architecture, take the Lanes and Arcades tour with Hidden Secrets. The guides on this Melbourne laneways tour properly know their stuff, and the three hour tour costs $99.

If this whets your appetite for Australian history, check out the Top Ten Australian Historic Sites.

More things to do in Melbourne

Walk the Albert Park Grand Prix circuit.

Eat Peruvian food at Pastuso.

Go barefoot bowling in St Kilda.

Visit vegan restaurants on Brunswick Street, Fitzroy.

Take an Aboriginal tour in the Botanic Gardens.