Repost 2016:

The Great Fire of Melbourne in 1897. One of the biggest things to happen in the CBD, but largely forgotten. Starting in the giant Craig Williamson Department Store on Elizabeth Street in the early hours of Sunday November 20th, it soon grew to destroy nearly the whole block between Flinders, Elizabeth, Flinders Lane, and Swanston Street, 17 buildings in all, stopping at the backs of the Swanston Street buildings – we nearly lost Young & Jacksons (where they rescued the beer barrels just in case).

Crowds flocked to see the still smoldering ruins the next morning, when the whole area looked like post-war berlin, since the external solid brick walls largely survived. The State Library has a great collection of little seen photographs of ‘after’.

The only building to survive within the inferno was the Mutual Store, built in 1891 with steel window shutters and an external sprinkler system. The most spectacular building to succumb was Fink’s Building, a 9 storey ‘skyscraper’ built just 8 years before on the corner of Flinders & Elizabeth (surprisingly most walls would be retained and reused, minus the top four floors). The fire helps explain that many buildings in the block date from around 1900, especially in Flinders Lane, notably Ross House, built as a replacement Sargoods warehouse in 1899 (which went through to Flinders Street). Photos @library_vic, the ones with titles from #MelbournePunch via FB, the watercolour is by Charles Hammond, from 3am, for the Weekly Times, plans from Fire Services Museum.

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