Flinders Street Station prequel

This is the Flinders Street Station we nearly got ! Rather similar to what was actually built, no surprise when you know the background.

On 28 July 1898, the Railway Commissioners released a design for a new ‘Central Railway Station’, published in the leader on 30 July 1898. There was a big dome on the corner and a clocktower at the Elizabeth Street end, and a huge roof over the platforms. A slightly different one was released in February 1899, with a full elevation, shown below. The Victorian Government’s Standing Committee on Railways accepted the layout and agreed to pay for it, but wasnt satisfied with the the architecture, and asked for a competition for ‘the frontage’ in April 1899. The winners were announced on the 28 May 1900, first prize going to a design by JW Fawcett and HPC Ashworth, who both incidentally worked for the Railways. I think Fawcett & Ashworth’s winning design was a distinct improvement, and it’s news to me that they only designed the exterior (though ultimately designed everything). Then the design changed again in 1905, to what we’ve got now, which even better again – or maybe it’s so familiar it just looks right.